OC Marathon Winner DQ for Unauthorized Assistance

Which makes me even more inclined to believe what happened was way over the top and maybe more than just the 2nd place finisher pointing out unfairness. They probably conferred with the lead bikes who echoed similar comments or also told.

Possibly, but the support would still need to be within whatever the governing body rules of competition are and reasonably available to everyone in the "elite" field.

A good example is Kipchoge's bottle guy Claus in Berlin -approved by the race, but still required to operate within certain rules of competition. He has to get off the bike to hand Kipchoge the bottles and is still only allowed to give bottles at a pre-determined interval.

OC guy's bike Dad breaks the rules not only because it is outside assistance, but because this form of outside assistance enables the breaking of additional rules.

I don't know how feasible it would be to pull this off and still be within all the rules, and given that the whole reason for this hypothetical is that they are understaffed, who determines if the rules were actually followed if a small race was to allow this unique situation? Maybe just a bike guy that goes ahead to all the aid stations and drops special bottles?

Read 2nd place guy was only answering questions from race officials who noticed it on their own. Maybe he would've brought it up anyway but in this case he was prompted.

I've not watched any shoetubers do this because I don't watch shoetubers, but I watched Kipchoge getting this service during a WR. Sure that was from an official, but I bet that made a bigger impression than shoetubers.

I'm not surprised that younger runners like this guy don't know all the rules regarding what is allowed regarding getting water/nutrition, especially if he hasn't done many marathons. It's not like you need that in any NCAA event. He didn't try to hide what he was doing

Highly likely. You really think NCAA guys are following LR live marathon threads? I doubt that. It's just not a factor in NCAA cross country or track, so I bet a lot younger fast runners are clueless about that rule.

I'd maybe give him a mulligan, but he specifically threw the race aid station volunteers "under the bus" for not being ready for him when there's clear evidence he's not being truthful about this. Moreover, it's on the runner to know the rules and to know the course.

Finally someone says it... its not about somebody handing him water. If that was a one-off at some point in the race, like at mile 16 or something a guy in the crowd hands him a water bottle, not really a big deal (tho i think there was a dude in the Philly marathon last year that got DQ'd for that?)

What makes this story so bad is the guy had his freaking dad e-biking along with him ON THE COURSE for what looks to be the majority of the race?

That's the disrespectful part.

Yeah, that part was bad. I'm just not surprised that he didn't know the rules. Not all runners are LR nerds.

Actually, I'm not that clear that the rules were that clear or USATF sanctioned were being followed, as David Katz suggested. Someone copied the rules that bikes were not allowed on course, but that could be read as being written for the biker. . .meaning the biker should be kicked off rather than penalizing a runner being watched or aided.

I've seen people in race threads complain about spectators riding or running next to competitors, but often those are fans and not family/friends, and the runner has no control over being seen as possibly "being paced". Of course being handed bottles is wholely different.

All this attention given to a DQ in a backwater marathon (the course literally runs around Newport Beach's Back Bay).

Are you sure he didn't have his dad lace up his shoes for him?

Was this more aided than being dragged to 2:24 by a hoard of OTQ wannabes at CIM? What about more aided than Kipchoge or kiptum with pacers till late in the race?

OTQ times must be run at a USATF sanctioned (or international equivalent) event. A point in this conversation seems to be if the race posted rules ahead of time.

A few Olympic cycles ago a female ran the standard at a marathon in the Midwest. Her time was not allowed as the RD did not secure USATF sanction. The thread at that time debated the difference in certification (length) and sanction (procedure).

Enter quality events, get the certification and sanction numbers from the RD, stay away from fun runs and you should be good.

I disagree. DQ is warranted. When this originally popped on my social feed of "Runner DQd after getting water from family member" I was thinkig it might be some ridiculous case of a guy behind handed a cup from his mom one time. Far from it.

As others have said, if the water stations were unorganized, then him having a bike escort with water was even more of an advantaged.

they were scrambling to get ready for him, they also may have been scrambling for the guy a minute behind him. He got unfair assistance - DQ.

I also don't like how the winner is whining about it. If I was 2nd, I"m not sure I would have reported him but I totally can understand why he would. He had to scramble for aid bottles while this other guy has a personal bike service.

The more I think about it, the more I don't like Kipchoge's personal water service in Berlin. Did others get the same service?

Times change. 33 years ago I placed second in the Buffalo Marathon, destroying the course record--unfortunately, another woman that day destroyed it by even more. A friend rode his bike alongside me for a good part of the race. He didn't give me water or nutrition but he did give me splits and encouragement, and occasionally rode ahead to see how far I was behind the leader. He was careful not to get in anyone's way, entering the course 3-4 miles into the race and peeling off before the finishing straight. I didn't know there was anything wrong with doing that and I have no idea whether there were any rules governing this race that said it wasn't allowed. However, I did have assistance that the winner (and, more to the point, the third-place finisher) didn't have. If I'd been DQ;d it would have been no big deal, as I missed the OT qualifier by 16 seconds and there was no prize money for second. As I said, different times.

Definitely cheating. Plus his dad is a lame ass too, he's on a e-bike.

definitely this.
Kudus to the RD and officials for getting this sorted quickly so the right people could be on the podium.

Not at all surprised that he didn't know the rules, but agree that he deserved to be DQd and his statements haven't made him particularly sympathetic. Coincidentally, a friend of mine who finished in the top 10 here, had told me earlier last week that he was thinking about getting nutrition and fluids from friends along the way and I told him that technically he could be DQ'd for it. This guy has run a lot more marathons than Esteban and he was surprised to learn that was a rule (and ultimately didn't take any additional aid, fwiw).

The 2nd half of the race, well past Back Bay, can get a little lonely, particularly the stretch along the "mighty Santa Ana River" trail, and having someone biking with you back there would be a definite psychological boost.

I have a similar question. I was spectating at a marathon and talking to another spectator. He said he was handing his friend a water bottle a couple times. I told him not to because the website said you couldn't have a bottle handed to you except at aid stations. I told him to place in on the ground and have his friend pick it up so that it wasn't handed to him. Would that also have been illegal?

You misspelled "moron."