The Mercer article? It's absolute tripe - apologism written by an active member of the ATC.
Just reciting platitudes about learning and space. No analysis of what actually happened or who was responsible. No analysis of the failure of officials to step up and explain themselves (or even now to provide basic information like who was in the lead car). No analysis of the shambles at the finish where athletes were left to try to explain while officials were in hiding and the broadcasters were going full Pravda.
Embarrassing for that to be published as though it were professional journalism.
And there's a cop standing right there who doesn't bother to do or say a goddamn thing.
Not cop's job to know the course. They're there in case of trouble or someone jumping barriers.
Run club events in the UK have huge numbers of volunteer marshals at every point where it could go wrong and have a lead bicycle with someone who's very aware of the course. It's insane in a major event how this went this wrong.
Bullsh*t. There were cops specifically assigned to race direction. They've told us so, and it would've been obvious anyway since the only reason they finally got turned around is cuz that one cop who was paying attention zipped down the misdirected route to stop them.
If the race-directing cop at that intersection got pulled away because of the cop hit by a car, and replaced with another cop(s), then obviously whoever sent the new cops needed to tell her/them what to do --which would've taken about ten seconds of instruction.
And obviously that's all less relevant anyway, since the ATC and USATF should've easily prevented this about eight different ways. (ESPECIALLY if they had their own officials in the freaking car, which common sense would say of *course* there must've been at least one.)
WTF is that incompetent a**hole *doing* while leading the race? Painting their toenails?
Posting to Instagram??
Both organizations need to be dismantled and sold for scrap. Rotten to the core.
ATLANTA TRACK CLUB REVIEW OF THE 2026 USATF HALF MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS ATLANTA - MARCH 3, 2026 -
On Sunday, Atlanta Track Club issued a statement regarding the misdirection that affected leaders of the women's field at the USATF Half Marathon Championships who went off course. At that time, we committed to conduct a full review to determine how and why the lead vehicle left the official course. Below is a summary of our findings:
The intersection where the athletes went off course had been staged according to the operational plan with traffic cones and assigned police personnel.
Thirteen minutes before the lead women reached that intersection, a report of an officer down was broadcast across the assigned Atlanta Police Department frequency. The officer was reported to be down one block from the race course.
The intersection where the officer was reported down was surrounded on three sides by the race course. No details on the cause of the officer's distress were yet available.
As per their training, the police personnel assigned to the race responded to aid the officer down and to support the arrival of additional first responders around and through the race course.
This action left a number of key race intersections, including the one where the wrong turn occurred, unattended for a brief period.
In a well-orchestrated response, Atlanta Police Department backfilled this intersection with personnel who would help keep runners safe while helping first responders through the intersection to reach the officer down.
The lead vehicle driver for the women's race knew the course was to continue over the footbridge. But because the intersection and the traffic cones had not been reset for the race due to the arrival of emergency vehicles, the driver followed a police motorcycle off course - believing the race was being rerouted.
The backfilled officer at that intersection, who was not assigned to the race, did not know that the race's lead vehicles were going to use a footbridge that does not normally allow cars on it, so was not equipped to prevent the wrong turn.
Atlanta Track Club's position remains unchanged: We are responsible for the integrity of these championships. We regret that Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat were impacted by this incident and were unable to be recognized as the top three finishers reflective of their performance on the course.
Atlanta Track Club has offered to match the prize money as follows: McClain to receive the equivalent of ($20,000) first-place prize money. Hurley and Kurgat will split the combined total of second- and- third-place prize money ($9,750) because they were shoulder-to-shoulder when they left the race course.
Atlanta Track Club also recognizes and appreciates the swift and professional response of law enforcement, who prioritized the safety of both the injured officer and the more than 11,000 participants on the course.
The Fulton County Sheriff's officer involved in the emergency incident was working for the race and had been on a motorcycle. He was transported to Grady Hospital and released later that day.
Below is the minute-by-minute summary of the events that led to the misdirection:
6:00 AM Cones staged; lined up but not set in final position at Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive. Cones were purposely not set in position because the road was not going to be closed until ~8:00 a.m. and would accommodate race and on-race vehicular traffic up until that time.
7:00 AM Race-assigned police officer arrives at post at Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive.
