I volunteer at my kids' middle school XC races and point runners in the direction of the finish line. It isn't a very high-stress job, but it is really important. My job is to make sure the kids don't run off course. If a parent or friend or coach or spectator runs onto the course and waves a flag and causes a disruption, I ask that person to please move off of the course.
I do not live in LA, but if I did I might volunteer to help the LA Marathon RD next year.
That was painful to watch. Yeah, the motorcycle needs to go off to the side before the finish line, but someone needed to be there to make sure the runners stayed on course. There is no way you can expect a runner in that state at the end of the marathon to be thinking at full capacity and know exactly where to go.
That was painful to watch. Yeah, the motorcycle needs to go off to the side before the finish line, but someone needed to be there to make sure the runners stayed on course. There is no way you can expect a runner in that state at the end of the marathon to be thinking at full capacity and know exactly where to go.
Should have some sort of painted lines or arrows or something on the road. Nothing complex, just giant arrows and the word "FINISH LINE" repeated over and over for the last 500m. There's got to be some sort of long-term temporary paint the race could use that could be powerwashed off afterwards so the city would agree to it. Sprinkle it with grit or whatever while it's drying. so it has texture and won't be a slip hazard.
That was painful to watch. Yeah, the motorcycle needs to go off to the side before the finish line, but someone needed to be there to make sure the runners stayed on course. There is no way you can expect a runner in that state at the end of the marathon to be thinking at full capacity and know exactly where to go.
Should have some sort of painted lines or arrows or something on the road. Nothing complex, just giant arrows and the word "FINISH LINE" repeated over and over for the last 500m. There's got to be some sort of long-term temporary paint the race could use that could be powerwashed off afterwards so the city would agree to it. Sprinkle it with grit or whatever while it's drying. so it has texture and won't be a slip hazard.
This is a really good idea. I can think of several times when I would have found this very helpful near the end of a long race. Yeah, you're just not able to think very clearly at that point.
That was brutal to watch and poorly handled. The spectators impeding on the course was irritating. The flag bearer having the audacity to try and direct him back to the course is infuriating.
That was painful to watch. Yeah, the motorcycle needs to go off to the side before the finish line, but someone needed to be there to make sure the runners stayed on course. There is no way you can expect a runner in that state at the end of the marathon to be thinking at full capacity and know exactly where to go.
The motorcycle with the camera goes straight. Should have been enough. But fatigue, the spectator running in there, and the lead car and a motorcycle moving to the right to get out of the way had his attention. Bummer.
Yeah I mean the lead vehicle can't drive through the finish line. Its more the runners fault than the race in this case. In the other race it was several miles out from the finish line. In this race you can literally see the finish from where he went off course.
Bad post.
It's common for marathon courses to end on wide roads with all manner of chutes and separations. And not at all intuitive which side to choose when posed with a fence running parallel to the course direction, in the middle of the road.
The fact that this commonly happens should be informative.
...if someone follows a car and motorcycles for 2 hours to the brink of exhaustion you have to expect their decision making is impacted. The lead cyclist, the volunteers near that spot, and the pace car need to be told/coached by the race director to do a better job. The cars should speed away from the racers 400m before they pull of course to avoid a traffic jam and to avoid this exact scenario. And the volunteers should find a way to communicate better and get the leader's attention before this spot in the race.
...
Near the finish line of any race that big race you need to have:
- vigilant course marshal volunteers to keep idiots off the course (there were 2 in that little clip)
- someone assigned to that location to ensure the leaders go the correct way. Then after the leaders go by that volunteer can go do something else for the rest of the race.
Great post.
1. No spectator should be on the course with the runners. Ever. Clearly this takes at least a small amount of the runner's cognition to process, and anyone who's ever run their best marathon will tell you that cognition is appropriately near-zero at this point in the race.
2. It should be utterly unambiguous which is the correct path. This can be accomplished with a combination of signs, fences, and human direction. Use multiple methods. Assume that the runner will miss at least one thing that looks clear to the organized. It should be obvious to a five year-old which is the correct decision, preferably impossible to go the wrong way.
Looks like he is the fastest African American born man in the marathon of all time. I've always thought they could compete in longer distances like the Mile, never crossed my mine they could compete in the marathon. Hoping to see more competing across all of the distance events, I think there's a lot of untapped potential in that community.
He's running this at the age of 36. Looks like his college PR's (NAIA) were 13:52/29:37 Only HS PR I found is a 15:36 in a xc 5k
That was brutal to watch and poorly handled. The spectators impeding on the course was irritating. The flag bearer having the audacity to try and direct him back to the course is infuriating.
She probably went home feeling like she helped him. What a twit.
Also I'm amazed at the overhead shot how fast they both look like they're running and then on the ground level shot they look so much slower.
I still can't believe Nathan caught him from the overhead shot.
Looks like it was more the leader completely cracking, or not being able to recover from the wrong turn. Nathan only average 5:11/mi at the end, then though it does look like a slight uphill finish
I just watched the video. I think the flag lady and those telling her to get off the course messed him up. The motorcycle escort he was following and running closest to continued straight on the correct path. Under normal circumstances, that portion of the course would not look confusing at all. He must have thought the people pointing at the flag lady to get off the course were telling him to turn right. There was nothing else that I could see tha would have directed him to start running on the outside of the fence. It also looked like his tank was well past empty, so I’m sure that didn’t help.
1. No spectator should be on the course with the runners. Ever. Clearly this takes at least a small amount of the runner's cognition to process, and anyone who's ever run their best marathon will tell you that cognition is appropriately near-zero at this point in the race.
Never seen a Grand Tour stage or One Day Classic, eh?
The woman with the flag was running so close to the leader that, even if a police officer decided to intercede....which the one standing there not doing anything but looking at her elected to stand there and not do anything but look at her....it would have been difficult without getting in the leader's way. An officer should have clotheslined her once she was out of the way.
Then you have traffic control officers trying to direct vehicles other than the camera cycle off the course creating all sorts of confusion.
Fortunately there was a volunteer there who called the guy back to the course quickly.
There really needs to be a clear and obvious path to the finish line with lines and signs to make this situation...and the one in the HM in Atlanta....almost impossible.
I think it is mostly the fault of allowing that weirdo with a flag to get onto the course and run directly in front of the leader. She never should have been on the course. It looks like he gets confused when she continued to the left of the barriers. I think he believes she is heading off the course having completed her attention-grabbing disruption and, if going to the left of the barriers is "off course" then going to the right of them must be "on course."
agree, it’s the woman w/ the flag and whoever let her get on the course. going right was actually the bandit exit. LA Marathon hasn’t had issues w/ bandits running the course so long as they exit before the finish. It’s actually well marked w/ volunteers and lots of signs instructing bandits to exit, etc., but with the confusion that the woman caused by jumping on the course and the cars going right, the leader missed it. it’s a shame; definitely cost him the victory.
I watched this live. The front runner probably lost over 20 second looking over his shoulder during the last 2 miles. Had he just kept his head forward, he wins easy.