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Covering a marathon

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by MTM, Feb 4, 2010.

  1. spud

    spud Member

    Never covered a marathon but I have covered a few triathlons. Don't feel like you have to be there as soon as the lead pack crosses. There's usually some kind of award ceremony, and you'll be kicking yourself for getting there early just to watch the stragglers come in as you await the official times. The winners will be milling around, just go find them.

    The toughest is finding winners in a race crowd of 700 when all you know is the number on their race bib. "Hey, where's 476?!"
     
  2. SoccerFan

    SoccerFan Member

    For a marathon like this, I'd paint the scene at the beginning of the race (the smiles, the terror, the upbeat attitudes, the good intentions) and then compare it with the scene at the end of the marathon (the blisters, agony, a few smiles, etc.). Remember a few of the more colorful characters from the beginning, then talk with them at the end. Since it's unrealistic to follow them throughout, ask them to give you a blow-by-blow of the 26 miles in the middle, then weave into your reporting from the beginning and end. Then get a quote from the top male and female.
    At least that's how I would do it for a non-competitive one.
     
  3. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    Get a box of Krispy Kremes, hitch a ride in the pace car/van and watch everyone in the race hating you while you're eating the donuts.
     
  4. the one marathon i covered, i rode in the lead car. it was useful, actually -- it was a first-time race (on an open course, no less), and it was interesting to see how disorganized the damn thing was, with people going off course, a car nearly running over the leader, etc. we had another guy doing a color piece, so that meant my job was more to write about the race.

    some marathons are loops. if that's the case and there is a spot in town where the course comes near a couple times, station yourself there.
     
  5. flexmaster33

    flexmaster33 Well-Known Member

    Contact the race organizers...often times they will have details on some interesting people that may be running, then you can set up a side interview perhaps.

    What not to do...put on your jogging shoes, wrap a camera around your neck and try to get interviews during the race. Leave moronic stuff like that to the TV people. :)
     
  6. Jesus_Muscatel

    Jesus_Muscatel Well-Known Member

    Plenty, MTM, but most of 'em are illegal.
     
  7. e_bowker

    e_bowker Member

    Speaking of covering marathons in cars, I got a story about that.
    A few years ago, we had a local guy who was trying to run 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states. He was finishing up in Biloxi, Mississippi, since he was doing it as part personal challenge and part raising awareness for Katrina relief (he had been doing volunteer work on the coast). We're a few hours away, but it was the summer and we had been doing updates on his progress so the paper sent me down there for his last run.

    The guy is starting at dawn on a Saturday, so the wife and I went down and spent the night on the Coast on Friday. We wake up around 4:30, drive an hour to Biloxi, and catch up with the guy and his pack of local runners a few miles in.
    And then we follow them, at 10 mph, for the next 90 minutes. My wife, alternating between sleep and rage, asks me every 10 minutes why we had to wake up so damn early to follow the guy. Not having a good answer, I suggest she go back to sleep. It's a suggestion that didn't go over well.
    Eventually, we wandered into town for breakfast and a bathroom break, and caught up to the guy again a couple miles from the finish line. The wife asks why I couldn't have done that in the first place. Not having a good answer, I tell her at least we can go home now.
    So, the lesson is, if you're following a marathon in a car you'd best bring a book or a loaded iPod.
     
  8. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Not nearly the same as covering a marathon with your wife, but when I was still living at home, I dragged my future wife to a 5- or 7-mile race at 10 am New Years Day. We weren't party animals by any stretch, but still, who the fuck wants to get up at 8 am New Years Day to NOT cover a road race? She still pulls that story out from time to time.

    As for story ideas, this is probably out since MTM understandably doesn't want to stick around for hours and hours, but a story about the last-place finisher is almost guaranteed to be good (as long as that person doesn't crawl across the finish line puking and shitting all over him/herself, of course). Those who stick it out that long usually expect to finish last, or somewhere thereabouts, go about the race at a real easy pace and take great joy in having just run the race.

    At one place I worked, a co-worker wrote a really good story about the last-place finishers in a 7-mile race...three old ladies who crossed the finish line arm in arm in arm. They wanted to run it together and finish it together, and there wasn't anybody happier that day than those three.
     
  9. murphyc

    murphyc Well-Known Member

    Last two Thanksgiving mornings I've shot the start of a Turkey Trot event at 8 a.m. I've just done pics of the start (event has about 1,400 participants ranging from serious runners to moms pushing tikes in strollers) and made sure to contact race organizer to send results. Were I to do an actual story, I would call the organizer beforehand to share some story ideas on good people to talk to. Then, as others have noted, make mental notes at the start of people to track down afterwards. Last year there was a guy dressed like a turkey, one of his buddies was dressed like a pilgrim. Pic we used featured those guys prominently, even though neither won.
     
  10. MTM

    MTM Well-Known Member

    Thanks for all the suggestions.
    The article is for a weekly, so I covered the race as an event, and not a competition.
    I got there about and hour before the start and spoke with some competitors. Among others, I found a 14 year old who is trying to run a marathon on each continent (only Antarctica is left) and a 40-something who runs a marathon every weekend.
    After the start, I chatted up the race organizer and a board member for the charity.
    I left an hour into the marathon, right after the start of the half-marathon.
    The races, which were on a loop course around a lake, started in a pouring rain that never stopped. I learned later that they had to stop the race part way through due to the conditions. The son of a friend who was competing left in an ambulance with hypothermia. And this is in Southern California.
    I'll call the organizer again before writing and get results off the Web site.
     
  11. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    I covered an ultramarathon. (100 miles). I was dreading it, because it was a 24-hour event, but it actually became quite fun. I was at the beginning and then I went to the rest stops where they would change their shoes, which were shredded by the end of the race.
     
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