So many words come to mind - disgusting, disrespectful, disappointing. Unsportsmanlike.
These people either made the bibs themselves (despicable), or perhaps they bought them from Craigslist, thinking they were buying them from the qualifier who could no longer run the race. But that isn't allowed, and it isn't okay. If one of them had a medical emergency during the race, it could be hard to identify them. They are taking water and food along the course that they didn't pay for. And they are taking medals at the end. And putting extra bodies on an already crowded course.
How could this happen? Many of us unthinkingly post pictures of our bibs in our pre-race blogs. I did it just last week in my blog on Nike Women's Half early packet pickup. And I'm worried - that blog got over 300 hits. An unprecedented number for me. I usually get 50, maybe 100. Maybe many of these hits were legitimate - my blog post on the Nike Women's Half course guide has gotten 200, so people are looking for Nike race information. But there are 25 Nike Women's Half bibs for sale on Craigslist (for $125-$185!) and I can't help but wonder if any have my number (6241). I've edited the picture in my blog, but the damage may already be done:
So please be careful what you post online. Protect yourself from race bandits. And if you have any information that can help identify any of the Boston Marathon race bandits in the photos above, please let BAA know.
I saw this yesterday crazy! I wonder how big races are going to stop this from happening. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
ReplyDeleteDeborah @ Confessions of A Mother Runner
I wonder too. It doesn't seem like there would be an easy fix and race directors already have so much to worry about.
DeleteIs insanely gross that people would abuse social media to this extent. Then again, nothing surprises me.
ReplyDeleteThey are self entitled little gits that think that they don't have to do the work to get the payoff. It's sad. We weren't raised like this and I wonder what these men and women's parents would think of what they did.
I know I would have been shamed into next week to even THINK of stealing something so valuable.
Sigh.
Thank you for your comment and support SkippyMom. It is shameful indeed.
DeleteAs you know, I shared this on my Facebook page. It's really sad that this happened. It will be interesting to see any follow up stories on Runner's World. Please let me know if you see anything more.
ReplyDeleteThanks Deb, I will definitely keep you posted. I'm really hopeful that with all of the media attention and grassroots efforts that we will find these people.
DeleteOMG, I had no idea that people sell bibs on Craigs list. Have you checked it out to see if one is yours? I did hear about this bandit situation and it is just ridiculous. I can't believe people are doing this. I certainly hope they didn't take a medal. But you brought up a good point, I wonder if these runners did pay for a bib and they were nieve enough to think they were legit? I don't know, I just hate to think that people would do this. Isn't it funny that they all have the same number? Are they in this scheme together?
ReplyDeleteUnknown if they are in on it together or if they all happened to buy bibs from somewhere like craigslist. I hope they are found and we can find out! And I believe they all took medals, I think Kara has the finishers pictures of them.
DeleteAs for my bib, I don't know if it is on craigslist or not. I would have to correspond with all of the sellers and get them to send me pictures of the bibs they have and I'm not going to go down that path. I thought about it, but it would be pretty time-consuming. So I'm going to hope for the best and I guess I'll find out when I look at my race pics!
Thanks for visiting my blog and commenting :)
I read that the two men were former Boston College cross country runners as identified by their old coach. And he had the audacity to say they were great guys...what a poor choice of words. Any coach should be ashamed of that behavior.
ReplyDeleteI saw that as well. Very odd. I've since read that all four have been identified and BAA is looking into it. It will be interesting to see what happens.
DeleteI live in St. Louis and this is all over the news because one of the bandits wore a Big River Running shirt, which is a local running store. I hope they find the people who did this, but I have heard that this happens all the time.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize how often this happens until the whole media storm surrounding this incident happened. And there really isn't much that can be done about it. I haven't heard yet what BAA will do, if anything, about these particular four bandits.
Delete