Runner times will be addressed on a case-by-case basis, Via said.
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Some people were held up for multiple minutes and they hoped their times could be adjusted so they would still be able to enter the Boston Marathon. The race continues eastward through Bethlehem and finishes in Easton and is a qualifier for the Boston Marathon.
Some runners hit a road block – literally – as a Norfolk Southern train crossed the path in the seventh mile of the race.
Marathon organizers said they gathered information from affected runners and shared it with the Boston Athletic Association.
“We have communicated to the race organizers out there that we will accept unadjusted times for the objective of qualifying for the Boston Marathon”, Fleming said.
He noted the Boston Marathon refused to accept adjusted times for participants of the Santa Rosa Marathon that went off course and actually logged an extra 0.9 mile.
“You put in so much time, money and training and you put your body through a lot, especially with this summer we had, and to just watch it tick away”, runner Charlie Young said to Lehigh Valley Live. Qualifying times are based on gender and age.
Just before 8 a.m. Sunday, a freight train crossed Albert Street near Allentown’s Canal Park and cut off some runners for less than 10 minutes. Norfolk Southern Railway, the company which told organizers that there would be no traveling trains during the marathon, is looking into how a train traveled through the marathon.
The 10th annual Via Marathon was held in the Lehigh Valley.
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[One runner] saw at least seven runners scramble over the train, some stepping back to take a running jump as it moved by.