7:59 AM Handcycle lead athlete successfully navigates intersection onto the footbridge with race-assigned motorcycles and bike escorts.
8:05 AM Officer (riding a motorcycle) working the race is struck by vehicle at the corner of Mitchell Street and Ted Turner Drive. This intersection is 300 feet from Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive.
8:07 AM Report of an officer down at the corner of Mitchell Street and Ted Turner Drive is broadcast by Atlanta Police dispatcher. Officer's condition is unknown.
8:07 AM Race-assigned police officers at the corner of Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive and from other intersections respond, running toward Mitchell Street and Ted Turner Drive - leaving the race intersection at Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive unattended. Officer had not yet repositioned cones to prevent any wrong turns before moving down the street to aid fellow officer.
8:08 AM - 8:10 AM Atlanta Police Dispatch announces that an officer has been struck by a vehicle and that they are searching for a vehicle that may have fled the scene.
8:10 AM Lead male athletes successfully navigate intersection onto the footbridge with race-assigned motorcycles, broadcast motorcycles and bike escorts.
8:11 AM - 8:14 AM Race intersection remains unattended as the rest of the men's USATF Half Marathon competitors are crossing onto footbridge while on-duty police, Atlanta Fire and Grady EMS swarm the area.
8:15 AM On-duty officer (not related to the race) arrives at the intersection of Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive in a marked APD vehicle and helps manage the flow of emergency vehicles through the intersection and prevents other cars from driving toward the scene of the officer down.
8:20 AM Injured officer being loaded into ambulance for transport to Grady Hospital.
8:20 AM Motorcycle, pace car and four (4) women's USATF Half Marathon competitors incorrectly turn left at the intersection of Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive. They do not go straight onto the footbridge. The race-related officer(s) assigned to guide them to the footbridge are a block away attending to the injured officer.
8:21 AM 25 seconds after the first female athlete goes off course, the first race-assigned officer who aided the downed officer arrives back to the intersection. Police motorcycle accelerates, catches the four (4) women, who turn around and eventually rejoin the race at the same point they exited the race course.
8:22 AM Additional race-assigned officers return to their post at Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive and place cones to prevent any further wrong turns.
This, too, is a crock of warm crap. Trying *really* hard to blame it on the 'cop down.'
If that's what *unavoidably* caused this, then how come the men went the right way?
Because the guys leading them apparently paid attention and did their job, while the incompetents leading the ladies *didn't*.
They should *not* be allowed to get away with pretending this was some 'act of god' that they couldn't possibly have prevented.
All it would've taken was ONE person directing people the right way. (Maybe having the two minutes of foresight to go 'Oh, the women will be coming through really soon; what should I do to make sure they're going the right way? Let's see maybe moving a few of those cones would help. And then I'll get out in the street, make damn sure they see me, wave my arms and yell that they keep going straight and cross the bridge.
Maybe I'll grab one other person, like maybe that cop who's standing ten yards away, and recruit her to help me with this for 90 seconds.'
There's no possible freaking way this should've happened -regardless of the 'cop down.'
And let's remember that they've royally f***ed up in the same stupid way TWICE already in the recent past. Were those two f***-ups *also* 'acts of god???'
It's not a great take at all. I love Jon --he's the only really good thing about the whole site. But here he's just being an apologist for Kenah and the ATC (and also the USATF, by implication).
Their working really hard to blame it on the 'cop down' is bullsh*t. It completely ignores the key facts, and just takes Kenah at his word. That's not journalism; that's transcription.
Why'd the men go straight ten minutes before? Because at least one person actually paid attention and did his *job*.
Why the hell did the cop on the motorcycle take that left? I didn't hear any remotely acceptable explanation for that. He's obviously tasked with being sure he stays on course; that's his only freaking job, for Chrissake.
Why did nobody from ATC either fly to the site of the problem to make sure the runners got through that section okay when they heard this happened --or immediately get someone on the radio who was closer and make sure they made sure??
Why did he gloss over the fact that they've had two other similar massive screw-ups in the recent past? I mean, he mentions it, which is nice, but the tone of the whole piece is *overwhelmingly* taking for granted that it wasn't at all their fault, and no one could've prevented it.
Don't you think it's one hell of a coincidence they do this kind of thing THREE times in a couple of years?? If you're just attributing that to 'bad luck' you're punting on doing your job.
And I assume, of course, that Wejo and Rojo and Jon are probably all pretty good friends with Kenah --and maybe Kenah's a lovely guy, I don't know, but that's got nothing to do with it.
LR has done this many times before: accepting the 'word' of some big figure they're friends with, when the evidence points the other way. (Paula Radcliffe jumps to mind as one obvious example. Shelby.)
It's great to support the sport, but you're not doing that when you help the people that f***ed up avoid any blame. You're just making it more likely sh*t like this will continue to happen in the future.
Really bad form. Real journalism's about *critical thinking.* You guys did not do any of that here.
The Mercer article? It's absolute tripe - apologism written by an active member of the ATC.
Just reciting platitudes about learning and space. No analysis of what actually happened or who was responsible. No analysis of the failure of officials to step up and explain themselves (or even now to provide basic information like who was in the lead car). No analysis of the shambles at the finish where athletes were left to try to explain while officials were in hiding and the broadcasters were going full Pravda.
Embarrassing for that to be published as though it were professional journalism.
Couldn't disagree more.
I just read that. Shambles is absolutely right; it's utter tripe. About half of what she said is pure garbage.
1. She pompously 'explains' to us that Nobody in USATF or ATC wanted this to happen. Pure bullsh*t just there to divert from the real story. NO ONE SAID they wanted it to happen, you idiot; it's that they allowed it to happen because of their carelessness and incompetence.
2. Then she 'informs' us that the ATC (which she happens to belong to) is a great organization filled with beautiful people who just wanna make things beautiful.
Wonderful. So why do they keep f***ing up races, over and over and over again? THAT'S the question, not whether they're nice people who love running.
Nothing to do with the actual issues.
3. Then she explains to us (cuz we're obviously all too stupid to understand this without her help) that the USATF has a really hard job, and organizing races is complicated.
Holy Christ on a cracker. They can pay Max F***ing Siegel three million dollars a year (or whatever the hell ridiculous number it is), fly all their low-life officers all around the world first-class (while the athletes ride in steerage), put them up in 5-star hotels, expense their luxury meals and drinks,... but what they *can't* afford to do is devote the resources to make sure a national f***ing championship is run correctly.
Because their job is 'hard.' That's beautiful.
4. (This might be the most sickening.) She excuses it all even harder by telling us that all the gals who just got royally screwed in eight different ways are 'adapting.'
(The implication obviously being that 'they're not angry (which is pure bullsh*t again), so we sure as hell have no right to be angry' --which is clearly the point of her whole piece.)
She seizes on their politeness, and reluctance to sound too strident or offend anyone, as evidence that the two orgs in question really must not be guilty of anything bad.
My god, what a load of crap.
5. Finally, she poetically regales us with a lovely tale of how wonderful and beautiful the mass race was --which I guess is somehow supposed to mitigate the crime that was done to the top 3 women (and maybe 4). Oh, and she reminds us that running is supposed to be a peaceful and meditative pursuit --the point being once again that we fans dare not be upset about this, because that's somehow 'against the true spirit' of running.
This whole piece is such utter tripe (as Shamble said) it's pretty amazing.
What's not amazing at all is that Rojo would recommend it, and that a whole bunch of the guys here would think it was 'brilliant.'
I can see why a LOT of people think this is an inexcusable screw up by the ATC. They have a history. At the same time, imagine this. You are assigned to handle an intersection. Over your radio goes a call that a colleague has been hit by a car a few blocks away. Would you remember to put down cones before running off? If you were on the radio directing other people, would you remember to tell the new person at the intersection to put down the cones? I would hope that I would, but I am not sure. How sure are you that you would get everything right? I am not saying this was not a train wreck, just saying sometimes train wrecks happen
It's not a great take at all. I love Jon --he's the only really good thing about the whole site. But here he's just being an apologist for Kenah and the ATC (and also the USATF, by implication).
Their working really hard to blame it on the 'cop down' is bullsh*t. It completely ignores the key facts, and just takes Kenah at his word. That's not journalism; that's transcription.
Why'd the men go straight ten minutes before? Because at least one person actually paid attention and did his *job*.
