Wednesday, May 12, 1999
Pig organizers already thinking about next year
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Somebody asked Bob Coughlin, founder of the Flying Pig Marathon, what he would do if he had an extra $50,000 to spend on the race. Would he use it as prize money to attract elite runners?
“No, I'd use it to try to get John Cougar Mellencamp to play the national anthem and then put him out on the course somewhere for entertainment,” he answered.
And knowing Coughlin, he already has a spot in mind: somewhere in the “second third” of the course in the Lunken-Eastern Avenue area, where race organizers would like to inject some more life.
It is among the early ideas for improvements, although more formalized discussions will be held in the near future.
The novice and mid-pack runners, as they are known in the marathoning world, are the Flying Pig's target audience.
So whatever can be done to improve upon what is widely regarded as a very successful first-time marathon will continue to get the attention, Coughlin said.
He also wants to ease the huge pre-race burden that fell upon certain individuals: the computer gurus, finish-line bosses, City Dash pickup and delivery people, and the Runners' Expo operators.
He praised the support systems provided by the cities through which the course meandered: Cincinnati, Covington, Newport and back to Cincinnati. There was one publicized complaint from a runner in the far back of the pack who didn't like it that a strip of carpet that confirms the presence of a computerized chip on runners' shoes was being taken up by police near the 19-mile mark.
But somebody had to play the heavy in closing up the course, which was costing race organizers about $10,000 an hour to keep open with city services. Also, promises had been made to churches, restaurants, stores and the Reds that streets would be reopened, Coughlin said.
The police did some thinking on their feet to slightly adjust the route of hundreds of runners from outbound on Eggleston Avenue onto Pete Rose Way to make way for the much faster wheelchair racers who were using the same portion of the course — but inbound.
This portion of the course may have to be looked at again for next year's race, said Sgt. Mike Hopper and Lt. Paul Humphries, of the Cincinnati police depart ment's event planning unit.
It was a minor miracle of civic cooperation that a few hours after the music festival Jammin' on Main closed up late Saturday evening, a marathon came through the same area with virtually no indication the earlier event had ever been there. Hopper and Humphries noted that Jammin' on Main producer Jim Mohring lived up to his promises.
The two policemen praised the work of marathon organizers, volunteers, city support personnel and the well-behaved nature of the spectators — despite some unexpectedly high turnouts around the finishing stretch where Ezzard Charles enters the Union Terminal area and at the Kellogg-Eastern Avenue area.
One restaurant on Kellogg Avenue in Columbia-Tusculum lodged a complaint about a significant dropoff in business Sunday, but race organizers intend to work with management to try to help defray that loss by holding a post-marathon party for some volunteer leaders at the restaurant, executive race director Mike Boylan said.
One other impact from the race has yet to be felt: Most runners are too sore to know if they suffered any injuries and will need to see their physicians.
But health spas already have received a bump in business.
“We had probably 10 calls from people booking appointments for massages,” said Valerie Hilker, receptionist at Dillard's Day Spa in Crestview Hills, Ky. “They all said they needed (some relief) after having run in the marathon.”
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