Timing Problems Dog Broad Street Run

It seems that timing problems could have killed the runner’s high for some Broad Street Run finishers.

Forget about the heat and humidity -- alleged timing problems have dogged the annual run.

Some runners who tackled the 10-mile run on Sunday claimed that they weren’t properly timed during the BSR.

In the past, BSR runners were given a chip to put on their shoes but this year the race went to a scoring chip attached to the runners’ race number bibs.

Runners crossed over strips at the starting and finishing lines that were supposed to record specific times electronically so that people could start at different waves and still get exact times.

Runner Kimberly Hickey, 25, was one of the runners who claimed to be timed wrong. She finished the race around 66 minutes, which should have landed her easily into the top-100 women -- she would get elite status for next year’s race. But, she saw no time by Monday, she claimed.

Originally organizers said that there were some glitches with the chips. But later in the day Race Director Jim Marino said that very few complaints were made about scoring times.

"The scoring company said that they are currently researching 17 outstanding issues out of the over 26,000 runners who finished," Marino said. "This year the results are even cleaner than prior years and the company has told me they have a 99.8 percent success rate."

Organizers were working to fix the timing issues but their main concern was with the three-dozen runners who wound up in the hospital, Marino said.

It seems that by Tuesday morning some of the issues were fixed -- Hickey’s 1:06:32 time was posted and she should now be qualified as an elite runner for next year’s run.

But, as of Tuesday afternoon, there was still no time registered for 27-year-old Colin Patrick of Manayunk. So all the problems don't seem solved.

Anyone else who sees inaccuracies in their time should contact race organizers, they said.

Contact Us