Why the hell did the cop on the motorcycle take that left? I didn't hear any remotely acceptable explanation for that. He's obviously tasked with being sure he stays on course; that's his only freaking job, for Chrissake.
Why did nobody from ATC either fly to the site of the problem to make sure the runners got through that section okay when they heard this happened --or immediately get someone on the radio who was closer and make sure they made sure??
Why did he gloss over the fact that they've had two other similar massive screw-ups in the recent past? I mean, he mentions it, which is nice, but the tone of the whole piece is *overwhelmingly* taking for granted that it wasn't at all their fault, and no one could've prevented it.
Don't you think it's one hell of a coincidence they do this kind of thing THREE times in a couple of years?? If you're just attributing that to 'bad luck' you're punting on doing your job.
And I assume, of course, that Wejo and Rojo and Jon are probably all pretty good friends with Kenah --and maybe Kenah's a lovely guy, I don't know, but that's got nothing to do with it.
LR has done this many times before: accepting the 'word' of some big figure they're friends with, when the evidence points the other way. (Paula Radcliffe jumps to mind as one obvious example. Shelby.)
It's great to support the sport, but you're not doing that when you help the people that f***ed up avoid any blame. You're just making it more likely sh*t like this will continue to happen in the future.
Really bad form. Real journalism's about *critical thinking.* You guys did not do any of that here.
I appreciate the feedback. Seriously. You're absolutely right that real journalism is about critical thinking.
And I've thought a lot about the situation and I can see why the screwup occurred. I think one person made a mistake here (the person driving the police motorcyle for the lead women) but I think you're glossing over how weird the situation is.
Consider all the things that had to happen for this to occur:
-A police officer is struck by a vehicle -It happens a block away from the race course -It happens five minutes before the elite men and 15 mins before the elite women are meant to go through the intersection -It happens at a pivotal point in the race
Why did the cop take the left? I included Kenah's explanation:
“We believe that [the lead police motorcycle] and then our pace vehicle, because the cones were not spread as they normally would be and because you do not normally drive across that footbridge, believed that that was where he needed to go. And because it was also moving in the opposite direction of where the emergency was,” Kenah said.
Under normal circumstances, do you think the athletes run off course? I certainly don't. But there was a legitimate medical emergency a block away. Could the response/communication have been a bit better? Probably. But I'm way less inclined to rip an organization when a mistake happens when someone panics and makes a bad decision in the midst of a chaotic situation. As opposed to a mistake happening because the plan of action was faulty to begin with.
Also: I can't remember another screwup like this where the organization releases such a detailed summary of events. And then Rich Kenah, the CEO of ATC, reached out to me proactively to answer any questions (that basically never happens in these situations).
You might say they're doing that in order to generate favorable coverage. I call it accountability.
(And for the record, I know Rich a little. I think I've talked to him in person once or twice -- definitely at World XC this year and I think briefly at the '20 Trials. I've interviewed him a few times. I respect him, and I was massively impressed by how he staged the 2020 Trials. I wouldn't call us friends.)
As for the two other screwups, the Atlanta Marathon being short was a legitimate mistake and ATC deserves criticism for it. There was some last-minute construction but they still screwed up. But 2023 Peachtree -- did you watch the video? The vehicle pulls off course very late in the race, which is common in road racing, and the finish line is clearly in sight at that point. I'm placing more blame on the athlete in that situation.
But my aim with the article was to lay out what we know and let readers form their own judgment. I thought that by mentioning ATC's explanation and noting their prior mistakes, that I did that. You clearly feel I feel short.
This post was edited 13 seconds after it was posted.
In a vacuum, I don't mind LRC sharing/promoting the Mercer article because I think this place sometimes lacks grace/compassion/human interaction, but I just read the article, and the article reads as a big nothing to me. Yes, there are race directors, officials, volunteers, etc., all trying their best. Those people are human. Nobody wanted that to happen. That all feels a little too obvious to write an article telling people to recognize that. What I mostly saw with all of this was calls for the results/prize money/world champs slots to be rectified. Most criticisms kind of ignored the individuals doing their best & asked for solutions. My issue with the article is mainly that USATF was so quick to put out a statement saying they can't do anything. That's not leadership. They received fair criticism & it just felt like bureaucracy doing its thing. That's what does not feel personal to me when hard working athletes give so much to the sport, have something like this happen, and then the governing body says too bad. Nobody is really that mad at the individual that maybe should have been at the intersection where the wrong turn occurred. The problem is that a mistake was made & USATF is acting like they have no power to fix it. I don't need an article about being nice to others even if I appreciate the sentiment. USATF routinely fumbles the bag with stuff like this. I need articles grilling them on if they really can't do anything here/how is that fair to athletes/how to prevent that in the future or make it so you can rectify future situations like this.
