Guy stops before finish to let 2 runners who had been ahead before a wrong turn pass

Perhaps you missed the part about the course being "well marked."

I was in a 5-miler back in early 80s and was in the lead pack, shadowing 2 guys who would later qualify for the Olympic Trials Marathon. I had never beaten them before, but I knew my kick was better and I was ready to pounce. I began my kick and made a right hand turn a block early. Ran about 10 yards before I realized my mistake. The other 2 runners kept going the right way (straight) to the next right-hand turn. They didn't alert me to my error and I don't hold that against them. I sprinted like crazy to try to catch up to them, but by spotting them about 20 - 25 meters with my error, I fell about 5 meters short.

I owned them that day, I would have beaten them, and they both graciously told me so after the race without any prompting from me. I thanked them, and sincerely congratulated them on the victory. I was very disappointed and pissed off at myself after the race, but if either of them or both of them had stopped at the finish line to let me pass and give me the victory, I would have felt like punching them. I wanted to beat them fair and square, not that way - it was my mistake, I deserved to get 3rd. The "hero" in the original poster's message may have been trying to be a good sport, but I think it was the wrong thing to do. Cross the line first - you earned it.

This is what trail racing is all about.

http://www.painetopain.com/2013/10/covered-in-glory-2013-recap/

(Except the finishing on the track thing)???

I would have done the same wrote:

(Except the finishing on the track thing)???

I'm the race director, and I see our event has garnered some discussion. So...

1. Yes, we finish on the high school track, about 1/4 mile from the exit of the woods. Tons of parking for our runners (we had 638 finishers yesterday), hot showers in the locker room afterward, and plenty of room for sponsors with food and drink and for kids to run around on the football field while they wait for mom or dad. It is, in other words, absolutely perfect for our area.

But about 90% of the race is in the woods, and you can see the course here:

2. The course was well marked with over 500 bright yellow flags, laid the day before by our volunteers. We then had a volunteer run it in the morning as a course check in case some wise-guys moved flags or do-gooders "cleaned" them up. (This is a highly developed suburban area very close to NYC, not up in the mountains.)

3. I also ran the race (in the 2nd of our 4 waves) and course checked as I went to see that flags were in place, not for the leaders as I was well behind them, but for the stragglers. I live near these parks and have done the loop 100+ times. I know where the potential trouble spots are (always at a junction where the larger trail goes one way and the smaller trail that we use goes the other way).

4. After I finished I heard what happened. This was, to me, the mark of great sportsmanship. We don't race for money and this isn't the Olympics; we run for fun, health, and personal glory.

Matt Collins can come run my event any time he wants, and come as my guest. It was an awesome day and Matt just made it more special. It was an honor to have him.

--Eric Turkewitz

I agree entirely with the Op and I'm surprised this is generating so much controversy. In the early to mid-90s, a Mexican athlete named German Silva won the NYC marathon twice. In one of those victories, the second, I think, the lead vehicle pulled off the race course and into a side road in Central Park less than a mile from the finish. Silva and another Mexican, Benjamine Parades, followed the lead vehicle off course briefly. They recognized the error, retraced their steps, and got back on course. If memory serves, Silva lost considerable distance to Paredes but came back to win.

I had a conversation with a 2:15 American marathon runner after this. My friend took the view this was Silva's responsibility; that he should have known the course, and this opinion was expressed by a guy who had won multiple marathons. I disagreed then and I disagree now. I think it's entirely unrealistic to expect a world class athlete who has been doing battle for more than two hours to recall the course map. He should have no responsibility other than to follow the lead vehicle or course marshalls pointing the way. We can make distinctions-- the race in this thread was shorter than a marathon, and I don't know how well the course was marked-- but as a general principle, in road races or cross country, I think the primary responsibility for keeping athletes on course belongs to the race organizers and officials and not the lead runners. as another poster stated at greater length based on his own experience, the athlete who finds himself in the lead after others have gone off course is left to make the judgement about what's honorable and fair. Thank you.

What is wrong with the current generation? You are in charge your own race till the end! Don't put up these antics unless it is a purely warranted (for example, a crazy fan jumping in an pushing the person in front of you). How is this different from someone thinking it is his/her last lap and kicking, only to find out otherwise (Lopez Lamong this year)? Not to be rude, in amateur or professional athletics, that is non of my business. Think about it, how then do you address all the issues that occur in your average 5k where people fall during start or many miss their turns throughout the race. You know it happens a hundred times do you wait for these people too or do you run your own race? To me, this is the best misjudgement of sportmanship I have seen recently. To put it bluntly, the fella central to this story took it upon himself for blame that other competitors took a long turn. That is cowardly!

Point of Emphasis wrote:

After going off course by their own fault, how could the other two guys take the win from this guy.

You can talk about the sportsmanship of the guy who stopped at the line, but the guys who ran the wrong course should not have taken the win/second in good conscious.

I agree. After running off course, I could never accept a win (or award). It may be good sportmanship by the man who stopped, but poor show by these two men who the guy in the lead let pass him at the end. Should not have accepted any award.

The point is to outrun the competition. So it doesn't feel good to win when because of a mistake.

I like what he did.

I had a friend win a race after two runners ahead of him didn't go through the shoot.

He went straight to the officials and pointed it out.

Turns out the "winner" was a bandit and the second guy just followed him to the side.

After looking into it, they gave the win to the second guy (who never officially finished) and gave second to my friend. The bandit, of course did not count.

If it doesn't feel like a win what does it matter?

