Boilermaker Recap

    "I just thought the 35th was spectacular." We didn't see any course records fall or photo finishes, but did we really need to? What began with 782 people in chapter one has multiplied to over 11,000  in the 35^th  chapter. But this book is far from over and there were new additions to this year's race that overall, appeared to be successful.

            Race Director Jim Stasaitis says, "I thought everything went very smoothly, like I said we have a few little glitches in the transfer thing but nothing seriously just a little tweaking here and there, the cap worked out great and MVCC was fantastic."

            To go along with celebrating 35 years the Boilermaker staff decided to allow the largest number of registrants in race history.  So far next year's cap is not set - but race officials expect it will sell out quickly again.

            Stasitis says, "But then getting the word out because this year filled up in nine weeks. I'm predicting six weeks and that's a trend for all the major races that they are filling up faster and faster and within a few years it might be going the way of Boston where this thing is filling up in hours."

            And that cap is the number that at times can torture a race director, because odds are runners bring family and friends with them and there's only so much space to fit the masses.

            Executive Director Tim Reed says, "It's much more than ok it took us 14 minutes to clear the shoot, is that the inhibiting factor. At the end of the day really the inhibiting factor for us is really the post-race party. We use the number of one and a half, so every soul that crosses that finish line brings one more person really the narrow end of the funnel is the post-race party. How much more can we hold there, how much more can we deal with."