And I've thought a lot about the situation and I can see why the screwup occurred. I think one person made a mistake here (the person driving the police motorcyle for the lead women) but I think you're glossing over how weird the situation is.
I don't know why you think it is only the motorcyclist? What about the lead car - which presumably has one or more USATF/ATC officials in it?
That seems like the real uninvestigated story here: who was in that car and what were they doing? Was that a question you asked Rich Kenah when he "reached out proactively"? What was his answer?
It's not a great take at all. I love Jon --he's the only really good thing about the whole site. But here he's just being an apologist for Kenah and the ATC (and also the USATF, by implication).
Their working really hard to blame it on the 'cop down' is bullsh*t. It completely ignores the key facts, and just takes Kenah at his word. That's not journalism; that's transcription.
Why'd the men go straight ten minutes before? Because at least one person actually paid attention and did his *job*.
Why the hell did the cop on the motorcycle take that left? I didn't hear any remotely acceptable explanation for that. He's obviously tasked with being sure he stays on course; that's his only freaking job, for Chrissake.
Why did nobody from ATC either fly to the site of the problem to make sure the runners got through that section okay when they heard this happened --or immediately get someone on the radio who was closer and make sure they made sure??
Why did he gloss over the fact that they've had two other similar massive screw-ups in the recent past? I mean, he mentions it, which is nice, but the tone of the whole piece is *overwhelmingly* taking for granted that it wasn't at all their fault, and no one could've prevented it.
Don't you think it's one hell of a coincidence they do this kind of thing THREE times in a couple of years?? If you're just attributing that to 'bad luck' you're punting on doing your job.
And I assume, of course, that Wejo and Rojo and Jon are probably all pretty good friends with Kenah --and maybe Kenah's a lovely guy, I don't know, but that's got nothing to do with it.
LR has done this many times before: accepting the 'word' of some big figure they're friends with, when the evidence points the other way. (Paula Radcliffe jumps to mind as one obvious example. Shelby.)
It's great to support the sport, but you're not doing that when you help the people that f***ed up avoid any blame. You're just making it more likely sh*t like this will continue to happen in the future.
Really bad form. Real journalism's about *critical thinking.* You guys did not do any of that here.
I appreciate the feedback. Seriously. You're absolutely right that real journalism is about critical thinking.
And I've thought a lot about the situation and I can see why the screwup occurred. I think one person made a mistake here (the person driving the police motorcyle for the lead women) but I think you're glossing over how weird the situation is.
Consider all the things that had to happen for this to occur:
-A police officer is struck by a vehicle -It happens a block away from the race course -It happens five minutes before the elite men and 15 mins before the elite women are meant to go through the intersection -It happens at a pivotal point in the race
Why did the cop take the left? I included Kenah's explanation:
“We believe that [the lead police motorcycle] and then our pace vehicle, because the cones were not spread as they normally would be and because you do not normally drive across that footbridge, believed that that was where he needed to go. And because it was also moving in the opposite direction of where the emergency was,” Kenah said.
Under normal circumstances, do you think the athletes run off course? I certainly don't. But there was a legitimate medical emergency a block away. Could the response/communication have been a bit better? Probably. But I'm way less inclined to rip an organization when a mistake happens when someone panics and makes a bad decision in the midst of a chaotic situation. As opposed to a mistake happening because the plan of action was faulty to begin with.
Also: I can't remember another screwup like this where the organization releases such a detailed summary of events. And then Rich Kenah, the CEO of ATC, reached out to me proactively to answer any questions (that basically never happens in these situations).
You might say they're doing that in order to generate favorable coverage. I call it accountability.
(And for the record, I know Rich a little. I think I've talked to him in person once or twice -- definitely at World XC this year and I think briefly at the '20 Trials. I've interviewed him a few times. I respect him, and I was massively impressed by how he staged the 2020 Trials. I wouldn't call us friends.)
