I truly feel sorry for the women caught up in this mess, but I am laughing hysterically at the incompetence of a hobby jogging club/marketing company f**king up their own long running event so badly. I also laugh at how fast USATF / Max points fingers at ATC and then bolts for the private terminal at the airport. Completely on brand. I am saddened that we are probably stuck with Max Siegel and Renee Washington until after LA28.
Hopefully, they don't f**k up the marathon trials this badly.
The Atlanta Track Club will probably make it right and pay her the $20k, but what a complete and total embarrassment for USATF. You can pay Max seven figures but you can't pay the lead driver enough to you know actually know the course? The race walkers do their 20k races on the track; I'm thinking that maybe usatf should do the same for the half marathon, that way nobody could get lost!
I'm also willing to bet the spectators on the course realized what happened and alerted the other runners. There were a few folks on the street corner of the wrong turn that seemed to realize the top 3's mistake after it happened, video looked like they were trying to get their attention but was too late. The biggest mess up to me was that there was NO ONE from ATC on that corner/turn. There was a police officer that seemed disinterested, not their job to direct the runners anyway, but no course marshal!
How was there a turn not blocked off at a national championship?
Or course marshals? Heck, my city has hosted USATF half championships before (PIttsburgh) and intersections are blocked off and most of them have volunteers or police officers to handle the crowds, etc.
Yes, you're supposed to know the course, but local high school 5K cross-country courses have better support to keep people going the right way.
The top 3 should *absolutely* get the US spots on the team - and pay those 3 the same as if they finished top 3. It's the right thing to do. Pay 'em all.
Hopefully Brooks will also give Jess any contract bonus for winning a US championship.
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
It's actually *three* vehicles who lead them the wrong way for a f***ing half a mile (total).
The lead car, lead moto, and second moto alongside Jess.
You're driving that car, you have ONE F***ING JOB.
Jess literally runs an extra goddamn half a mile (slightly less for the other two).
2:40 extra running time --and it actually would've been more than that because she was moving faster than everyone else, and obviously running an extra f***ing half mile (not to mention the horrible stress of realizing what just happened)-- take a lot out, and are gonna slow you down some.
She would've won this race by more than a minute over Born, and Emma and Edna would be a comfortable second and third, respectively. All the margins are big enough to make it indisputable who the top three are.
They goddamn well better get their spots, and their money.
(If you watch the tape in slow-mo, you see that Jess, at the moment she realizes with total horror what just happened and starts to turn around, looks down the road at the lead car that just completely f***ed her, and raises a middle finger at it. Holy Christ was that ever deserved.)
Not to mention that the moron driving it swerves suddenly when he realizes how horribly he has botched the whole race --not paying any attention to what's around him-- and damn near runs over one of the motos and a couple of bikers.
Even more than that, there were at least 2 bikes with Emma Grace and Ednah! You can see Emma Grace looking back in the video as they make the turn. She knows this course well, probably knew the course had to go through the pedestrian bridge, but their bikes/motos also made the turn so she followed. Can't blame the athletes for this one!
It's also been confirmed Carrie Ellwood, who finished 2nd, also made the wrong turn but they got officials there in time to correct her.
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.
Fire every goddamn one of them, and make *them* pay the extra prize money.
I truly feel sorry for the women caught up in this mess, but I am laughing hysterically at the incompetence of a hobby jogging club/marketing company f**king up their own long running event so badly. I also laugh at how fast USATF / Max points fingers at ATC and then bolts for the private terminal at the airport. Completely on brand. I am saddened that we are probably stuck with Max Siegel and Renee Washington until after LA28.
Hopefully, they don't f**k up the marathon trials this badly.
Max is full of it. One of the core businesses of USATF is sanctioning races and providing officials for the races, which they did for the half marathon champs. So yeah the Atlanta Track Club owns and technically is responsible for the race. But USATF selected it as the national championship, sanctioned the course and provided/approved the officials, including the lead driver, so that's ultimately all on USATF. Just move it to Eugene and run it on the track next year, that way nobody will get lost!
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.
The need to burn it to the ground, piss on the ashes, grind them into dust, and dump it into the Mariana Trench.
The athletes desperately need a people's revolution. Start their own governing organization. Let Max F***ing Siegel sue them, and when he loses, take all those millions of dollars of corporate bribery away from him.
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.
Wouldn't have made any difference at all if the driver had bothered to pay a *tiny* bit of attention to his job.
Not sure I'd trust these idiots to ensure the lap count was correct if it were on a track, how is usatf such amateur-hour?
sorry, that's insulting to amateurs - like others have pointed out, local road races and high school 5ks are better marked, with better not-even-paid volunteers to direct
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
It's actually *three* vehicles who lead them the wrong way for a f***ing half a mile (total).
The lead car, lead moto, and second moto alongside Jess.
You're driving that car, you have ONE F***ING JOB.
Jess literally runs an extra goddamn half a mile (slightly less for the other two).
2:40 extra running time --and it actually would've been more than that because she was moving faster than everyone else, and obviously running an extra f***ing half mile (not to mention the horrible stress of realizing what just happened)-- take a lot out, and are gonna slow you down some.
She would've won this race by more than a minute over Born, and Emma and Edna would be a comfortable second and third, respectively. All the margins are big enough to make it indisputable who the top three are.
They goddamn well better get their spots, and their money.
(If you watch the tape in slow-mo, you see that Jess, at the moment she realizes with total horror what just happened and starts to turn around, looks down the road at the lead car that just completely f***ed her, and raises a middle finger at it. Holy Christ was that ever deserved.)
You can see the whole thing very clearly on replay:
- Wrong turn at 1:03:20 (left when should go straight)
- You can see the guy on the inside of (what becomes) the corner wave his arm as if to say "shouldn't you be going that way"
- Second place runner looks over her shoulder, presumably surprised by the turn, but is not told any different. A second motorbike goes with them.
- The turnaround is at 1:04:40 - you can hear a siren at 1:04:20 which I suspect is a police bike/car coming past to turn them around. At the turnaround you can see at least one more moto (other than the camera one) and one pedal cycle with them.
- Camera is then shut off (why?) - resumes 1:05:54 just as they approach the same intersection (still accompanied by the additional bike and cyclist) and now turn left onto the bridge (which they should have carried onto all along).