Très bon article dans l'IHT sur le marché noir des places de marathon.
Gageons qu'à Turin, on n'a pas ce genre de problèmes, qui voudrait gravir les Alpes et les redescendre ?
Hannibal nous marchons dans tes pas !
Marathons: For runners, a black market in entry numbers
Jennifer Blecher
Published: SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2006
The notion of paying hundreds of dollars for the opportunity to run 26.2 miles may not appeal to most people, but some runners are doing just that because demand for marathons in recent years has outstripped the number of spots available in the fields.
More than 100,000 runners are training now for the three major fall marathons - Berlin, Chicago and New York City - and many thousands more are preparing for smaller races throughout the country. But many runners were unable to gain entry into the race of their choice and, to the consternation of marathon organizers, some of them will turn to prohibited means of getting into the field on race day, like using counterfeit bibs - the paper numbers runners wear on their shirts - or bibs purchased at a premium online.
Race organizers say they are frustrated by this unintended consequence of staging popular events, but there is little they can do. Photocopied or otherwise fabricated bibs are needles in a haystack of tens of thousands of runners.
More than 90,000 people entered a lottery for the 50,000 spots awarded for the Nov. 5 New York City Marathon; considering thousands of runners don't make it to race day because of injuries and myriad other reasons, organizers expect the field to be about 36,000.
A 26-year-old woman who failed to get a spot in last year's New York City Marathon said that she decided to photocopy her mother's bib.
"We'd looked at various Craigslist listings to see what our options were," said the woman, who requested anonymity for fear of being banned from future races. "That was mostly unsuccessful."
She said that prices online were too high, and one seller backed out of the deal after having second thoughts. A co- worker suggested something that had worked for him five times in the past - creating a homemade bib.
"I never ended up having any problems," she said.
Neither did her co-worker, who also requested anonymity. With the help of a graphic designer, he altered and copied an official bib to make one for himself and five friends. "He'd turn a 3 into an 8 or a 7 into a 1," he said about the designer. "That way we could all run together without getting caught."
He said that he was not concerned about being caught. "They're not checking very hard," he said. "It's not like airport security out there."
Organizers of the New York and Chicago marathons agreed that photocopying bibs was a problem, but said that catching people who do that was not their priority.
"When there's demand, you see creativity," said Carey Pinkowski, director of the Chicago Marathon. "That's just how it is, and there's not much you can do about it."
Of more importance is the growing number of people offering bibs for sale, sometimes at five times above cost or more.
A New York City Marathon bib was offered on eBay last month for $750 with a "buy-it-now" option of $1,000. That one went unsold, but two weeks later another sold for more than $450. Among the marathon bibs for sale on eBay on Friday was one for Chicago with a bid of $162. Most bibs for the New York City Marathon are selling for $100 to $200, but one seller on Craigslist was recently asking $775 for his bib for a man in his racing age group. People placing ads looking for bibs were offering up to $300.
The entry fee for the New York City Marathon is $80 for members of the New York Road Runners and $107 for nonmembers plus a $9 nonrefundable processing fee. The Chicago and Boston marathons filled their slots in record time. Chicago's fee is $90. Boston, which requires runners to meet a qualifying standard, charges $95 for Americans. Another woman who was not successful in the lottery for New York posted an ad on Craigslist for a bib so she could run with her friends. She said she was willing to pay as much as $200. "I definitely wouldn't pay what other people are paying on eBay," said the woman, who also requested anonymity because she feared race organizers would bar her from future races.
With few exceptions, marathons prohibit the transfer of bibs because of the medical issues that can arise if an injured runner is misidentified, as well as to preserve what they consider a fair entry system.Richard Finn, a spokesperson for the New York Road Runners, which organizes the New York City marathon, said two volunteers monitored Web sites to see if anyone was selling bibs. The directors of the Chicago and Boston marathons said they also tracked sales online.
According to Mary Wittenberg, the director of the New York City Marathon, about 100 runners were contacted and warned each year for trying to sell numbers. She said 25 people had been contacted this year.
But catching someone may be a difficult proposition. People selling their bibs online usually do not reveal their identity or bib number. And many recreational runners figure they will blend into the crowd of thousands of runners without being detected.
But sometimes runners do better than expected. In the 2001 Vermont City Marathon, in Burlington, the women's second-place finisher, Karine Maltis of Montreal, confessed that she was running under someone else's name. Based on her previous time, Maltis did not think she would come close to first place. Race organizers said that she was wearing a counterfeit bib, and she was stripped of her medal and $800 prize money. The woman who sold her the bib number, Johanne Provencher, was barred from the race for life.
Troisième étoile au palmarès du beau challenge "5 Campus 5 Marathons: ESCP-EAP Running pour l'association Autour des Williams" après ce marathon de Turin.
C'est reparti. Notre équipe de 15 coureurs va aborder le relief contrasté du Marathon de Turin, dimanche 13 avril, juste après avoir dégusté des pâtes, des pâtes et encore des pâtes, au pays de la pasta par excellence.
Nous reviendrons avec des courbatures et des photos de nos magnifiques tenues, couleur "bleu Europe", toute une référence...
Séquence marade du vendredi:
