It is the US CHAMPS wrote:
It is the US Championship, not a random road race. I have no problem during US Championships only United States citizens get money.
Any other type race I agree with you.
And I would expand what you wrote to add that if you're going to call a race a US Championship then you may not want to allow non-US runners to compete in the race, period. If Peachtree had done that then any excuse about International runners potentially finishing in a prize winning place, causing confusion, is a moot point. They could also have easily set their bib/wave system up to not permit any non-US runners to start in say the first x waves. The size of Peachtree, if you're not starting in the first wave, or say the first 2 waves if you want to really be safe, there is no way you can move up enough to finish in a prize winning place.
The other thing Peachtree could have done which would have worked is similar to what they did with the women's Championship division...start whoever they decided was going to be part of the Men's US Championship race more than 1:00 ahead of the rest of the field. 1:00 difference (and allowing all those guys to get all the other perks of the Elite race like warmup area, sweat transport, etc) is a lot more confusing for all involved than a 10-15-20 minute gap.
To the OP, sorry man that sucks. You guys got hosed. If I was in your position I'd be ticked off too. I'd be interested in hearing any updates you may get as the situation develops, in particular the reason why they made this change at the last minute.