How the Broad Street Run lottery should have been decided

Editor's Note: Inquirer Sports Editor John Quinn is back at it for his third Broad Street Run this year. Here, he'll share his training experience with us.

I give the mala ojo to anyone trying to sell their 2014 Broad Street Run bibs on the black market.

It is reported that some 4,800 interested parties got skunked when they were not picked in the lottery. I entered the first day and got in. One of my cohorts entered the last day and got in. Some who have run 10 or more Broad Streets got shut out.

There could be 40,000 people starting up at Broad and Olney on May 4. I know I will be in the last corral, which gives you a good 15 minutes extra to wait on the nearby bathroom lines.

I say, make the lottery like the Hunger Games. Or steel cage match. Or Survivor.

Have elimination races. I know that I will run a 5k this Sunday in the last race of the Browning Ross Series in Glassboro. Another prep for me will be the Phillies 5k on March 22, then the Back on My Feet 5 miler on March 29 — that race's motto is halfway to Broad Street.

Give runners signed up for these races points toward the lottery. The Kentucky Derby had to go to point system because there were too many people interested. Do it here.

I ran in the Norcross Bridge Run 10k in November. Give me 10 points. I ran in the Rothman 8k two weeks later, give me 8 points. You get 13 points if you ran the half, 26 if you ran in the marathon.

Pick five more races, make up a point system, get some sponsors together and voila, a deserving bonus system tiebreaker.

Having been a novice in 2012, I fully relished the opportunity as a first timer and dragged home in two hours and 15 minutes. Last year — sans a bathroom break that took 20 seconds to execute after a seven-minute wait — I got it down to two hours. I am shooting for 1:55 this time. And I am thankful that I hit the lottery.

Here are some alternatives:

If you were picked in the lottery but want to defer, you know, like the Eagles won the opening coin toss but deferred, so they get the second half kickoff, then go here.

For those who came up empty, here are the bulletin boards:

Buyers can visit here. Sellers can visit here.

If you have run in the race for 10 or more years and got shut out, submit a request to bsrveterans@aol.com by March 1.

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