OC Marathon Winner DQ for Unauthorized Assistance

Haha that guy cheated to win a race that essentially meant nothing

I would be more inclined to feel some sympathy if the first place runner took a bottle or two from his parents who were standing along side the road. While still illegal, the timing is similar to taking off an elite feed table.

The bike support providing feed is definitely an unfair advantage and clearly someone running at this speed knows the advantages of said strategy and its impact on time. He was right to be DQ'd and if I was the second place person I would have probably pointed it out as well.

Taking from a friend on the side of the road? no I'm not telling the race official.

A rando bike on a sanctioned course riding to providing fuel? yes I'm telling the race official.

Can you imagine the course if everyone had a Dad on a bike providing water?

This guy got the Kipchoge treatment for a 2:24? Yikes — he should be thankful the DQ kept that off his world athletics profile.

Nope - sorry I wasn't clear. My grammar wasn't great, but the dude was in the wrong. The DQ the correct call. (That's why I added the article with the video that showed him getting bike assistance at multiple points vs. the first posted article that didn't.) Agree with you.

With 2nd being 17s behind you could absolutely argue that gap could've been made up by 1st not receiving their bottles in full stride/having the wind blocked at times/having someone with you throughout the race pacing you.

I'm not in love with this rule & taking a hard line on it if you're not willing to try to get out in front of stuff like this happening. I think we can all agree that the little paper cups don't really cut it for most marathon runners. If you're trying to run your best marathon you want an aid station every 5k with a personal bottle. But at the non-pro level you're supposed to rely on what's on course. So he broke the rules. I get the DQ. I wouldn't out them but I am surprised the race didn't see it. Why not have a bike riding with the top-3 men & women to begin with? Why not warn an athlete if you see something like that happen instead of DQing later? Why not offer special fluids to top runners and/or make sure everyone knows the rules? The runner who got DQd didn't show any remorse & blaming volunteers is certainly a choice. You could just grab what's on the table.

he'll learn, poor kid. This is one of those rules that everyone knows, but doesn't always adhere to. Who hasn't been given a bottle in a marathon at least once before?

Per USATF rules if a runner takes "refreshments" (i.e. water) from anyone not participating in the race, or anywhere other than an official aid station they are suppose to receive an official warning from a race official. on the second offense, only after an official warning, can they be disqualified.
He never received an official warning during the race, but was just disqualified after the race was already over and he had already won, which goes against the USATF rules.

OC marathon claims to be a USATF certified race and that they follow all USATF rules and have a link to the USATF rule book on their website, but yet did not follow those rules and just disqualified him with no warning.

Rule 144 (9C)

usatf.org

USA Track & Field | Rule Books

Open link

Getting liquids and gels from a cyclist is pretty sketchy.

I am nowhere near serious enough about running to run 2:2x, but I still get very frustrated and annoyed by the difficulty of getting water on course in smaller races. The biggest race organizer here in Washington is Orca Running. They are now "cupless," meaning that you must either wear a Camelbak or other hydration pack, or carry your own cup, come to a complete stop, and fill your cup. I don't like wearing hydration vests, so I normally carry a cup and stop. I don't run their races for PR efforts, but they've bought out many of the races that were previously the best PR options in the Seattle area for half marathon.

A hydration vest weights about 1 lb. 1 L of water weighs 2 lbs. Let's say we bring just 0.5 L - that's 2 s/ lb / mile * 2 lb * 13 miles = about 1 minute. From experience, I can tell you that coming to a complete stop to fill a cup will also cost you at least a minute. So would you really be disqualified if you had a friend or coach hand you cups of water to save that minute?

It sounds like Orange County still provides actual cups, so I guess my complaint is moot in this case, though.

2nd place was 1-2 minutes behind the leader. Any disadvantage because the aid stations were to set up also fell on 2nd. So this excuse of a unique hardship is bollocks. He cheated.

2nd place finished 17 seconds back brother

As I previously pointed out that rule does not apply to road events where every entrant cannot be monitored for 42km. That rule as far as warning is for track events that now allow aid in certain conditions. We are also not sure if the bike monitors on the course said anything to the dad who rode a great deal of the race with his son. The rules not only prohibit aid in the form of refreshment!

The guy also violated Rule 144(7), which does not seem to have the warning exception (he was accompanied by his father on bicycle, and clearly received assistance from his father during the race):

No attendant or competitor who is not actually taking part in the competition shallaccompany any competitor on the mark or in the competition, nor shall any competitor be allowed, without the permission of the Referee or Judges, to receive assistance or refreshment from anyone during the progress of the competition, except as provided by Rules 144.3(b), 145.5, 232, or 241.

Guy is clearly an enormous douche-canoe. Yeah I’m jealous of his times, but I’m guessing he doesn’t have too many friends at all these local races.

Just gonna add: the winner showed up, laced up his shoes, ran a marathon in 2:24. Who cares if that’s on the OC marathon website or not? Honestly who cares if you win a small local race? this dude still showed up and ran a great time. Mr douche canoe hype influencer 2nd place still got beat by a better runner on the day

INCORRECT! he ran the fastest unaided time.

This isn't 'Nam, this is running. There are RULES.

Personally, I find falsely throwing volunteers under the bus to try to excuse your coordinated babysit bottle job to be douchey. Maybe it’s just me.

I have a related question that someone here might know. Let's say you're racing one of these smaller local races to get an OTQ. They don't have enough aide stations and volunteers for you and you get cleared by the RD to have your own support BEFORE THE RACE. I'm not talking about drafting, that appears to have been alleged here, but just extra bottles from friends/family. As long as the race gives you approval for it, would this still be allowed to actually get an OTQ?