2016 Boilermaker Wrap-Up

The 2016 Boilermaker is officially in the books and President Tim Reed says 11,360 runners crossed the finish line on Sunday - the exact same amount as 2012.

99% percent of the field finished the race making it one of the smoothest Boilermakers we've seen according to Reed, who says it is the volunteers who make it all possible.

"I would say this was probably one of the smoothest Boilermakers we've seen, Reed said. "I cannot say enough in regards to the support that we received from the local state and federal levels dealing with both public safety and medical services, that just really is incredibly important. You cannot have an event like this where you're talking about almost doubling the population of the City of Utica without everybody working hand-in-glove. From the bottom of my heart and from all the runners that these people will never see, that you took their safety into account is truly touching."

Medical Director Dr. John Detraglia says the cooler weather played a large part in making things go smoothly and they only saw 80 people in the medical tent - a large drop from years past where the medical tent usually sees 100-200 patients.

In fact, the medical tent saw a significant drop in visits this year with only 4 people per 1,000 finishers needing assistance. In 2014 that number was 10 people per 1,000 finishers and in 2015 it was at 9 per 1,000 finishers needing medical assistance.

Reed and Race Director Jim Stasitis said they are now looking ahead to the 40th Running of the Boilermaker in 2017 which will have some 'tweaks,' but should be just as smooth as this year.