Serious Crowding at Hood to Coast

The Hood to Coast Relay expanded by 250 extra teams this year. That's 3000 extra runners on the course! And 500 extra vans!

Now, you would think that someone would have thought to think, "Hmmm, maybe this could cause some congestion problems..."

You think?

Oh boy, here comes the pain:

First, the Oregonian talks about the main issue: too many runners. I give HTC spokesperson Jude Hubber credit here; he seems to realize they made a mistake. And it sounds like they're going to drop the number of teams back down next year.

The Oregonian Running Bloggers get into the discussion here and here and here. They make some good points, but man, the reader comments are just brutal at times.

Hey, let's face it, the HTC seems to have overstepped the team limit, that's clear. But enough with the "they're just in it for the money!" crap. A race like this is hugely expensive to run and find me another race that donates $500,000 to their charity. Go ahead, find one.

There isn't another one. HTC gives a lot of money to a good cause. People need to hold that up in front. It's a touch more important than the "all those HTC runners are so entitled and rude" comments.

Let's hope Hood to Coast shrinks it up a bit next year and we get a more positive light shining on the running community once again.