Marathon "winners" DQ'd - more to the story?

uh oh!

I grew up in this area. I'm not shocked this was so botched. No one runs in central illinois and race directors aren't even runners so they don't know what to actually plan for. I'm not shocked about any of this lol. I went to a race once that had 1 porta potty for over 800 people in that area.

They DQ'd the winner so that a local runner could get the bronze.

It sounds like they registered but didn't pick up their packet. It does not say whether there was chip timing. I'm guessing that they didn't have chips and in that case I could see the DQ. Race numbers fall off all the time so I doubt that missing a number would be a DQ.

On their web site it says no race day packet pick up. I think that is a nice way to increase occupancy in their local motels. As a race director, it is not hard to hand out prepaid race packets the day of the race.

Of course they couldn't locate the bibs. They were in the back of some guys trunk because the race was too stupid to know that not every runner can arrive the day before a race. (or they were trying to make everyone do just that as was mentioned earlier) Wasn't all this great technology we have now supposed to make everything easier? It looks like it has just made people lazier.

Back in the day, it wasn't uncommon to drive a few hours to get to a race, register right before it and run.

They wouldn't have gotten any hotel money out of me anyway as I always stay at the nearest Sam Walton Resort.

So the organizers lost/couldn't find their bibs, forcing the runners to run without bibs, and then they are DQd for running bibless?? LOL. That may be the dumbest thing I've heard in a while.

As others noted, races usually have spare bibs in case this happens, or they will sharpie a make-shift bib. Sounds like severe disorganization on the part of the race.

so the article seems to imply they came to the race together? makes it more fishy that they both won and were dq'd...tag-team bandits?

Hey guys here's what happened. Erik and I didn't know we were supposed to get the bibbs the day before and when we got to the race it was too late to get them. We had know idea we weren't going to be getting them on site that day. We made a scrambled attempt to locate the bibs but with all the route detours there was not enough time to get to their supposed location. We also didn't realize this at the time but the bibs had chips. The chips in the bibs made it so we could not just improvise a bib with sharpie. Both of us registered, paid our fee, ran the entire race fair and square, but the race officials decided after 2 hrs of debating that we couldn't be counted as the official winners bc they didn't have our mile splits, just our finnish times. It was basically a miscommunication and they felt very badly about it. They all knew we were the actual top finishers but decided to "go by the books" anyway.

Coincidence of the Year. Both winners not being able to find their bibs ? Dodgy as. Team Bandits.

Well if they have can prove they registered (proof of receipt), then that should immediately elimated all suspicions of "banditing" the race.

My question is why didn't the race managers look for additional proof (driver's license, proof of recipt, additional ID) to match with their records to verify Erik and Chloe registered for the race?

Also I don't think it's necessarily "fishy" that they came to the race together, ran and won the race for their respective genders. Coincidental, yes. But I hardly can call that fishy.

Was there any prize money? If that's really Stoub posting, my question for her is do you feel cheated?

Lies. They knew what they were doing. This girl was very rude, and has atrocious spelling to boot! I was running with my seven month old daughter in a stroller and this girl and her fellow bandit took my baby out and punted her off to the side of the road. Absolutely unacceptable behavior! These children should be forced to return those medals immediately.

You guys should run it again next year and make "Team Bandit" singlets.

Chloe wrote:

just our finnish times.

This is Aile Brandies Kiianmies of the Finnish Defence League.

If they don't accept your Finnish times, we will sue the racists!

The man has been picking on us for centuries, it is time for a change!!!!!

sleepybigpig wrote:

I grew up in this area. I'm not shocked this was so botched. No one runs in central illinois and race directors aren't even runners so they don't know what to actually plan for. I'm not shocked about any of this lol. I went to a race once that had 1 porta potty for over 800 people in that area.

I would disagree with your assessment of the central Illinois area. There is a thriving running community all over the area. The LaSalle-Peru area has some nice races, in particular Canal Connection 10K, which have race directors who are current or former runners. Not sure specificaly what your experience has been, but it is not indicative of the area as a whole.

Having said that, I knew nothing about this race until I saw it on here, and I live only about an hour from Starved Rock. Bad PR move to DQ someone for something like this.

Hi Chloe-

Thanks for posting the insider info. Having produced races for 25+ years and raced in hundreds, what you describe is pretty much exactly what I had in my head as the most likely scenario. Ridiculous that this race does not have race day pickup. For big events, Boston, etc, I understand that there are a lot more pressing things for the race organizers to be dealing with than race day packet pickup. But this was a race with a few hundred marathoners and just over 1000 total. First year too, right? Their FAQ gives the reason for no race day as trying to avoid lines to get the race started on time. It's not that hard for a race to get this right, just advertise that you're closing packet pickup an hour before the race starts and do so.

You mention that one of the main reasons you and Erik were DQ'd because they "didn't have your mile splits, just your finish time". I notice that in the half marathon 147th place, 442nd place, 705th place are all missing intermediate splits. If they are going to DQ you and Erik under those grounds it would be right for them to DQ anyone else missing intermediate splits. But that's bad logic because chips fail on occasion, for many reasons. As an RD you can't only look at the presence of all splits to determine if someone did the whole course or not. If they actually used the phrase "go by the books" and don't DQ those other 3 finishers that's weak.

You and Erik aren't blameless in this, you should have known what the race policy is. But for a first year small marathon to set a policy like this doesn't speak too highly of their interest in serving their entrants. Good luck to both you and Erik for your upcoming races. Come up to Burlington, VT next May and we'll treat you right!

This practice of not offering packet pickup on race day seems a bit counterintuitive from the perspective of a race director. Certainly not a good move to DQ the winners, as any semi-local runners who see this will probably be a bit turned off if they are forced to get a hotel or drive out twice. Unless there is some sort of race/hotel conspiracy going on. That would certainly be something to discuss further.

I work at a running store that puts on 80+ events a year, and we CONTINUALLY have people calling about things that are clearly printed on the entry forms that people just don't read and blindly fill out and enter.

It is the responsibility of the entrant to read ALL race related material especially as far as packet pick-up and chip timing.

They not only didn't get splits on the "winners" but without chips at the start, they only had 'unofficial' overall times.

Yes, it sucks to go through all that and not get the win, but the procedure was the same for all the other entrants that didn't win too, yet they showed up and followed the right procedures.

I do wish both first finishers the best in the future, and a costly lesson this was.