A race class runs 26.2 miles along an open road. Much harder to secure than a market with walls and doors. Yet over the U.S. and all over the world, from West Bend, Wis., and London this weekend, to Nashville, Tenn., next week and Copenhagen next month, organizers of road races want to figure out how to improve protection after the Boston Marathon bombings. London Marathon director Joel Laine, whose competition occured earlier this month, put it this way Tuesday: "There is a 'before' and 'after-Boston'" from now on. Still, with thousands a' and often countless thousands a' of viewers and entrants scattered along the route, you will find limits to how much can be carried out to protect every one, gathering officers, authorities and runners cautioned. They spoke in lots of interviews with the AP a day after having a couple of bombs went off moments apart close to the finish line in Boston, killing three people, including an 8-year-old child, and injuring more than 170 others. "This is what everybody thought might happen" following the 9/11 attacks, said Tom Derderian, instructor of the Greater Boston Track Club and composer of a book in regards to the Boston Marathon. "This is really a 26-mile foot race. With both sides of the road, that's 52 miles to secure," Derderian said. "How? You can not have everybody proceed through material detectors." Marathons are not just for elite athletes: They have steadily increased in popularity among fun athletes and those raising money for charity. In the aftermath of Monday's attack, which President Barack Obama called an of terrorism, some marathons seen from athletes thinking whether contests will be terminated. However nearly 40 activities, all around the globe, are established because of this weekend alone a including Hamburg, Belgrade, Salt Lake City, Lansing, Mich., and the Jersey Shore. There is no sign that any will be called down. Scott Dickey, CEO of Competitor Group Inc., which manages more than 35 marathons and half marathons around the world, said he's "been in serious discussions already" with the FBI and government organizations "to talk about enhancing security project and personnel" for the St. Jude Nation Music Convention and Half Race in Nashville on April 27. "What we are going to do with yesterday's event is we are going to learn as a result, and we are going to improve, truly in the near term and probably permanently, how many safety personnel, both private and public, at our start lines and finish lines," Dickey said. "We are planning to evaluate the protocol and procedures that are set up and increase and increase them so that we're in an improved position to avoid these types of tragedies from getting place." Susie Smisek, director of September's Omaha Marathon, said Boston does, indeed, change the way in which race managers start their job today. "We'll make certain we've more protection available, that folks are more aware and are aware of the surroundings," Smisek said. "Will it make us more wary in what we do? You bet." Ralph Nealis, director of the Marine Corps Marathon since 1993, pointed to factors that make these races distinctive among sports a' and, therefore, more of challenging to secure. "It is really a participatory activity. At any managing function, particularly Boston, globe champion and Olympic athletes stay at the start point, and at the same time, there's somebody from Boise, Idaho, or Duluth, Minn., that did the qualifying time and have been in the same field, on the same program, in the same temperature as these winners, competing," Nealis said. "In arenas, turnstiles, tough buildings, it is possible to get a handle on who's moving in, and do most of the safety checks and have a secure event," included Nealis, whose race course reductions through Virginia and the country's capital, ending nearby the Iwo Jima Memorial. "On paths, within an open location, once you get 26.2 miles of open space, it's the beauty of the activity and at the same time, in today and age, part of the risk analysis. Unless we choose we are planning to run around a track in quarter-mile coils countless times." The New York City Marathon's finishers grew from not quite 28,000 in 1992 to significantly more than 47,000 in 2011, and organizers estimate they have had up to about 2 million viewers in annually. The competition was not kept in 2012, after Hurricane Sandy struck the location. Based on Running USA's website, an archive 30 marathons had more than 10,000 finishers in 2012, led by Chicago with more than 37,000, adopted by London with more than 36,000. The Honolulu Marathon ranked seventh on that record with just over 24,000. "You can't plan to end every thing, but undoubtedly everybody will look at tightening things up, without a doubt. You've to reach some balances between what's possible and what is possible and what's necessary," said Jim Barahal, leader of December's Honolulu race. "It will probably have effects beyond your workshop world, which in reality is just a very low-profile world. It could occur anywhere, at any time." Dorte Vibjerg, manager of the Copenhagen Marathon, said "the incident in Boston means we shall have significantly more focus on security." "We can never stop anything from happening," she said, "but we can reduce and respond rapidly should anything happen." Lefteris Plakidas, a spokesman for the organization coordinating Sunday's Alexander the Truly Amazing Marathon in Thessaloniki, Greece, voiced the ideas of planners of varied events all over the world when answering a question about whether fail-safe security measures may be implemented: "It is neither probable, nor does it make any sense in Greece. Consider, within our workshop, (half goes) through an commercial region. It's not possible to secure a location like this." "But who might have thought a attack at a marathon," Plakidas included, "a competition of mass activity that is available to everybody else, from players, kids, older people, to people with specific needs?" That association's general assistant, Yiannis Podiotis, said the party spoke to nearby police after Monday's bombing, but there are limits as to the can be carried out. "What could we do, have 10,000 police running behind the runners?" Podiotis asked. About 2,000 athletes are expected for Sunday's gathering and 5-kilometer and 10-kilometer events there. Gold Coast Marathon head Cameron Hart, whose race is expected to attract 30,000 athletes in July, recognized that the strike in Boston raises issues. "The very fabric of having the athletes get past public areas," Hart said, "means it is something that is impossible to lock down." Akira Kazama, general secretary of Japan's track and field federation, said officials will beef up security precautions if needed. Safety at the place and the conclusion line are specially tight, Kazama said, because just registered team and athletes are allowed. Safety employees stand along the course, facing the trail, to attempt to quickly find any such thing suspicious. If protection becomes more stringent, Kazama said, "the great, peaceful atmosphere may be lost. That is unfortunate." Lou Marciani, director of the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security at The University of Southern Mississippi, said there has been plenty of progress since 9/11 a' specially when working to secure stadiums. But large, public functions are specially vulnerable. He explained the international quality of the Boston Marathon could have been one factor in its appeal to the attackers. "It is extremely logical," Marciani said. "If you are going to complete something bad, and you can not enter something just like a ground, you are going to think beyond your box. They went for the soft target." Marciani wants tighter stability at all major sports in the coming months a and, yes, there have been increased police at football stadiums and NHL circles by Monday evening a' but a targeted program will not be developed until a complete report originates from Boston. No matter what law enforcement decides about Boston, Marciani needs finish and start lines at marathons to obtain the biggest focus. That is going to function as the case for the 275 roughly runners who will take part in the Adrenaline Marathon and other races Sunday in West Bend, Wis., according to coordinator Mary Simon. There may well be more bag investigations there, too. Simon was pleased to see about 20 additional athletes enroll in the aftermath of Boston's bombing. "One of the advantages of these marathons is which they are free and are available to people. That's why we have hundreds and thousands of people come out and watch them. I can't observe how that's planning to change. It is part of the whole ethos of just what a mass-participation workshop is about," mentioned Nick Bitel, leader of the London Marathon. "What you have to complete is make proper and reasonable safety measures in light of the threats," he added, "and that is what we'll be doing on Sunday." ___ AP Sports Writers Andrew Dampf, Lynn De Bruin, Charlie Douglas, Jim Graham, Bob Lehourites, Janie McCauley, January Olsen, Eric Olson, Dennis Passa, Jerome Pugmire, Karl Ritter, Nesha Starcevic and Teresa Walker, Related Media Authors Carrie Antlfinger, Mark Brandt, Malcolm Foster, Oskar Garcia, Costas Kantouris, William T. Kole, Mark Mercer, Luke Sheridan and Mari Yamaguchi, and AP Analyst Jennifer Farrar led for this statement.
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