Runners outraged over road race’s Facebook post

The running community didn’t take kindly to a Massapequa Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot Facebook post recently.

The Turkey Trot, a popular term for Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 23, 2017 in the United States) races, happened in Massapequa, N.Y. The day before the event, they shared the following message as a type of race instructions to its social media page on Wednesday.

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“On occasions, we are asked, ‘where do I stand at the start of the race?’ Basically, we ask that better runners move to the front. Who are the better runners? The better runners are wearing a tank top that says ‘Runner’s Edge,’ and [are] looking at their watch. In addition, they are often skinny.

“You should stand towards the back if the following is true about you:

– You are wearing the shirt we gave you;
– You are wearing a sweatshirt with a hood;
– You purchased your sneakers at Kohl’s;
– You were eating a bagel before the race;
– You are capable of drinking water at the water stop because you have stopped to drink water at the water stop;
– You are hoping to finish in under one hour;
– When you have run in the past, you do so with a police escort, directly behind you;
– You have finished a race in the past and your mom is the only one left at the finish line.

Hope this helps.”

I hope @runnersedge doesn’t agree with this. This is just downright rude and disrespectful to any runner. I’m also bummed cause this is in @LLSusa run as well. pic.twitter.com/ZzYuWQlbkc

— pastrychef_dani (@pastrychef_dani) November 23, 2017

Immediately, Facebook users began commenting on the post, which the race, a 5K which raises money for cancer research, deleted. “Because the subject post is not representative of us or our race, we are deleting [it] from our page any and all re-posts,” the race explained in a comment.

Comments include: “This is just downright rude,” “I’m disgusted by this,” “How dare you shame those that may not live up to your standards,” and “That’s just plain rude! Not even remotely funny.”

I’m disgusted by this. I would say I hope this is a joke but even then I would be disgusted by it. https://t.co/lIRhnoQmBz

— Dorothy Beal • I Run This Body® (@MilePosts) November 23, 2017

The race posted an apology to its Facebook page on Nov. 22 saying “it was insensitive and inappropriate and we are deeply sorry for the hurt it caused.” There are more than 170 comments on the apology post, which can be seen below.

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