Tragedy at the Boston Marathon less than a month before Indianapolis’ Mini-Marathon has caused a reason to reevaluate security.
The Indianapolis 500 Mini-Marathon is scheduled to take place May 4, with an expected turnout of 35,000 participants.
“Right now there are no threats to the city of Indianapolis,” said Indianapolis Public Safety Director Troy Riggs. “What we will do is monitor the situation in Boston; we will learn if there is anything we can do to strengthen our security measures.”
Riggs said his office is trying to put together information so they can have a clearer picture of what happened in Boston yesterday and look to move forward with any information they receive.
Sam Lopez, a wellness management graduate student, said he plans to run in the marathon this year, despite the Boston events.
“You know, there are people trying to hurt others,” Lopez said. “They are going to do whatever they have to bypass security.”
Lopez ran at last year’s 500 Mini-Marathon and said there was little to no security, something he thinks will change.
“There really wasn’t much security at all,” Lopez said. “I honestly just walked right through and got in my corral.”
Lopez said he can see how it would be hard to completely secure something like the Boston Marathon just based on the size of the track and that spectators can just walk up to the track.
Riggs said he wants to ensure there is adequate security at all large scale events in Indianapolis.
“With any large event we spend an inordinate amount of time planning for safety and making sure our citizens are safe,” Riggs said.
Dianna Neff, a senior secondary English education major, said she plans to run a marathon in June and isn’t going to let something like this get under her skin.
“If you let these things scare you, you aren’t going to be able to do anything,” she said. “You will be afraid to leave the house.”
She said she follows several professional runners on Twitter who were running at yesterday’s Boston marathon and rushed to the computer to guarantee their safety after she heard about the bombing.
Neff said running is something she isn’t going to stop, regardless of any terrorist attacks.
“I plan on doing this forever, I mean until my knees give out at least,” Neff said.
Lopez echoed these sentiments when he said, “It doesn’t worry me at all, you can’t worry about stuff you do every day.”
Lopez said he had a friend who was running in the race and finished before the bombs; but when he heard the news, his thoughts first went to all of the people who could have been affected or hurt.
Riggs said it is far too early for his office to be able to make any official statements regarding changes to security at any Indianapolis events, but he is trying to look to Boston for guidance.
“We always learn from one another,” Riggs said. “Just continue to watch the news, and see the information that is coming out. We will be releasing any information here in Indianapolis on [the public safety] website.”
