Boston Marathon 2012: Organizers Must Consider Early-Morning Start Time

Not even the fastest marathoner in the world was able to withstand the heat at the 2012 Boston Marathon. As reported by the Associated Press, famed Kenyan runner Geoffrey Mutai had to drop out of the race due to bad cramps.

Mutai wasn't the only one who pulled out of the race. It was reported by The Boston Globe that roughly 800 runners sought medical attention during the marathon. By 3:30 in the afternoon, 50 people had been taken to hospitals via ambulances.

In all, the Globe says that "dozens" fell victim to illnesses in the "unusual heat."

And it was hot. Temperatures rose into the high 80s, slowing down the entire race. Wesley Korir won the men's race with a time of two hours, 12 minutes, 40 seconds, a time nearly 10 minutes slower than Mutai's course record in 2011.

Several thousand people decided not to run at all. According to the AP, nearly 27,000 people registered to run in the marathon, and fewer than 23,000 bothered to show up for the start. Had the extra 4,000 or so shown up, it stands to reason the race's medical personnel would have had to deal with even more trouble.

It's nobody's fault that the weather was warm. But having to deal with it is always going to be a risk given the race's relatively late start time. Most runners don't get started until the 10:00-11:00 a.m. range, meaning most runners aren't finishing until late in the afternoon. Along the way, they're running with the sun directly overhead for a good portion of the race.

Most years, this isn't a problem. But this year's race is not the first to be plagued with hot weather. One race in the early 1900s was run in temperatures reaching into the upper 90s. Another in 1976 was run in 100-degree heat.

There's only one way event organizers can avoid having the race run in hot weather, and that's by having it start at a much earlier hour. The organizers have already moved the start of the race back from around noon, and they need to give some serious thought to moving the start time again.

Having the marathon start earlier in the morning would be nothing out of the ordinary as far as marathons go, especially when a given race is being run in a warm climate. The Honolulu Marathon starts at 5:00 a.m. The San Francisco Marathon (which I'll be running in), starts before 6:00 a.m. The Los Angeles Marathon starts late, but it still gets underway before 8 a.m.

I understand the problems of starting the Boston Marathon so early. It's no ordinary marathon, so it doesn't get ordinary media coverage. The race needs to be a spectacle, and it's hard to make a spectacle of something that starts when a lot of people are just waking up.

But the runners have to come first. The start of the race was changed in 2007 exactly because organizers wanted to give runners cooler temperatures to run in. It became clear on Monday that there's still room for improvement.

Don't think this is a big deal? Think again. I've never run the Boston Marathon, but I was there in 2004 when temperatures were as high as they were today. Merely standing on the side of the road watching runners go past was taxing. The thought that the runners going by had 26.2 miles to run struck me as being absurd.

If the start of the race is moved a few hours earlier, event organizers won't have to worry themselves with any such absurdity.