Fastest woman at Lakefront Marathon DQ'd for taking water between aid stations

breaking news....a tailwind over USATF allowable limits was detected on parts of the Lakefront Marathon course....race referees and officials have determined that this gave everyone an unfair advantage and has DQed the entire field.. everyone must mail their finisher medals medals back by Oct 10 or be faced with a lifetime ban on competeing in any USATF certified or sanctioned competitions

You are very welcome, silly man.

USATF Official wrote:

breaking news....a tailwind over USATF allowable limits was detected on parts of the Lakefront Marathon course....race referees and officials have determined that this gave everyone an unfair advantage and has DQed the entire field.. everyone must mail their finisher medals medals back by Oct 10 or be faced with a lifetime ban on competeing in any USATF certified or sanctioned competitions

Nice try. Actually poor attempt.

What? Where did you get this information? Was the anemometer sanctioned by USATF? If not, its measurements are invalid. Give us more information!

gggegeget wrote:

Take for instance the 2004 Boston Marathon where temps reached 89 degrees.I ran this and there where pleas from race officials to the general public to bring hoses and to offer water. Thankfully thousands complied. Are you telling me that not one person drank? Meanwhile how about Chicago a couple of years ago, if my fading memory serves they cancelled the race midway for lack of water.

This is a point I wanted to bring up also. It is hard to believe as smart as we are about hydration knowing that people die all the time from dehydration that a race would take the RISK upon themselves to limit the amount of fluid a competitor could take in during an event. There was just a TRIAL of a football coach in Kentucky about a kid dying of heat stroke.

What would happen if a runner was instructed NOT to take water late in the race between an official hydration station and collapsed?

I think the USATF should convene and come up with a better set of rules that don't put competitors at risk, especially in an event such as a marathon where we all know people can and have gotten in serious medical problems because of the event.

Another thing is this idea of "ELITE" that we keep talking about. We all know these times are not elite by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, they are very pedestrian times. In the twin cities marathon, 3:02 would have been 76th!!! place. I don't know anything about this particular situation, but it is very reasonable to believe that a runner running these kinds of times have never placed high at a marathon and maybe didn't even have expectations of a high place and therefore may not even know such minute "rules" even existed. It's not like they have a marathon "winners school" that everyone attends before the race.

No, people don't die of dehydration all the time. More people have died from over drinking water. It takes days of dehydration to die from it, but just hours to water drink yourself to death.

In the loop wrote:

Perhaps the running community could learn something from the structure of golf about adhering to rules (or at least knowing them) and having the good character to self-report violations.

Best statement I've read on this thread all night! I'd do it without question.

The Race Director of the Lakefront Marathon Kristine Hinrichs is a complete embarrassment for letting this debacle happen in her event. She should have told the persons who reported these silly violations that, yes technically the rules were broken but that she was not about to ruin the reputation of her event or strip the winner of her win, by enforcing them

Cops make judgement calls all the time and in this case Ms Hinrichs should have too.

If this race is wants to distinguish themselves as the f**king nazi marathon I hope they DQ every single person who wore i-pods or got drinks outside of official water stops. As soon as race pics come out these hardened criminals shouldn't be hard to spot. This is Utterly ridiculous garbage... if I ran this race I'd send my medal back and ask to be removed from the official results and I certainly wouldn't ever run it again. Lakefront officials think they are hosting the Olympic games, seriously we're talking 3:02 here..it makes me puke

You are flat out wrong. If you break the rules, you face the punishment (regardless if you know the rules or not...it is your responsibility). When you travel to a foureign country, you abide by their laws - not U.S. law. It is the traveler's responsibility to know and abide by they're host country's laws.

good asswipe...every time you go 1 mph over the speed limit I hope you flag down the neareast cop and plead guilty. You're an idiot

You aren't getting it. If I speed, I understand that I am breaking the law and I would accept the ticket. You are an idiot for thinking it's okay to break rules. Without rules, we'd have chaos.

OK every single person who wore i-pods in this event should be DQed. Yes, we have and need laws but Cops use JUDGEMENT when enforcing them..something you clearly lack. Why don't you check the race pics when the come out and write down the bib numbers of every single person you spot wearing i-pods and ask that the rules be enforced uniformly. You'll be doing a great service to the event and our civilization by ratting out all the law breaking cheaters

In the loop wrote:

Perhaps the running community could learn something from the structure of golf about adhering to rules (or at least knowing them) and having the good character to self-report violations.

Only at the utmost professional level is there not cheating. (Because they are watched)

Golf is among the sports with the MOST cheating occurring.

Spend some time at your local public or private course. Less than 20% of GHIN posted scores would pass professional scrutiny.

I don't want to call people out if they're breaking the rules. If a racer is okay with breaking the rules, that's there problem - not mine. I can sleep with a clear and peaceful mind. Can you?

I remember watching people blatantly cheat at our varsity golf meets. Hell, I even did it every now and then. It's not a big deal.

Saint Jerk Nicklaus wrote:

In the loop wrote:

Perhaps the running community could learn something from the structure of golf about adhering to rules (or at least knowing them) and having the good character to self-report violations.

Only at the utmost professional level is there not cheating. (Because they are watched)

Golf is among the sports with the MOST cheating occurring.

Spend some time at your local public or private course. Less than 20% of GHIN posted scores would pass professional scrutiny.

Great Post. People that are competing for any type of prize MUST FOLLOW THE RULES. Much like Tiger Woods and Ryan Hall. If you are just out for the sake of running a time or hanging with friends, then no reason to enforce. Overall winner and age group winners MUST FOLLOW THE RULES.

another cheater spotted at Lakefront

http://www.runningintheusa.com/PhotoAlbumPhoto.aspx?PhotoAlbumPhotoID=24

check on the fellow in yellow (on right) those appear to be ear phones...of course I don't think he should be DQed therein lies the ridiculousness of all this. Lakefront official have made their bed, now they need to sleep in it. If this is their position they need to review every single finisher photo and DQ everyone that broke the rules..

meanwhile if they do this they can kiss their event goodby.

If your stance is that all cheaters need to be treated the same then 10 of thousands need to be DQed in events all across the county. Hell I'm sure I have taken water at unofficial water tables many times, who would know in races with thousands of spectators offering drinks, orange slices and support. Guess I'm safe in regard to i-pod use as I don't need to have music when I run and never will.

meanwhile at the Porland Oregon Marathon this is their official stance:

There will be no draconian measures taken against runners and walkers who train with MP3's and want to use them in our event. Spread the word: the Portland Marathon is the "Plug-in" marathon and is MP3 friendly!

FULL PRESS RELEASE HERE:

http://www.portlandmarathon.org/mp3policy.php

I guess this is the marathon for we criminals. USATF probably ought to not endorse this event where they so blatantly break the rules and even go so far as to advertise the fact. Clearly USATF knows about Portland's unlawful policies and doesn't care

No. Just disqualify award winners. Allow others to decide whether or not it is important to qualify for awards.