uberkopf wrote:
i was on the course as a bike escort in the Men’s Elite race. here’s my experience with the race and perspective on the issue that happened in the Women’s race.
i ended riding the last part of the race with the 3rd/4th place runners (Muhumed/Hicks). the course is definitely on the more technical side, especially towards the end as it re-enters downtown. the first big issue was at mile 11.7. following the right turn on Forsyth, the course crosses Marietta St. at the Marathon/Half Marathon course ~1.05 mile marker. as we approached the crossing, police were holding the mass participation race as the back of the pack runners were still coming through. this worked out alright, but i’m not sure how the Elite Men a minute or two back navigated that.
at this point the turns were frequent enough that we could not always see the leading duo. at mile marker 12.03 there is a right on Nelson St. at this point, the TV moto went straight (off course). i shouted at the runners to turn and Muhumud ran off course for only two or three strides before he realized the issue and made the correct turn (this was not shown in the broadcast). at this point i moved in front of the two runners to provide course guidance (i had the course loaded in my bike computer to ensure that i didn’t make any mistakes).
one block after the right turn onto Nelson St. (and our TV moto disappeared) the course crosses Ted Turner Dr and continues onto a pedestrian only bridge (mile marker 12.1). this is the moment where the Women’s leaders were taken off course. their moto turned left rather than continuing straight. this happened at 1:03:21 on the race clock (1:28:26 in the youtube video). the leading trio of women realized their issue at 1:04:40 on the race clock, so they ran an addition ~2:40 (assuming even pacing). you can see them turning back onto the bridge and returning to the correct course at 1:06:03 on the race clock.
so what happened and who is at fault? unfortunately, i think it was a lot of failures all happening at the same time. the moto turned the wrong way. (going straight onto the bridge does seem “wrong” for a vehicle as it is pedestrian only however when i crossed this bridge on my bike a few minutes earlier i noticed some police motos on the bridge, and when they rejoin the course the TV moto does cross the bridge with the runners.) none of the police or volunteers in the vicinity were quick enough to alert the runners of the issue (the police seemed solely focused on directing vehicle traffic and letting cars pass when there was a gap in the race). and, i hate to say it, but the runner is responsible for knowing the route.* this point i say with an asterisk* because if i was leading a race and i “knew” the route but was following a motorcycle that should be assumed to be leading me along the correct course (why in the world would the TV moto peel off the race course a mile from the finish?) in the heat of the moment, i would follow the moto. so, yes, technically the runner must know the course, but i think that is B.S. in a situation like this when a race official guides you off course.
how should USATF correct this issue… i’m not sure. all i know is that it really stinks for the all the “official” top finishers in the prize money, and for these three runners who were led astray. (it’s unclear to me if 4th/5th/etc. were also led off course, or if it was only the top three at the time.
disclaimer: i speak for myself and not on behalf of ATC or USATF.
turn-by-turn directions:
youtube stream of race:
i have to admit that i was ready to blame ATC and USATF for all of this, but i’m impressed with the ATC investigation because it was a) communicated quickly, b) very clear about what happened, and c) still takes ownership for the mistake rather that trying to use this as an excuse.
basically it seems like this was extremely bad timing. i do recall as i was passing this area of the course (as the emergency response was underway) i noticed things felt more chaotic. there was even a moment where i saw a fire truck with its siren on approaching the course and was wondering how we would navigate an emergency vehicle on course (it turned before we got to it). i also noticed after the pedestrian bridge crossing i had two intersections with no police presence to block traffic. at the time i thought this was poor organization and endangering athletes but now i realize that the police assigned to these intersections were likely responding to the emergency.
(to the “how many cops does it take…” comments, that’s poor logic. in the absence of information, the response seems appropriate. they didn’t know the seriousness of the emergency. what if it was an active shooter or some other worst case scenario?)
the timing of the emergency really makes it hard for me to blame anyone for this. in the moment it would have been very difficult to coordinate all the aspects of this with literally minutes to recover after the emergency call. now i feel bad that ATC (and Rich) took so much heat online about this. their response was very professional and the fact that they are paying the top 3 athletes the correct amounts is 100% the right thing to do.
