NYC Marathon 2012 cancellation

So, I want to have a moan- after shelling out £1000s to do the NYC marathon, I'm quite annoyed that the resolution is a choice of refund, or guaranteed entry but you have to pay again.  For sure I'll be taking the refund, and not venturing to NY to do that marathon again, but I ask, with the excessive field, and the (partial) removal of handling your baggage, how is this still considered a World Marathon Major?  I've done London and Berlin, and they were both excellent, but even before NYC was cancelled I was anxious about it due to having to arrive at the start 3 hours before runnning and not having a chance to keep some clothes on  that I could retrieve at the end, given it was a cold November morning.

I think we should resolve to open up the idea of Marathon Majors, that have the designation because of excellent organisation and runner experience.  Perhaps we could have 'British Marathon Majors'- I hear great reviews for the Halstead and Essex I'll be doing next year.  Or what about 'European Marathon Majors' - there's a marathon in virtually every major European City, yet its only London and Berlin which are globally popularised.  It seems unfair that 3 of the 6 marathon majors are in the USA - Anyone have recommendations of which marathons they would consider a 'British Marathon Major' or a 'European Marathon Major', as I'm looking for future races to do that wont cost me the earth!

I've only ran two majors Berlin & Chicago (will be doing number three next year at London), but as much as I enjoyed those events the "major" tag is just branding. I ran Paris last year which in terms of structure, support and size of field was every bit the equal of the two "majors".

I also think it depends on what you want from a race as well. Do you need the huge field and crowd support? If so you want big city marathons. If not there is a wealth of other options. I also love the Amsterdam marathon, which is a far smaller event than those already mentioned. The Midnight Sun marathon in Tromso is very small, but to me would be an amazing experience. I personally disliked Edinburgh, which is desperately trying to be London Mark II.

Any US marathon, let alone the majors, will be much more expensive than UK. Many of the European Maras are pricy too. RW has produced a number of top ten city/world mara lists and I can recommend all of the following, taken from their recommendations: London, Paris, Berlin, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Boston, Washington, Chicago, New Your and Honolulu. Long weekends can cover most but recommend longer for Chicago and Honolulu. My top 3 are Paris, Chicago and Boston.

Angela- I must say that as much as I was horribly upset about the late cancellation I am very pleased that they are offering a full refund. Legally they didn't have to do it. But then I'm not interested in running it again, I can understand why you would be disappointed if you wanted to.

Like Tinselelt says- there are so many other great maras out there for a fraction of the price. I ended up running the San Sebastian marathon in Spain after the NY fiasco and absolutely loved it. Great organisation, very strong field and a beautiful city. Who needs NY!

Which are the Majors ? I've only run London - what does the Major mean to the average runner ?

cougie wrote (see)

Which are the Majors ? I've only run London - what does the Major mean to the average runner ?

It's a branding exercise, but the current majors are NYC, Boston, Chicago, London, Berlin & Tokyo. Tokyo was only added as a major this year.

I would doubt many are fussed about an event being a major, but for many their high profile and often TV coverage makes them a huge draw. The two I've raced I wasn't bothered about the major status at all. Chicago I ran as I love the city and it was a great excuse to race and go on holiday. Berlin I ran as at the time I wanted to experience a big city event (it was my 7th marathon and none I had done previously ran had been the 30k+ runners type events) and the fact it had a reputation as a fast course.

I did Florence marathon in November and can't recommend it enough, It's Italy's second largest marathon.  9000 took part this year and apart from being a well organised and flat race it is a beautiful place to visit for a long weekend.

Majors is a term coined by the organisers...I believe it's a rolling 2 year competition for the international athletes, 1pt for 1st, 2 for 2nd etc and big cash prizes available...only introduced a few years ago.
http://www.worldmarathonmajors.com/UK/

Majors - I also wanted to complete each cos you can get a cool certificate with them all on, and your name on a list... but I guess I could just make my own certificate of the marathons I've completed.  It was always my goal to see the world through running, so NYC was a must, that being said I'd been to NY many times before, so it was annoying that I didn't choose to do the Cyprus 4 day challenge instead, which is what I was deciding between when I booked over a year ago.

Thanks for the recommendations on the others - I do like going to the States, as I have a lot of friends and family there, its just a shame that If  I want to do NYC it will cost me exactly the same or more than it did this time, rather than the same minus the entry fee...

Well I'm going to see if I can handle a marathon with a field of only a few hundred - I prefer smaller fields for shorter distances, but in the 2 marathons I have done, I really found the support really helped in those last few miles...

As participant of Tokyo Marathon in 2010, 2011, 2012 and signed up again for 2013 (its first time with world marathon major status), I can definitely recommend it. Great organisation (as you would expect of the Japanese), huge friendly crowds to support runners, fantastic entertainment around the entire course, and a quick course which goes right through the heart of Tokyo. I dont have a single criticism to aim at the event!

And to top it off, there are few better places to celebrate your achievement than Tokyo! Those guys are nuts!