If you were signed up to run the ING New York City Marathon this year, you can pick up your medal at the New York Road Runners' (NYRR) office at East 89th street. And even if you weren't signed up for the race, you still might be able to snag a medal.
Despite the cancellation of the run in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the NYRR has made medals available to runners who stop by the 89th street offices. But the distribution process is quite informal, and some runners say they weren't even asked for identification when they dropped in to pick up their medals.
"They had you write down your name, so I wrote down mine and my friend's name," Bernadette Rivosecchi, a registered runner, told the Wall Street Journal. "The pad of paper I wrote our names on was pretty thick. I wonder if they're going to check if all those names were registered."
Rivosecchi was not asked to show identification, and neither was Helen Dole, who also picked up her medal this week.
"A staff member took my name down in a notebook and gave me a medal," Dole told Runner's World Newswire. "I didn't show ID."
While some runners are happy to receive their prize, others are debating the merits of taking home a medal for a race that was never run.
"Demanding a medal for a race you didn't even run is absolutely pathetic," wrote one person on the message boards of LetsRun.com.
An NYRR spokesman confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that medals are available, but he said runners would have to present their name and bib number.
"After the Marathon was cancelled in the wake of Hurricane Sandy's devastation to our City, we wanted to make the medals available to any of our runners who want them as a way of saying thank you for their understanding," NYRR said in a statement. "The medals were printed far in advance of the Marathon date."
(H/T to Barstool Sports)