The Little Rock Marathon, like many other races across the country, is stepping up security this year in light of last year’s bombings in Boston, but organizers say most people won’t notice much change from previous years.
Additional security measures will include bag searches and an undisclosed number of bomb-sniffing dogs, but the number of security officials won’t change. About 360 officers from the Little Rock and North Little Rock police departments and a private security firm will staff the event - the same as last year.
Marathon directors across the nation have added security measures in the wake of last April’s two bombs hidden inside bags or backpacks that exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
“Everyone stepped it up a bit. A lot of the big races have already done the things that are going on now such as the bomb-sniffing dogs and stuff, but everyone took whatever they had and just made it a little more secure,” said Bart Yasso, with Runner’s World magazine. He attends a marathon almost every weekend and will be a speaker at this year’s Little Rock Marathon, which takes place Saturday and Sunday.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will station three or more staff members in the Little Rock Marathon’s mobile incident command center this year,said Executive Director Gina Marchese Pharis. That’s new from previous years, Marchese Pharis said.
The Little Rock Police Department will supply the bomb-sniffing dogs. Marchese Pharis said the Police Department doesn’t share its security plan with marathon directors, and police officials declined to comment about this year’s security strategy for this article.
However, Marchese Pharis said visitors are urged not to take purses or bags to the race. All such bags will be subject to search at any time during the event. Security sweeps will be conducted throughout the day, and race participants will be required to use see-through bags to hold their gear.
Marchese Pharis said that while security needed to be increased this year, her goal is to not let it take over the race. “We don’t want to take the fun out of it. Marathons are supposed to be fun,” she said.
‘WANT TO FEEL SECURE’
Marchese Pharis and co-director Geneva Lamm regularly attend a marathon management meeting in Chicago to learn what other race organizers are doing and have incorporated some of what they’ve learned into the Little Rock Marathon.
Yasso said race participants have been receptive to marathons’ stepped-up security measures, and the changes haven’t ruined the spirit of the races.
“I’m glad to hear what Little Rock is doing. That’s actually the proper thing to do. All the runners want to feel secure. They don’t want to be strip-searched, obviously, but they want to feel secure. … I’ve never found it invasive, actually, it’s more of a nice, secure feeling, to be honest,” Yasso said. “Almost every race I’ve went to since Boston, they always did a moment of silence for Boston, and the runners are more determined than ever. It rallied a community more than divided a community.”
Jacob Wells, a Little Rock accountant active in the marathon community, was four blocks away when the bombs exploded in Boston, killing three people and injuring at least 264 others. He has participated in and hosted several races since then, and said that while the experience made him cautious, he’s not afraid to run in this year’s Little Rock Marathon.
“I still have moments when something happens and I’m a little creeped out by it, like if something is loud and explodes … but the chance of that happening was one in a million and unfortunately it happened. But the overreaction like getting home from the airports after Boston was crazy. If there was a drink sitting by itself, they would send the bomb squad. Little Rock is not a target,” Wells said.
Between 30,000 and 35,000 people are expected to flock to downtown Little Rock next weekend, with 11,700 participating in races Sunday and 3,300 in Saturday races. It’s comparable in size to the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, which anticipates about 45,000 participants and visitors during its race weekend.
Oklahoma’s Director of Security Leon Gillum said his marathon’s security presence was heightened in 2013, just weeks after the Boston Marathon bombings. But this year, while extra security is planned, it won’t be as intense.
Organizers of the Oklahoma City marathon, scheduled for April 27, are encouraging visitors to leave bags at home. Bags at the race will be subject to search, and all runners will use transparent backpacks.
BECOMING THE NORM
Gillum guessed that added security measures instituted in the past several months at marathons will become the norm.
“Any kind of those tragic events, they set their own waves of motion. An incident should encourage some sort of reaction, and that’s unfortunately what we’re into. We’re into a reactionary response to [the Boston bombings], and it becomes normal. Like the TSA [Transportation Security Administration] and the screening at airports” in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “It becomes second nature, and it unfortunately becomes part of your protocol,” Gillum said.
In Boston this year, the marathon scheduled for April 21 will have more security than most. The National Guard will send armed troops to that event for the first time in more than a decade, and there will be more bomb-sniffing dogs, undercover officers and surveillance cameras than before, according to The Boston Globe.
Gillum said almost all of the feedback he received about increased security at the Oklahoma marathon last year was positive.
“I think what you had was a tremendous community and national response that we are not going to let this event overshadow us,” he said. “We are going to go through with it. That’s what we are going to do.”
The Little Rock Marathon route stretches 26.2 miles. Participants start in the River Market District, cross the Broadway Bridge into North Little Rock’s Argenta neighborhood, then head back into Little Rock, where they will run through downtown, out to the Hillcrest neighborhood, then to the riverfront area past Rebsamen Park and back, finally ending in the city’s Riverfront Park.
More than 250 security-post positions will be set up along the route. Four medical-aid stations will be set up and staffed by about 75 medical personnel.
The starting line will be off-limits to spectators, a change from years past. Marchese Pharis said the change is just as much about helping runners get into their chutes as adding security. Also, while marathon coordinators have always discouraged spectators from walking onto the race course or running with family members across the finish line, officials will more strictly enforce the “family run-ins” this year.
About 33 percent of race participants are from out of state. Last year, all 50 states and 36 countries were represented. The race is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon.
Wells said racers and visitors shouldn’t let the security changes overshadow a great event.
“It’s sad we end up talking about things like this instead of what a great race this is and what a great thing for Little Rock this is,” he said. “To me, the Little Rock Marathon is the biggest day of the year. It’s so important and so much fun.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/24/2014