Running Events - Sportsmanship?

[Deborajen]

I re-read my post - It didn't make much sense. (Sorry!)

It's not so much that people aren't cheering. What gets me is that the event is on mostly closed neighborhood streets and the only people allowed on and along the streets are the participants and volunteers - no spectators (except, of course, the people who live in the neighborhood can be in their own front yards ). However, people who have finished the race, instead of hanging out around the finish line or in the big parking lot at the finish line, walk up in the yards against the flow of running traffic back towards the start line. I think it's actually against the race rules to walk or run in grass along the street - it's mostly private property. And it seems like if spectators aren't allowed there, participants who have finished the race shouldn't be there, either. It seems disrespectful to both the residents of the neighborhood and also to the participants who haven't completed the event.