BICYCLE SPOTTER AND ESCORT PROGRAM

Years ago, if anyone was seen riding a bicycle on the BAA Boston Marathon course during the race, they would be yanked off the course in a second. The rule was “absolutely no bikes on the course!” 

However, today we use about 30 appropriately credentialed cyclists on the course. They serve many purposes: spotters for the media, guides for the our wheelchair and mobility impaired participants, directional guides to ensure all runners are following the course, and trail escorts to support the slower participants and to communicate to us where the last runners are on the course. 

This program has been priceless in what it has been able to provide to the race. It is even more valuable today given all the separate starts in our race (mobility impaired, wheelchairs, elite women, wave 1 and wave 2). I have now been using cyclists in my races for about 10 years and ever since I started using them I can’t recall any runners going off course or getting lost. Having knowledgeable and experienced cyclists (some even with a medical background) with communications out on the course has also raised my/our level of confidence and comfort about everything going well after the gun fires.