Joe Garland wrote:

Classy move. In today's Paine-to-Pain 13 mile (chiefly) trail race in Westchester County, just north of NYC, the guy in the lead stopped right before the finish line. No one knew why. He had been in third when the two leaders made a wrong turn in the final 2 miles. The course was well marked (I ran it) so it was their fault and presumably the result of fatigue in missing the yellow markers. (Volunteers ran the course beforehand to make sure everything was in place.)

In any case, while there may be those who say tough, as I sometimes would say, and that the guy would have been forgiven for not stopping, that he did is a fine act of sportsmanship.

I was winning a race on a course that was not marked at all, but had a police car pacing. I was well ahead and passed the cop, and missed a turn. I ended up running two extra blocks to backtrack and finished third. Those clowns did not have the same level of sportsmanship.

When running a race it is very easy to follow but if you are actually in the lead, even in a big race, it is very easy to go off course. The Marshalls all assume you know where you are going. I have gone off course while leading close to 10 times in my career including two different races in one day in cross country which may never be equaled! If you are racing hard it has to be crystal clear, it's really not a time to think. Many courses are marked poorly especially cross country. In none of those cases did the people who won because I went off slow down etc nor did I expect them to. Twice I was not leading and the guys ahead of me went off course and I went on to win. The first was xc and the guy was far ahead and I had no hope of catching him and he went way off. He just bailed so I didn't have the opportunity to wait for him which I likely would have if he was still on course as he was running for my Alma Matter. The second I was in 4th, had just past third and 1st and 2nd were going off course toward the 1/2 marathon markings; we were running the 5km. I called, told the guy behind me as well but nobody listened and I ended up winning. It was nice as the four of us had broken away by then so I could actually enjoy the last mile. I think I would have won that one anyway. All three were local South Carolina guys and I was visiting.

The only time I got really peeved was I moved up to second in a 5km road race, lead guy pulls away from me, there is a police escort, in a area with lots of turns No Marshalls (even though there were 20 Marshalls in the parking lot pre race) I make a wrong turn go way off course, done. Turns out the idiot in front of me hadn't registered and was banditing. He was using my police escort. that pissed me off royally. Some guy that had been well back get the official win. He actually crossed the line. The race had strict time entry rules and he had missed it.

And before anyone says blah blah how could you go off course 10 times; I have run well over 1,000 races and I have lead quite a few of them, anytime nobody fast showed up.

Eric Turkewitz wrote:

1. Yes, we finish on the high school track,

--Eric Turkewitz

Hi Eric

I was joking about finishing on the track because of the juxtaposition between trails and track which is especially divided on this site.

I ran 23 trail races last year and experienced running on every surface. I also did 11 roadraces with a couple finishing on a track.

It doesn't matter how well a course is marked, it's possible for someone to go off. A couple times in a previous year I went off and cut the course (unintentionally) and got dq'ed, I went back later and it was unbelievable how I could have missed it. At certain times of a race it is very easy to disassociate and miss a marking.

You're right. It is easy to go off course when you are leading the race. A lot of race marshalls are surprised when you come up on them and may not really know the route. Police are usually more clueless and haven't stopped traffic yet.I've led a race and gone off course 5-6 times. Sometimes I finished first and sometimes not. I would never want someone to let me pass them at the line. I have never accepted an award in the races I ran off course either. I immediately go to the RD and DQ myself. I think that is the sporting thing to do.It showed good sportsmanship for the third place guy to stop and let the others finish ahead of him. In my opinion, however, those two guys should have declined.

I would have done the same wrote:

It doesn't matter how well a course is marked, it's possible for someone to go off.

Not only am I attuned to that, but it forms part of our pre-race FAQ:

10. Course Markings: We expect to lay down about 500 bright yellow flags with our Colonial Runner logo, placed at trail intersections and occasional intervals. Some people will ignore the flags and run off course anyway.

This was both emailed to runners and put on the website:

Of course, no matter how much you try to explain, some folks won't read.

It's also part of our legal disclaimer, by the way, which only a few people read:

Vandals may swipe trail markings. You could veer off course and run straight into a horse’s xxx for all we know.

The actual disclaimer, of course, doesn't use an xxx:

--Eric

I would run it next year if I didn't live 800 miles away!!

Keep up the good work.

I would have done the same wrote:

I would run it next year if I didn't live 800 miles away!!

Keep up the good work.

We had people from 17 states this year.

Make it part of a weekend in NYC. We're just a 30-minute commuter train ride from midtown Manhattan.

Maybe the guy was only interested in racing to see who could run the fastest. Winning becuase the guy made a wrong turn, would mean nothing to him.

When I won the master's national championship 25K a few years I was beat by about ten to twelve people in my age group but since I was the only USATF participant I gladly claimed the national championship.

Um... If he was close enough to realize that the two people in front of him went off-course, why didn't he call out to them in the first place? Or if he was going to let them pass, why not let them catch up and then race him to the finish from there? Why wait until he got to the finish line?

Classy? More like classic show-off.

In any case this is dumb. He should have just taken the win, then instead of acting cocky after, expressed his sympathy to #2 and #3.

If you run the race for the sake of running the race, the finish place isn't so important. If there was a monetary prize he may have crossed first but it was obvious that he felt he hadn't run as good a race as the other 2 and he doesn't need the first place to stroke his ego.

He probably regrets having done so because of all the commentary it has drawn.

I too would have run to the end to stop so that I could know what the real time was that I would have finished, since I usually run against my target time for the race.

It sounds like a fun race, and if I can get my milage up to that point, I may try to run it next year.