Penalizing people who line up too far forward at races

I think there needs to be time penalties or DQs for people who line up too far forward at the start line. At the very least it's a nuisance and hurts peoples' finishing times, not to mention dangerous having to run off the side of the road just to pass lines of walkers baby strollers. This has been a big problem at many of the races I've done.

At a 5k last month there were pace signs at the start, I lined up at 6:00 - my pace. Looking at previous years' results I was pretty sure I'd finish around 50-75 out of about 1200, but there were a hell of a lot more than 100 people in front of me. Sure enough I spent the first 1/4 –1/2 mile weaving through people doing 8-10 min. pace. It took 1 – 1.5 miles before the pack thinned out enough so I didn't have to weave through people. My first mile was about 6:30 and I never did make up the time.

At a half this weekend I lined up about 10% of the way through a field of about 1000 – again, since that's where I expected to finish. For the first 3 minutes I was stuck behind lines of people WALKING – anywhere from 2 to 5 abreast. I couldn't believe it. Again I spent too much energy weaving in and out of walkers and having to pass off the side of the road.

With timing chips at most races it's possible to determine where people started. If someone crosses the start in 50th place, but finishes in 500 or 5000th, they should be penalized some percentage of their time, or DQed. Or perhaps a system like at triathlons where race officials would pull people of the course for a 1 – 5 minute penalty (based on the length of the race).