Meet Kate Saccany

How Ham Radio came to the Chicago Marathon!

Kate Saccany is a runner and a ham radio operator, K8SLF, (formerly KC9IQF). Most people don’t know that she is largely responsible for getting ham radio back involved with the Chicago Marathon. She is one of handful of ham radio people who have supported the ham radio effort since the beginning. She talks about how ham radio was invited to oserve back in 2007, when the race had to be stopped because of the heat.

“I ran all of the Chicago Marathons starting in 1998 till 2007 and so I was in the famous “Meltdown Marathon” so called because of the heat. And frankly, I almost didn't go to the start line because I looked at the forecast and I knew it was going to be a disaster because I knew what I was in for as a runner. I knew that a lot of people were going to go on to that course with very little or poor training. They think it is a 26-mile party and they weren't taking it seriously. That's exactly what I saw. I was standing with the 9 minute per mile pace group that day. And looked around and there were women in long black yoga pants and black hats, just completely inappropriate for this event. And you could even feel the heat radiating off their bodies just standing there at the start line. I really wanted to walk off the course, but I was running for charity, and I really felt obligated that I had to be out there.”

It was 85 degrees when the race started, and Kate said that the organizers told the runners to slow down because of the heat. That was not her choice because she knew the course and thought she would be largely in the shade till about mile 12. So, she ran at her normal pace.

“And the worst part of the course is when you make the turn from Wacker on to Jackson and you head West on Jackson, all of those tall buildings go away. You're out in the sun. So, I started walking. That's roughly the halfway marker and what you usually see are one or two walkers at that stage. Instead, the entire course was walking. You know, I've never seen anything like it.”

How did they stop the race?

“They communicated clearly, but the technique could use some work! I had just turned the corner in Pilsen, and I think I was going down Halsted. I was at the mile 22.5 marker, and I remember distinctly when I turned that corner. There used to be a bank time and temperature clock on that corner. One of the old-fashioned neon types and the temperature read 100 degrees! At that point, of course, everybody was walking and frankly, I didn't want to see any more water to drink.  However, what water was around I kept pouring it on myself. There was water everywhere. There was no shortage of water. I was dumping it all on and all of a sudden, a line of cops appeared with Billy clubs. They went across the entire course, and they stopped everybody that was walking towards them, and they took their Billy clubs and pointed to these buses that were starting to show up and said get on that bus, the race is over. “

After the race, Carey Pinkowski, the Race Director, personally invited many of the people who had sent him letters of complaint for a personal debrief. He offered a pair of running shoes for their time. What he learned convinced him that the event had to make major changes. First, he discovered that no one ever reads any of the pre-race information materials. He asked some of his counterparts from other major Marathons around the world how they communicate on course? Some used Family radios but generally, the medical people really didn’t use radios. They preferred to treat patients. Then he discovered that almost all of the major races used ham radio. Kate continued:

“So he mentioned that to me, and I reached out to somebody who's been trained in emergency communication. So that's when I came to you (Rob Orr) and said, are you interested in this?”

Rob brought Craig Dieckman and Jerry Martin from the Lake County RACES organization together and they began planning how hams could support the 2008 event. This was in August and the event was in October. It was a very hectic two months. This year we celebrate our 15-year serving this event.