Jeff Holbrook's Staging Area

Space Force Team really needs to takes ques from the Marine Corps marathon. They know how to produce a race. I heard the biggest complaint the first year was logistics and transportation issues. Here again in 2023 at the second event, logistics and transportation was yet again terrible. Myself and another active military member signed up for the race. We get to the race location and park on the skid strip. So far so good. We get parked and have to walk east where there is a line forming to catch one bus (let me repeat that, “one bus”. You get on this bus to be driven maybe a 1/4 mile t get off the bus and then go through I believe it was four metal detectors where there was a total of six or more buses waiting to pick you up and then drive you to the start line. After waiting in line for four bus rotations we decided to leave as this was a huge waste of time and the fact that a lot of people hydrating the weeks and days before had no place to use the restroom was embarrassing. People had to get out of line and go to the grassy south side of the skid strip to use the bathroom. As we were driving to the exit I’m almost certain everyone did not have time to get on a bus to get off a bus to get on a buss and to get off a bus again. I can’t imagine the walk or bus ride back to the skid strip after the race was completed. Never in 30 years of running and racing have I ever seen a more disorganized event. We got a race bib, a patch, and a cheap race shirt. I seriously hope they work the kinks out because our guys that work on the Cape will not be running that race until we know there have been significant changes. I’ll give them the benegfit of the doubt considering this is the second race. However, there are organizations like the Marine Corps that have been doing races for close to 50 years now. Also, Florida being a big racing community, there are plenty of resources to tap into regarding how to effectively move people for a race and provide proper restroom facilities.