As for the two other screwups, the Atlanta Marathon being short was a legitimate mistake and ATC deserves criticism for it. There was some last-minute construction but they still screwed up. But 2023 Peachtree -- did you watch the video? The vehicle pulls off course very late in the race, which is common in road racing, and the finish line is clearly in sight at that point. I'm placing more blame on the athlete in that situation.
But my aim with the article was to lay out what we know and let readers form their own judgment. I thought that by mentioning ATC's explanation and noting their prior mistakes, that I did that. You clearly feel I feel short.
this is fantastic to get quality info on the table by all.
add Gault was hired and retained and has longevity on the site which attributed to the lets run team. and the letsrun team has generally allowed a lot of leeway in posting on the site, abeit, i was banned for posting nothing particularly scandalous and reinstated without asking, so their censorship is kind of erratic at times.
we at least have a website that has a few clues about our sport,
and thanks sp2 as well, for writing the kind of thing in the kind of tone that i would have, and with grammar check and elequent asf.
these words will echo among the participants in the fiasco, and quite possibly have traction. i mean guilty parties are already public shamed, and irregardles of how they assign blame in this go round, they are motivated to avoid this kind of thing moving forward. like a pelvic disease.
I appreciate the feedback. Seriously. You're absolutely right that real journalism is about critical thinking.
And I've thought a lot about the situation and I can see why the screwup occurred. I think one person made a mistake here (the person driving the police motorcyle for the lead women) but I think you're glossing over how weird the situation is.
Consider all the things that had to happen for this to occur:
-A police officer is struck by a vehicle -It happens a block away from the race course -It happens five minutes before the elite men and 15 mins before the elite women are meant to go through the intersection -It happens at a pivotal point in the race
Why did the cop take the left? I included Kenah's explanation:
“We believe that [the lead police motorcycle] and then our pace vehicle, because the cones were not spread as they normally would be and because you do not normally drive across that footbridge, believed that that was where he needed to go. And because it was also moving in the opposite direction of where the emergency was,” Kenah said.
Under normal circumstances, do you think the athletes run off course? I certainly don't. But there was a legitimate medical emergency a block away. Could the response/communication have been a bit better? Probably. But I'm way less inclined to rip an organization when a mistake happens when someone panics and makes a bad decision in the midst of a chaotic situation. As opposed to a mistake happening because the plan of action was faulty to begin with.
It's starting to become clear that the police motorcycle and pace vehicle both believed they were responding appropriately to an emergency situation. Whether or not they actually responded appropriately (or if this is just a favorable cover story) should be irrelevant to the USATF selection process because the outcome of the action taken by the lead vehicles is that the athletes were directed erroneously off course in an inconsistent manner (i.e., the first three being majorly impacted, Elwood being minorly impacted, and the remaining athletes not being impacted). Therefore, the race effectively ended at that point on the course because no longer did every entrant have equal opportunity to make the team, which is an implied requirement for every qualification race.
It sucks. Because of the action of the lead vehicles, no solution can be completely fair. So, what's the best we can do? Well, one thing that is a certainty is that the error is not the fault of the athletes. There was no technical meeting beforehand saying the lead vehicle would turn at that juncture and that the athletes should go straight (this was unplanned). The course is complex and way too long to reasonably expect memorization by the athletes, which is also irrelevant because following the lead vehicle responding to an emergency situation is what we should expect the athletes to do (so they made the correct choice in detouring from the course here even if they knew it should have gone straight).
The best option among all the imperfect solutions is to therefore freeze the results at the point on the course where the race effectively ended. It's the last point of the race during which it remained a valid contest. That puts McClain in 1st, Hurley in 2nd, Kurgat in 3rd, Elwood in 4th, and Born in 5th. It's unfair to athletes who had some gas in the tank and were planning late surges, but there is not a more fair solution. We cannot play the "What if?" game - only look at what was. That solves your selection process, including ordering for alternates.
As penance for their major f--- up, USATF should offer to fly both Elwood and Born as double alternates to Copenhagen, even though this ordering would give priority to Elwood should one of the top three decline or get injured.
