How about Sara Hall? Hits the half in Tokyo @ 1:11.12, then drops out around 25K. Long flight home with minimal recovery to jump in and drop 1:09:45 for 9th place and a cool grand. At 41. Hell yeah!
This is not fair to anyone, but imagining how a race might have finished and then making that the official result would be a bad precedent to set.
I think a rerace is the way to make the best of a crappy situation. The prize money part is messy and I’m hoping they figure out some way to make things right to the top 3 today and for a future event.
This is not fair to anyone, but imagining how a race might have finished and then making that the official result would be a bad precedent to set.
I think a rerace is the way to make the best of a crappy situation. The prize money part is messy and I’m hoping they figure out some way to make things right to the top 3 today and for a future event.
If you run all out for a championship race, you can't just re-race. Not for some time.
This is not fair to anyone, but imagining how a race might have finished and then making that the official result would be a bad precedent to set.
You don't need to do that - because you can clearly see the time they took to run the actual course, from the times they went off and came back on. McClain was over half a minute faster, even if you give her no credit for the disadvantage of the diversion.
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.
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.
Okay participation trophy.
Bunch of coddled babies posting here. Must be leading marathon majors or something with lead vehicles holding a timeboard up and all. Oh, wait, no, you haven’t.
If you’ve run enough toad and trail races you know this happens and you prepare.
Note that none of the three have come out and whined about it. They each know, even if it wasn’t fair.
de Lima was assaulted by a defrocked priest during the 2004 Olympic Marathon. He was in first place. It sucked. It messed him up. It was unfair.
Your logic says he should get the gold.
Folly. It sucks and USATF/ATC should compensate those ladies for their screw up. But not with the World slots.
This reminds me of a small town 5k race I was in. Was held in the center of the city with halfway point going into subdivision. I was confident I'd be near podium and was racing for time so I studied tangents, and studied all of the landmarks on the current map.
During the race there was a pack of 3 and because of the city a Police Car was the leader. At halfway I'm focusing ahead looking for the lead pack making the turn...Never happened!
Immediately I thought I'm running the race I paid for and went according to the Map, for the next one mile I had two police cars catch up and say I was going the wrong way, "You went the Wrong Way!!!" I shouted, instead of getting lactic I reset with a new threshold and kept it the last half mile bearing the rest of the field by 3:30 lol as the rest of the field ran 3.8mi
At the awards the RD said often times the city official only looks at the map day of "runners responsibility" etc
Another instance was a fairly big gravel cycling race, covering 70miles RD reiterated competitors should know the course as there is a big potential for error. Basically both of these instances release race management from accountability just as USATF says in writing. The stakes here at a major city championship with all of the money spent they should amend this But put a backup in place- A cyclist who has run/knows the course so if motorcade gets distracted ThE Motorcade can go the Wrong way And not the competitors.
How about Sara Hall? Hits the half in Tokyo @ 1:11.12, then drops out around 25K. Long flight home with minimal recovery to jump in and drop 1:09:45 for 9th place and a cool grand. At 41. Hell yeah!
I’ve had this happen while leading races and I’ve lost as a result of *[my]*’ incompetence like this.
I fixed it for you. I have followed lead vehicles. I have been led astray. It is frustrating. I have also taken the correct turn when the lead vehicle didn’t.
Not saying it isn’t unfair or that they didn’t get screwed. But the alternatives are worse.
And, yes, my coaches taught me to learn the course ahead of time. Walk it or jog it if you can.
USATF and the ATC should do something more than just apologize. But taking away the World slots of the top 3 should not be it.
This reminds me of a small town 5k race I was in. Was held in the center of the city with halfway point going into subdivision. I was confident I'd be near podium and was racing for time so I studied tangents, and studied all of the landmarks on the current map.
During the race there was a pack of 3 and because of the city a Police Car was the leader. At halfway I'm focusing ahead looking for the lead pack making the turn...Never happened!
Immediately I thought I'm running the race I paid for and went according to the Map, for the next one mile I had two police cars catch up and say I was going the wrong way, "You went the Wrong Way!!!" I shouted, instead of getting lactic I reset with a new threshold and kept it the last half mile bearing the rest of the field by 3:30 lol as the rest of the field ran 3.8mi
At the awards the RD said often times the city official only looks at the map day of "runners responsibility" etc
Another instance was a fairly big gravel cycling race, covering 70miles RD reiterated competitors should know the course as there is a big potential for error. Basically both of these instances release race management from accountability just as USATF says in writing. The stakes here at a major city championship with all of the money spent they should amend this But put a backup in place- A cyclist who has run/knows the course so if motorcade gets distracted ThE Motorcade can go the Wrong way And not the competitors.
This. It stinks. But the solutions proposed by some folks also stink. No reason to toss more stink on the pile.
Our local half marathon gets 40,000 entrants each year. The last 3 miles are eastbound on New York Street, 6 wide open lanes, completely blocked off, no turns. That's the way to design a race course, put all your winding turns and dipsey doos at the start, keep the finish simple.
I would be inclined to lay some blame on usatf had they given the champs to a host organization with little or experience.
I feel like ATC will pony extra up prize money for the rightful 1 2 and 3 as there no much dispute how the race would have turned out, even btwn 2 and 3 im guessing.
As far as team selection I think it might be written in the usatf Bylaws that they have discretion to pick the team from other than usa champ finish. Seems like they are going to do the logical thing and see what the runners themselves are deciding ifcthey even have to intervene
ending a public release with direct all questions seemed unnecessary. You already have a problematic business model where UASTF takes all the profit, none of the cost and now apparently is so relieved when something goes wrong that your the center of, you assign 100% of the blame. Pretty short sighted. Hard enough to get a host organization to step up. Throwing them under the bus won't help future events
How about Sara Hall? Hits the half in Tokyo @ 1:11.12, then drops out around 25K. Long flight home with minimal recovery to jump in and drop 1:09:45 for 9th place and a cool grand. At 41. Hell yeah!
I’ve had this happen while leading races and I’ve lost as a result of *[my]*’ incompetence like this.
I fixed it for you. I have followed lead vehicles. I have been led astray. It is frustrating. I have also taken the correct turn when the lead vehicle didn’t.
Not saying it isn’t unfair or that they didn’t get screwed. But the alternatives are worse.
And, yes, my coaches taught me to learn the course ahead of time. Walk it or jog it if you can.
USATF and the ATC should do something more than just apologize. But taking away the World slots of the top 3 should not be it.
Lies. Nobody having this happen to them simply says “frustrating”. Infuriating is the word. And it worsens each time.
Your response is clearly devoid of the leadi vehicle experience. Little person lies. Look at your logic…it’s like being a victim of rape who is, somehow, coming in to take the side of raper. Sure, that’s an absurd comparison…but I question anyone who experienced this turning around and saying, “they should have known the course” and “they should have stopped following a vehicle that had been leading them for over an hour”…
Classy interview from Born. Awkward situation for her as well, to have to figure out whether to give up her spot or not. Obviously USATF should not be putting the girls in this position to figure out all the logic for themselves.
My question to you is what about the runners without a lead car. How did they manage to stay on the course?
Easy answer: they trust that the course is marked well enough to follow it. I guarantee none of them memorized the course ahead of time. There is a big difference between being in the lead pack and following a lead vehicle and being further back where you have to rely on signage/etc. instead. Again, people in the front are going to follow the lead vehicle. They don’t even need to look for cones/signs, they are following the -supposed-ultimate guide.