Marine Corps Marathon Fills Up In Less Than Three Hours

Technical issues and glitches plague the race Web site during registration.

The 2013 Marine Corps Marathon is still eight months away, but the race is already breaking records.

Runners could gain entry into the race starting Wednesday, and the 30,000-person field filled up in 2 hours, 27 minutes — the fastest for a major marathon in history.

Registration on the race Web site started at noon ET and technical issues and glitches soon appeared, however, which left many runners frustrated and without an entry. Receiving error messages and getting logged out were some of the common problems runners reported on social media.

Hours after the race was filled up, race officials released a statement regarding the registration woes:

Marine Corps Marathon registration opened today at noon following a month of comprehensive planning and testing with registration partner ACTIVE Network. Recognizing the challenges another large marathon dealt with during their registration, the MCM supervised a substantial effort by ACTIVE Network to best ensure runner satisfaction. While the event sold out in record time, many runners experienced the frustration of error messages, slow-loading webpages and connection drops. The MCM celebrates the enthusiasm of the running community for “The People’s Marathon” but cannot enjoy the success of this quick registration sell out. This online experience is inconsistent with the organizational excellence that has become the hallmark of the Marine Corps Marathon. Everything regarding the MCM registration process will be reexamined for future years.

The question is, will the 2013 winners run the 26.2-mile course in a time faster than the race filled?

For more: Runner’s World