Remember the numbers--my previous note about a 0.5% advantage was a liberal estimation. In reality, it is likely more around 0.3%. That's margin of error territory.
What's the math for getting 0.3%? Isn't it:
Marathon distance if you run tangents perfectly: 26.22 miles
Your distance: 26.05 miles (giving you an extra .01 since Strava often takes that off)
It can be a great performance and a short course. Those 2 things are not mutually exclusive. 1. Great Race you deserve the awards and money that was earned on that day. 2. I’m sorry that the course was short and therefore you do not qualify for the Olympic Trials.
No one in this thread has done any criticizing of the outstanding performances.
The OTQ list was updated this week and has qualifiers from Ottawa and Edinburgh, but not from Bayshore. Could it be related to the course issue? Or they just haven’t gotten around to adding Bayshore yet?
I had intimate knowledge of a couple of local running events where the courses were impeccably certified. One event was a 5mi/10mi race. The other event was a 10K/half marathon/marathon combo. In both cases...all the races started from same exact place...usually at the same time...and all the races used the same finish line. The problem was the certified finish line was a bit different for each distance. You could see this when you viewed the certified maps.
In both events, the race organizers did not use the multiple certified finish lines...and used one finish line that either split the difference...or made the most important race accurate... while letting the others be off.
Year after year, the 5mi/10mi race had a 5 miler that was about 50-60 meters short while the 10 miler was 80-100 meters long. The other race made the marathon exactly right and let the half marathon by 80 meters long with the 10K being very long (~250-300m?).
This went on for quite a while. Maybe that's what happened here? A course can be certified but you need to actually run the certified course for it to be accurate.
Still seems a bit unfair to deny the trials qualifiers entry as they did nothing wrong. But extrapolating the results could be one way to correct things...assuming they can figure out how much to adjust.
Still seems a bit unfair to deny the trials qualifiers entry as they did nothing wrong. But extrapolating the results could be one way to correct things...assuming they can figure out how much to adjust.
“The course was measured correctly, but the Race Director said it was okay if we cut it, so we did” - basically what’s happened here. I’d be demanding money back (if any of the elites paid), but beyond that… it’s just awful management and I hope there’s some accountability. The runners had no bad intent, it’s true, but they didn’t run the requisite marathon distance.
Still seems a bit unfair to deny the trials qualifiers entry as they did nothing wrong. But extrapolating the results could be one way to correct things...assuming they can figure out how much to adjust.
“The course was measured correctly, but the Race Director said it was okay if we cut it, so we did” - basically what’s happened here. I’d be demanding money back (if any of the elites paid), but beyond that… it’s just awful management and I hope there’s some accountability. The runners had no bad intent, it’s true, but they didn’t run the requisite marathon distance.
Mitch
Maybe it's been determined but is it know exactly how short the course was? You quoted someone in your post. Who was that?
What a bunch of trolls! Most of you probably could not run a marathon, let alone be competitive. My garmin said 26.18, I ran as many tangents as possible (who wouldn't) and PR'd by 40 seconds. Its a gps issue, stop trying to be a bunch of asses trolling for a fight and get out on the road!
Even 5 years ago, no way this would have been a thread...people just accepted results and moved on. Glad to see the qualifiers got in without any headaches.
That being said, the race organizers clearly need to make adjustments for next year as to not jeopardize the integrity of their event. Measuring a sanctioned course and laying it correctly on race day with a route that is easy for runners to follow are not the same thing.
It will be interesting to see how the OT go for these athletes. And the excuses that follow.
What an asinine comment. They will be in exactly the same situation as 75% of the field--"also rans" who are just out there competing in a race and seeing what they can do that day.
Even 5 years ago, no way this would have been a thread...people just accepted results and moved on.
Kip Litton wishes this was true
Kip only got caught because he was a serial cheater. I remember reading an article about his rise in the Flint newspaper. Nobody cared about a one time result because people didn’t get hung up on whether a marathon was 200m short in the days before GPS was widespread..there was simply no way to tell. Kip bit off more than he could chew by repeatedly cheating and stealing accolades from legitimate runners. This situation with Bayshore is in no way comparable.
It’s not about tangents - that’s just good running. If you look at the certified USATF course - they are not placing the 13.1 turn around in the right place - it should be a couple hundred feet further down the road lining up with the house on the left.
With that said, this is a great marathon - I’m just not sure why year after year they get by with marking the course wrong.
It’s not about tangents - that’s just good running. If you look at the certified USATF course - they are not placing the 13.1 turn around in the right place - it should be a couple hundred feet further down the road lining up with the house on the left.
With that said, this is a great marathon - I’m just not sure why year after year they get by with marking the course wrong.
The course was measured from the right side of the course and they ran a lot of it on the left side. How can you say it’s not about the tangents?
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