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Time to fix the Philadelphia marathon

On Nov. 1, the Philadelphia Marathon shut down registration for its marathon, half marathon and 8k. This was done three weeks before race weekend despite the full marathon and 8k still having 900 and 300 spots open, respectively. The half marathon sold out in the last few hours registration was open.

Runners wait to start the Philadelphia Marathon, Sunday Nov. 23, 2014, in Philadelphia.  (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek)
Runners wait to start the Philadelphia Marathon, Sunday Nov. 23, 2014, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/ Joseph Kaczmarek)Read more

On Nov. 1, the Philadelphia Marathon shut down registration for its marathon, half marathon and 8k. This was done three weeks before race weekend despite the full marathon and 8k still having 900 and 300 spots open, respectively. The half marathon sold out in the last few hours registration was open.

This should not be happening. The fifth-largest city in the country should have sold-out races, especially at a time when the sport of running is booming.

Registration was closed Nov. 1 so that race officials would "have an accurate count when ordering runner food, water, and other supplies," Lauren Cox, race spokesperson, wrote in an e-mail.

This isn't the first time they're putting on the races, and they should be able to estimate how much stuff they'll need based on past events. The earliest I've ever seen online registration close before a non-sellout race is one week (that's the Gasparilla Distance Classic in Tampa, which uses the same registration company as the Philadelphia Marathon, and they still allow sign-ups at the race expo if the races haven't sold out). Shutting down registration early is just leaving money on the table.

The cost of the marathon was $145. So that's $130,500 in registration fees possibly lost if they sold out. The cost of the 8k on Nov. 1 was $35. So that's $10,500 in registration fees possibly lost if they sold out.

Now that we've got that out of the way: these races should all be selling out, despite, as Cox said, the marathon and half marathon having larger fields than they did in 2012.

"Since the Full Marathon did not sell out in 2013, registration goals remained the same for that race in 2014," she wrote.

That's setting a pretty low bar of expectations, especially given what's happened at other city races. The Chicago Marathon, Houston Marathon and Marine Corps Marathon (Washington, D.C.) have recently switched to lotteries because the demand for those events was so great. Nationwide, U.S. marathons had 541,000 finishers and half marathons had 1.96 million finishers in 2013. Compare that to the number of finishers five years before: 425,000 and 900,000, respectively.

In Philadelphia, we've seen that in the Broad Street 10 Mile run. From 2008 to 2013, the number of finishers jumped 67 percent. For the 2013 race, they, too, added a lottery.

Still, the demand just doesn't exist for what should be Philadelphia's premiere marathon and half marathon.

That's because they're not evolving at a time of increased competition. The city now has three road half marathons aside from the Philly Half, and there are new November marathons and half marathons in Washington Crossing, N.J. and Trenton.

Plus, a lot of marathoners just don't want to run a full marathon that is run on the same course at the same time as a half marathon, especially given that the half marathon field is now larger than the marathon.

The Philadelphia Marathon could get back into sell out shape in a few ways.

First, don't cut registration off before the race is full. That's easy.

Second, separate the half from the full by either running the half on Saturday and the full on Sunday, or doing a staggered start so that the races aren't so crowded when everyone is running together through Center City, South Philadelphia, Old City and University City together.

Third, take the race out of the Mayor's Office. They just don't have the resources, so in June, I proposed turning the November races over to Parks and Recreation, which puts on the Broad Street Run. This would consolidate resources instead of having two city offices put on two different races, and allow that money saved to be used in hiring a full time crew.

Finally, give the race a staff. Figuring out how to put on a better race takes time, experience and man power, and these races don't have those things. The Philadelphia Marathon still does not have a full-time race director. In comparison, the Houston Marathon, which has a full and half marathon about the same size as those in Philadelphia, has a full-time staff of 11 people with a nine-person volunteer advisory board. Just having more people - and more experienced people - would lead to a better race experience, and end out-of-date practices like closing registration three weeks early.

The Philadelphia Runner, a running store that has two locations in Philadelphia, has started a twitter hashtag for the marathon called #ourmarathon. That's a nice idea, but a hashtag isn't going to fix the marathon. Without serious change, these races will continue fall far short of their potential, and bring less money into the city that desperately needs it.