And I've thought a lot about the situation and I can see why the screwup occurred. I think one person made a mistake here (the person driving the police motorcyle for the lead women) but I think you're glossing over how weird the situation is.
I don't know why you think it is only the motorcyclist? What about the lead car - which presumably has one or more USATF/ATC officials in it?
That seems like the real uninvestigated story here: who was in that car and what were they doing? Was that a question you asked Rich Kenah when he "reached out proactively"? What was his answer?
This is covered in the article, if you read it.
Kenah said he personally did a course drive-through with the driver of the pace car seven days before the race and said the driver knew the course was meant to go straight at that point in normal circumstances.
...
“…[The pace vehicle driver] is instructed in the race that you follow the course no matter what, but because the cones weren’t there, because he had some basic understanding that there was some emergency happening, he believed that he was being actively moved off of the course. So that’s why he followed.”
Kenah said he personally did a course drive-through with the driver of the pace car seven days before the race and said the driver knew the course was meant to go straight at that point in normal circumstances.
...
“…[The pace vehicle driver] is instructed in the race that you follow the course no matter what, but because the cones weren’t there, because he had some basic understanding that there was some emergency happening, he believed that he was being actively moved off of the course. So that’s why he followed.”
That only seems like about 1/4 of the answer. If there was a proactive reaching out to provide genuine information to a journalist, the following seem like obvious questions:
Who was the pace car driver? Are they a USATF official? What is their experience/qualifications?
Was the driver alone in the car? Who else was there? What was their role/experience/qualifications?
What was the means of communication between the pace car and the on-course officials/police? How was this supposed to work?
We are told the driver had "some basic understanding" of an emergency - from whom did he get that understanding and how? Given that his only role is to drive the route, did he ask whether this affected the route, or not? If he did ask, what was the answer? If he didn't ask, why not (and why did he turn)?
Just saying that (a) there had been a drive-through and (b) the driver had a "basic understanding" that there was an emergency is not really an answer or explanation at all.
Seems to me they should shorten the race to the point where the leaders were led off course. Like the tour de france, last 3k, everyone finishes the same or LPGA - rain out on the last day, leader wins. I know they say, the rules state it is up to the runner but there was clearly chos on the course with cones and the lead vehicle. Only fair thing to do since it was the last mile is end the race there. Also, does anyone know if Grace Hartman started?
Hard disagree.
One runner could have been behind by their own plan, comfortable and ready to storm the last mile, while someone ahead of them could be crashing. Separation in the last mile is the norm for championship HMs, and we certainly saw this in the pack following the 3 who were misdirected.
The disruption really didn't make much difference to the order of the other runners.
One runner could have been behind by their own plan, comfortable and ready to storm the last mile, while someone ahead of them could be crashing. Separation in the last mile is the norm for championship HMs, and we certainly saw this in the pack following the 3 who were misdirected.
The disruption really didn't make much difference to the order of the other runners.
The only other alternative is to fall back entirely to World Rankings, or to give the selection entirely into the hands of USATF at complete discretion, citing this as an emergency cancelled qualification event with no practical way to re-contest it
Max has emerged to post a statement which seems to say they can't select the rightful winners to the team, but they'll give them a second gold medal and podium and list them as co-winners anyway. They may or may not be asking World Athletics to let the US have six athletes in the half marathon. (good luck with that Max; given international realities, I very much doubt the US wins that vote. Maybe if they let every nation send 6 people it could work).
They then say they have a other idea if World Athletics doesn't let them send six people, but they can't tell us what that was, and they can't tell us what the request that the US made of World Athletics is, except they kind of did. If it's true that they aren't going to select the team because there's "no way to predict what would've happened over the last mile of the course," (side note: that's a crock because all three athletes in question had watches on, and finished the race, you can see what their 13.1 mile split is, you could even alter the GPX file to exclude the misdirection and see what their time on the actual course was, basically use the GPS as alternative chip time and award place on that), then that's disappointing.
Hurley made a big deal out of doing the 5k champs in May. So seems like it's not headed in the direction of an equitable result. I won't be surprised if the US can't send a team because of its crappy selection procedures. No brand is going to encourage their athlete to take the spot because they know that there'll be a bunch of negative press around doing so. What a mess.
This post was edited 7 minutes after it was posted.
