LA MARATHON -- WILD FINISH in MEN'S RACE. Men's leader led off course, loses by .01. Will LA make him financially whole?

The LA Marathon’s men’s race had an intense finish, with the leader mistakenly going off-course, losing by just 0.01 seconds. It’s unclear if LA will compensate the runner financially, but given the circumstances, there may be discussions or support offered to make the situation right.

A factor that almost everyone here seems to be ignoring (including Rojo in his article) is that there is clearly a race official ahead of him pointing forcefully and repeatedly to the right fork (the guy in black with a lanyard; next to the lady in the yellow jacket). What the runner didn't realise is that the official was gesturing to the invading woman to get off the course. However, if a runner sees a race official ahead of him gesticulating wildly to go right then he obviously will. When you rewatch it with this knowledge it makes his bizarre decision to veer right suddenly make sense. Bottom line: the spectator impeded him and a race official accidentally sent him the wrong way when trying to direct the spectator, when he should have been directing the runner. The marathon messed up, they owe him first place money.

Also- if he were accidentally following the lead vehicles he would already have been veering right as by that point, a car and two previous motorbikes had already turned right way before he was anywhere near it. Instead, what we see is him running straight ahead but then ‘catching himself’ and deliberately slowing behind the spectator to step suddenly right- as if he has just been directed that way- which of course he had- by the man in the lanyard. Those blaming the athlete or saying he accidentally followed the vehicles have got this dead wrong.
He was clearly suffering but the blame here lies with the race organisers and the idiotic spectator.

Didn't help his case that he was running about 10 min mile pace in that short clip behind the women withe the flag.

Once again, it’s the cops’ fault.

Did the end-of-race chaos give off a “Duel In The Sun” vibe?

Putting grit on the paint is a good idea . It reminded me of the 2006 Chicago Marathon where the winner, Robert Cheruiyot , slipped and fell backwards on the race logo at the finish. He won the race but went to the hospital with a concussion .

Have lead vehicles just been invented this year? Nobody knows that the there is a moment where the lead vehicle will go a different direction and they don't identify that as a place where mistakes could happen? Have one person jump out or whatever. What's going on. It feels like race director 101.

Rojo has LA Marathon's totally unacceptable BS statement about this issue in his article today on LRC. What an incompetent group.

I don't get that, either. A course marshal or two in that spot would have one job only, to use flags or massive arrow signs to keep a runner from following the vehicle. The do it on Grand Tour bike races- dudes waving arrow signs over their heads.

Jonathan Gault reached out to LA. The have gotten back to us.

First of all, they have updated the margin of victory. There original press release said the margine of vicotry was less than .01 but now have changed that to .18. Martin’s official gun time was 2:11:17.229 and Kamau’s was 2:11:17.409,

They also gave us this statement via spokesperson Meg Treat.

This morning, we became aware of a video circulating on social media of Michael Kimani Kamau going slightly off course as our lead vehicles made their pre-planned exit off the race course.

No protests were filed. The results of Sunday’s event are unchanged.

The vehicles made their planned exit 300m from the finish line at the intersection of Century Park West and Santa Monica Boulevard within sight of the finish line structure. As with all major road racing events, our lead vehicles leave the course before approaching the finish line. Our vehicles did not make a wrong turn at this point or at any other during the event.

An enthusiastic spectator’s behavior just feet before the finish line chute fencing commenced, seen in the video, is cause for concern. We’re gratified that our race attracts large spectator crowds, and we will review how future issues of this kind can be avoided as part of our post-race discussions.

Marathon road racing is a dynamic sport where pro athletes must combine endurance, tactical awareness, and mental toughness to be successful. All of these elements were on display this weekend. We congratulate our podium finishers and all of our runners who participated in our event.

My thoughts? Considering we are talking about a miniscule amount of money for LA, $3,500, but a huge amount for Mr. Kamau. I think they should pay him.

What happened wasn't egregious. But the fact that there was a spectator in the middle of the course a quarter mile from the finish and in the exact spot where they the lead vehicle was going off the course was unacceptable and changed the winner of the race.

LA in my mind has always been a minor league event acting like a major league event. Them putting out the wrong time is furhter confirmation of that. Which do they want to be viewed as?

Can you imagine if something like this happened in London? Of course not. But if it did, it would be MASSIVE news and they'd make it right.

Why does the official response say, "we became aware of a video" and not, "we became aware of the woman who ruined Kamau's race?" The video is irrelevant; the situation wasn't created by the video. It happened less than 300 meters from the finish line with cops and volunteers all over the scene. It is a brazen attempt to deflect responsibility.

But what makes me the most mad is the way that Kamau had to sidestep the lady. She got right in front of him. Imagine being all out in the last quarter-mile of your 26.2 race and some lady makes you basically skip to the right to avoid running into her. What is she thinking? I presume she was cheering for him, so why block his path? Serious Steve Bartman energy.

I agree that the fault was entirely due to the race official emphatically pointing the wrong way.

The runner only veered right when emphatically directed to do so by the race official.

The spectator with the flag was far to the right of the runner, did not impede the runner and did not cause the runner to veer right.

Wondering if anyone knows the exact point of finish for this or any other major marathon. Seems like they all got a rather large archway with i assume the photo finish race camera somewhere setup within it the very start? Middle? End? Also at least one timing mat and painted banner of the asphalt. How many elite runners actually know what is considered the official line to lean at?

^After rewatching a couple more times, this really seems to hold water more than anything in the LRC article.