Marathon mix-up
They ran Kansas City’s toughest hills for more than three hours Saturday. But after they finished, they found it was a…
By MATT CAMPBELL
The Kansas City Star
To the 440 of you who trained hard, tested your endurance and thought you ran a marathon in Kansas City Saturday:
You didn’t.
The hilly course that stretched from downtown to Swope Park and back was about .4 mile short of regulation length because of a mix-up at the loop in front of the Liberty Memorial.
Officials guiding the runners apparently thought the gates at the memorial were closed so they bypassed it. A memorial official said no one ever officially told them the loop was on the route, although they were prepared to let the runners in.
The result: the course was short of the standard 26.2 miles.
A drive Tuesday showed the missing segment was just under .4 mile. The Kansas City Sports Commission, which organized the race, said new official measurements had to be taken.
More than 1,500 runners who thought they had completed a half-marathon of 13.1 miles also were short.
And anyone who was counting on this marathon to qualify for the Big Kahuna of marathons in Boston is in limbo, although officials here said they would try to work something out.
Todd Hildreth of Lee’s Summit finished the Kansas City run just under the time needed to qualify for Boston. Surprised and pleased, he was already making plans to enter that race next spring.
“If this (Kansas City) course is noncertified that would be very disappointing,” Hildreth, 42, said Tuesday.
The marathon was sponsored by the financial firm of Waddell & Reed. The race resumed after a year hiatus in which Kansas City was said to be the largest city in the country without a marathon.
It was billed as “the premier running event in Kansas City” and a certified qualifying event for the Boston Marathon.
Kevin Wicker, director of special events and sales at the Sports Commission, said no announcement about the problem had been planned because the shortage in distance was so small and affected few people with aspirations for Boston.
But the mix-up came to light because the running community was buzzing about it.
The course began at Pershing Road and Grand Boulevard at 7 a.m. and went north to 17th Street before turning back south toward the Liberty Memorial, where it was supposed to sidetrack down the drive on the south side of the memorial and back out before continuing south on Wyandotte Street.
Wicker said the driver of the police vehicle leading the race decided not to turn into the Liberty Memorial, “thinking the gates were locked and we were not allowed in there.”
The memorial had been mentioned as being part of the route in a Sports Commission announcement of the marathon in March and Wicker said it was part of the permit applications filed with the city and Police Department.
But Steve Berkheiser, Liberty Memorial executive director, said Tuesday that his staff was never notified or consulted and just happened to notice about a week ago that the memorial was on the route posted on the marathon’s Web site.
Normally the memorial gates would be closed at the time of morning the first marathoners arrived. But Berkheiser said he and members of his staff were on site at 6:30 a.m.
They were concerned about keeping control of the people who would want to park on the drive or on the grass and walk downtown.
They posted a sign at the gate announcing a $5 fee for parking and admission to the memorial museum.
Berkheiser said his staff opened half of the gate at the entrance to the driveway loop and were prepared to open the other half to let runners in.
“When the motorcycles came up the hill with the lead runners nobody even started to turn into the memorial,” Berkheiser said. “They just turned left up Wyandotte and never came in.”
Wicker said the Sports Commission would work with the Boston Athletic Association about possibly reaching an arrangement for Kansas City runners who thought they qualified for that event.
Jim Estes, long-distance running programs administrator for the USA Track & Field organization, said there was no way to officially adjust the times recorded by Kansas City runners. But he said it was up to Boston race officials if they want to make an accommodation.
Jack Fleming, a spokesman for the Boston Athletic Commission, said Tuesday he had not been contacted by Kansas City race officials. But he said his group was in similar discussions with a Chicago marathon earlier this year that apparently was too long.
The Boston Marathon sets qualifying times for runners based on age and gender. For example, a man between the age of 18 and 34 must make a time of 3 hours and 10 minutes in a certified run to qualify for the Boston race.
Matt Raterman, 27, of Ballwin, Mo., ran the Kansas City race in 3 hours, 9 minutes and 58 seconds — just under the qualifying time. His status for the Boston run would be in jeopardy had he not already qualified recently at the San Francisco marathon.
“But let’s pretend I didn’t, and I found out my time wouldn’t be accepted by the Boston Athletic Association, I’d be pretty upset about it,” Raterman said.
The Kansas City race was the first marathon for Charlie Bailey, a 16-year-old student at Liberty High School. As he sat, sore, in the med tent after the race getting an IV he had the satisfaction of having finished a marathon, although he heard other more experienced runners express doubts during the course.
“Not even the officers knew which way we were supposed to go,” he said. “It was like we weren’t directed.”
Matt Brisch of Kansas City, who finished first in the men’s 35-39 age group with a time of 3:02:05, recalled that runners were detoured around Liberty Memorial.
“It was obvious from mile 2 to 3, it was an exceptionally fast mile,” Brisch said. “But like everybody else you just keep running … I certainly don’t blame anybody.”
Neither does Sarah Senneff of Lee’s Summit.
“I thought from a runner’s perspective, besides from that fact (of the mix-up), it was an excellently run marathon,” said Senneff, who won her 35-39 age group in 3:39:10.
Berkheiser said the Liberty Memorial never would have denied access to an event like the marathon.
“I feel bad for the runners and the race organizers,” he said, “and for us if anybody thinks we would be so uncaring and so insensitive.”
Wicker said next year’s marathon would include the memorial.
“We’re working so that will never happen again,” he said.
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Marathon problems
Two other major problems with marathons occurred this year:
■ On Memorial Day, the
Lakeshore Marathon in Chicago was at least a mile too long.
■ On Sunday, the Quad Cities Marathon was disrupted by two freight trains. The organizer, the former mayor of East Moline, Ill., finally drove a truck onto the tracks and forced a third train to stop until the runners could pass.
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The Star’s Candace Buckner contributed to this report. To reach Matt Campbell, call (816) 234-4905 or send e-mail to
mcampbell@kcstar.com
.