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.
It sucks, but I agree. Those other ladies (Molly B, etc) did nothing wrong and shouldnt be penalized.
Also:
* runners 4-8 had no idea they were really racing for 1-3. totally different mindset on how it could have finished
* the army gal in 3rd realized the other 2 went off, and corrected slightly sooner
* Jess (1st alternate) got hosed at the Olympics when Fiona kept the 3rd spot even though she was injured and only running a mile or 2 in Paris
And I strongly disagree with you. That is utter BS to say a person is supposed to have a photographic memory and remember street names/turns, an entire map for a race. You have to know how absurd you sound by suggesting this. Also, the point of a lead car is to LEAD THE WAY. Runners would look crazy, and potentially be yelled at by volunteers to get back on track if they just suddenly decided to veer off where the lead car was going. It also could put them in danger.
This is the right take. I have run various marathons and half marathons but never went out and memorized the course. I always trusted that it was well enough marked that I’d figure it out especially since most were big enough events. The times I was in the lead pack or leading I’d never dream to deviate from the lead vehicle. I was always locked in on the race and just focused on competing not directions.
Right or wrong it’s crazy to expect these people have the bandwidth to second guess the vehicle provided by the organizers who’s explicit job was to guide them at a critical point in the race
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.
To add to uberkopf's explanation, here is a view of the intersection at Nelson and Ted Turner where the women went off course. Runners are supposed to go straight through this intersection, through the gap between the buildings under the archway, and onto the blue/green pedestrian only bridge. Instead, the lead vehicle turned left at the stoplight onto Ted Turner (which is how vehicle traffic normally goes), and the lead women followed.
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.
If they want to turn it into an orienteering contest, then don’t have ropes and cones and certainly do not have a lead vehicle.
Once you put things like that in place, athletes rely on them, and in situations like this, are easily misled by them. The level of knowledge that one would need about a 13 mile course to have the confidence to go a different direction than the lead vehicle is extremely high and would require extensive on course study in advance of the race. Even then, it would still be tough not to follow that lead vehicle.
A runner should know the course but how is a runner 10+ miles into a race supposed to know there wasn't some kind of medical or security issue that caused a last minute course change?
The Atlanta Track club is a marketing company not a track club. I was a member for over 40 years, on the board and a volunteer coach. They really don’t give a damm about anything but raising membership numbers and increasing the Peachtree road race numbers. They fund a so called elite team which gives nothing back to the community and fails at major events. This is their second screw up in 2 years. Last year they mis measured the marathon course and cost a bunch of people Boston qualifying. They used to have 12 free races for their members. It’s now down to four. What happened today is not a surprise.
Here's what's very sad about this situation. In 2024 ATC hosted the Master's 5K National Championship at this EXACT SAME race...the Publix Half weekend. And the EXACT same thing happened. Lead bike lead the top 3 the wrong way and they cut about 0.3-0.4 off the course. The guy in 4th knew it was wrong, stuck to the course, and was given the win when they had to DQ the top 3. You would think after that, they would make sure to lead bike knew the correct course so it never happened again. Inexcusable.
To add to uberkopf's explanation, here is a view of the intersection at Nelson and Ted Turner where the women went off course. Runners are supposed to go straight through this intersection, through the gap between the buildings under the archway, and onto the blue/green pedestrian only bridge. Instead, the lead vehicle turned left at the stoplight onto Ted Turner (which is how vehicle traffic normally goes), and the lead women followed.
Oh my gosh! How in the world did the lead car miss that? If you drove the course prior to the race (as the lead driver SHOULD have), you should certainly remember going under an archway between buildings and onto a green road/bridge. It is not like it was just another run-of-the-mill city intersection that looks like nearly every other city intersection. Very distinct and absolutely no way that the driver could have made this mistake if he drove the course prior.
Thinking there could be a lawsuit coming from the top 3 that were affected? My guess is so unless USATF makes this right and very quickly. Today, once again, reiterates the need for better from USATF and to stop just taking paychecks.
A runner should know the course but how is a runner 10+ miles into a race supposed to know there wasn't some kind of medical or security issue that caused a last minute course change?
That, plus there are easy courses to memorize, but this was not one of them. Dozens of turns through urban blocks, cones going off in multiple directions for traffic control at some intersections... I suppose road racers need to load the route on their GPS watches like some trail runners do? And that still doesn't resolve the possibility of last minute course changes and the requirement to follow the direction of race officials.
This post was edited 4 minutes after it was posted.
It's not Molly Born's or the other athletes' job to fix this. She earned her spot under the rules. If she declines the spot, it just goes down the line to the next person. She has no power to designate who should go instead of her.
I didn’t say she had an obligation. I know she doesn’t. But who would want to win under those circumstances. How can she feel good about “winning”. There was no way she was beating Jess McClean without this screw up. If it had been questionable then by all means take it, but it wasn’t. Jess McClain was going to win by a nice margin. I would be embarrassed to accept a win that I didn’t really earn.
It's not Molly Born's or the other athletes' job to fix this. She earned her spot under the rules. If she declines the spot, it just goes down the line to the next person. She has no power to designate who should go instead of her.
I didn’t say she had an obligation. I know she doesn’t. But who would want to win under those circumstances. How can she feel good about “winning”. There was no way she was beating Jess McClean without this screw up. If it had been questionable then by all means take it, but it wasn’t. Jess McClain was going to win by a nice margin. I would be embarrassed to accept a win that I didn’t really earn.
if she wanted to she would of waited and not crossed the line
How hard is it to put cones or other markers along the course to ensure athletes don't go down the wrong streets. They should be there anyway to block traffic. I agree these ladies at minimum deserve prize money. USATF need to find it in the budget because the actual winners need to be paid too.
Looked like one of the contributing factors (at least to not catching it earlier) was that there were cones running down the middle of the off-course road. Not sure if it was traffic guidance away from the race, unrelated construction, or what. But that couldn't have helped.