This happened in Atlanta before for the USATF Masters 5k champs. The top 3 went the wrong way, making the course short, and the 4th place guy was like, “Nope, ain’t following them.”
The rule is crappy, but it’s the athlete’s responsibility to know the course.
You are a disgrace. "Keep it positive !!!!" you are bad for the sport.
Name-calling isn’t necessary for having an opinion. I stated it wasn’t a good rule, but at the same time, I am a believer in following the rule of the sport.
This is not the 1st incident of where this has happened bc I know several runners who have lost money due to this rule.
Maybe this might help the people in charge to revamp the rule.
not sure financially if it's possible to reimburse for the wrong turn to Ednah, Emma and Jess (they should though) - I feel like the rankings is going to be maintained
but bare minimum has to be to grant them the US Team slots for the HM in the Road Running Champs (which is the 2nd big complication here). if USATF stands firm and not grant them first rights to the Road Running Champs slots, this is actually very very awful
Disagree strongly. Look, I feel bad for the three original leaders. I think they should be monetarily compensated.
However, runners always have the responsibility to know the course. Full stop. This isn’t new.
Local 5Ks—know the course. Club, middle school, and high school XC—know the course. Trail running—know the course. All road races—know the course.
Yes, they may have followed the lead vehicle in front of them, but in many races those change off regularly. You can’t rely on it unless explicitly told so, and even then you shouldn’t fully rely on it.
Know. The. Course.
At the same time, the ATC—and I love them as a former member!—should compensate those ladies for their screw up. They are jointly responsible.
I think what surprises me is all the folks who are like “give it to the original 3 leaders” probably have a large percentage overlap with those who sneer at participation trophies. Giving the ladies who went the wrong way the spots when it is their job to know and run the course is a participation trophy.
The lead vehicle led them off. If that wasn't the case your obnoxious argument, sadly, would make sense.
Assuming they were led off by lead car or bike (which it obviously looked like),
1. Award the three places to the three leaders at that point (ABSOLUTELY no choice about this).
2. Award them the according prize money --but then also pay the top three official finishers. (Again, no choice whatsoever.)
3. Fire everybody remotely responsible, and start from scratch.
That'd be the minimum that might be barely acceptable.
Absolutely f***ing disgraceful. And the announcers should have to make a long on-air apology for just stupidly ignoring it, trying to pretend it didn't happen and everything was fine --and then blaming Jess and the others.
Disgraceful.
This has happened in cycling and I think that’s how they’ve resolved it. Let the finish be that point or the nearest Mat. Tough if someone planned to pick off some places in the last 1k but only reasonable option. What a hollow win for those in the top 8
JG's article covered the ATC .... didn't even reflect that the ATC-paid broadcasters were also oblivious that the leaders were off the course (See YT) ... not to mention other "Nothing to See Here, Move Along!" actions.
This, "know the course" argument is garbage. That's completely thrown out the window when the lead bike makes the mistake.
This has happened to me on two occasions.
In the first occasion, the course was a 5k that was out and back on an established course. The volunteer put the cone at the wrong spot (approximately 2k). The two leaders turned around, I ran another 500 meters, turned around where there was a painted mark, and finished. Given that I ran an entire K longer than everyone else, I finished somewhere around 15th.
The second occasion, I was in the lead pack of a 10k. We wwould've finished in 32:xx, but were led the wrong way by the lead bike. We ran about an extra 400 and ended up finishing 3rd, 4th, and 5th. 1st-2nd knew us and had no intention to take those prizes. Instead, we estimated our finishes and split the top three prizes.
Common sense has to prevail in this case. "know the course" does not apply.
Why wasn’t there a gator with the lead woman? And in that vehicle a USATF LDR rep and race director/delegate who really knew the course? As I recall with hosting a US champs recently for 3 years, It was a requirement of the LOC made by USATF “rules”.
Lots of class from Annie Rodenfels posting "proud of my 6th place overall" (strava) and Maggie Montoya only posting "I would have been 12th"..
Compared to Allie O just posting "8th!" with a recap of her race and an afterthought to address the 3 leaders. That + pushing to outkick Jess at the finish.. smh.
in Allie's defense she also posted a story saying USATF is wrong.
I think that, in theory, they could run a race on April 20 in Boston. Have the first 13.1 miles of the Boston Marathon be the half marathon champs; double the prize money from Atlanta for anyone who hangs on to finish the marathon in say under 2:45. Sure the effect would be that the Americans would be the pacers for the African women. But it's not like the Americans have a chance anyway, so might as well make it interesting.
Is there a possibility that all of the women who placed ahead of them in the official results relinquished their position… Effectively making those women the runners to go to the world championships?
Is there a possibility that all of the women who placed ahead of them in the official results relinquished their position… Effectively making those women the runners to go to the world championships?
Unfortunately not. According to what Molly said in her post-race interview, they would not put people on the team past 5th place, no matter how many decline.
Memorizing a 13.1 mile course in a city you're not familiar with is unrealistic, IMHO.
Total B.S.
yep, there is over 30 turns for the hm alone on this course. NOBODY is doing that a brain can't even fathom that unless you run that course often...
Also, it's one thing to "know the course." It's another thing to be confident enough in your knowledge of the course to disregard the lead vehicle. You have a split second to decide whether to follow the lead vehicle or go your own way. I could study the course map all day long, but if the lead vehicle goes a direction I'm not expecting, I'm still going to assume that they're right and I'm wrong because I don't have a photographic memory and the official driving the lead vehicle's literal only job for the day is to know the course.
Actively pointing people in the wrong direction and then saying "well it was your job to know I was wrong" is wild.
This happened in Atlanta before for the USATF Masters 5k champs. The top 3 went the wrong way, making the course short, and the 4th place guy was like, “Nope, ain’t following them.”
The rule is crappy, but it’s the athlete’s responsibility to know the course.
It was actually this exact same race...Publix weekend in February. So there's really no excuse that it happened again. But when it happened in the Masters 5K, the pre-race instructions had specifically stated that if the lead bike exits the course between the cones at any time, do NOT follow. Follow the cones and stay on the course. So it sucks and is totally the fault of ATC, but what do you do? At some point, somebody is going to go the right way. So you can either be that person to go the right way and hope it works out, or be the next person to follow along and maybe the last one to also get a DQ. It's a tough situation to be in, and the decision has to be made in a split second.
Lots of class from Annie Rodenfels posting "proud of my 6th place overall" (strava) and Maggie Montoya only posting "I would have been 12th"..
Compared to Allie O just posting "8th!" with a recap of her race and an afterthought to address the 3 leaders. That + pushing to outkick Jess at the finish.. smh.
in Allie's defense she also posted a story saying USATF is wrong.
In her defense she probably did not know the situation as she was pushing for the line. She was far enough back that she would probably been clueless about that happening so far ahead. Hopefully. I really like Allie O and she does not seem like someone who would be happy to benefit from someone else’s hardship. Not at all. I think she deserves the benefit of the doubt on this. I saw her post about USATF being wrong and thought she showed great support to Jess.