Since everyone else is hitting on this subject, I thought I'd throw my two cents in. We all know what this is about so I'm just going to jump right in...
First off, this post is not in anyway meant to single out anybody. It is simply my opinions on the issue. As they say, opinions are like [explicative] everyone has one.
It seems to me that the majority opinion here is that a Finisher's Medal is just that, a medal awarded to those who finished a race. I agree with that opinion. I understand all of the hard work that goes into preparing for one of these things. I understand the pain and anguish that one must put into a race. I understand that everyone has bad races and can't always finish. That's terrible and I feel sorry for those people, but they did not finish the race, so in my opinion, they don't deserve a medal. It's just like college... You don't pass your classes, then you don't get a diploma.
Last year at the 2010 Half, they were not giving out medals to anyone except finishers. I made a point to ask because my grandmother was swept. I wasn't upset then. She didn't finish, so she wasn't supposed to get one. I just felt that a 68 year old woman who is 30 pounds over weight, trained for over a year and a half, and completed 11 miles in the most grueling conditions I have ever seen deserved something... so I asked if I could get her one. The volunteer said that she couldn't have one because she didn't finish. I felt that was fair, so I thanked the volunteer and left it at that.
In October, I knew that non-finishers were getting medals, but I brushed that off as the race being the inaugural, and moved on. But then I found out about the same thing happening in January. I was pissed. Totally pissed. But not at anyone in particular. The blame is totally Disney's here. This is a huge screwup on their part. Either give out medals to everyone or just finishers, but pick a stance and stick to it! Disney needs some consistency with this. As much as I love running at Disney, they have been making some big screwups over the past few years and they really need to reexamine their policies.
Just my two cents.
