Woman is directed off course at Glass City Marathon in Toledo, runs 27.2 miles - still wins and sets course record!!

The course starts and ends in the same spot , so no, it's not a downhill course at all.

...we're starting a petition if this woman isn't eventually on the start line in 2020.

To qualify for the 2020 trials you have to run an OTQ in the window opening after the Rio 2016 Games, the standards for which haven't even been established yet.

Ridiculous, IMHO. I mean, it never ceases to amaze me that mistakes like this are continually made at big events and big races. There should be plans of action for any mistakes that are made. And if she had lost this race by a few seconds, what would the officials have done then? I want to know.

electron1661 wrote:

Ridiculous, IMHO. I mean, it never ceases to amaze me that mistakes like this are continually made at big events and big races. There should be plans of action for any mistakes that are made. And if she had lost this race by a few seconds, what would the officials have done then? I want to know.

If she had lost the race by seconds, she couldn't have protested cause the race wasn't USATF sanctioned and no USATF competition rules in place. Shame on the race for not being USATF sanctioned, while having $$$$ on the line. If insured by someone else, they can waive USATF's insurance and pay a nominal fee of $50 to get USATF sanctioned.

Don't know. But this happened at Flying Pig last year and we re-entered the course from a different spot than we left it, so even though we ran an extra half mile it was not eligible for any kind of qualifier because we "did not run the certified course". I was running the half so I didn't really care, but obviously the full guys were pissed.

I understand the need for the rules, but in cases like this there should be an override. It's not like she was running the West Wyoming marathon.

Race directors are too complacent about this issue. At a major US marathon a few years ago, the police leading the pace/media truck took a wrong turn on the course. Fortunately, the guy driving the truck had done the race for years and did not follow the police. But there was a major panic and a lot of shouting over the 2 way radios with the cops. At local races, this happens all the time. Race directors fail to mark all the turns on the course so that it is idiot proof and the pace car/bike driver/rider just shows up the day of the race and hopes to follow the signs. USATF needs to set standards for marking a course and require two people to navigate the pace car/bike so there is a fail safe if one person screws up. This should never ever happen.

I was also misdirected in the exact same fashion at this race. I ran 5:41 pace through 21 miles and in 5th place before being misdirected to the right. 5Th place earns $400. In my case, I went over two miles in the wrong direction before figuring out what had happened. I was forced to drop out and an official called a sag wagon to take me back. I wasn't going to run 30 miles.

You can't have a full/half that splits then have the full go through that same split point and not have issues. When all the signs say go right for 26.2 and the marshal points you that way, you go that way. Volunteers can't tell the difference between a 5hr and a 2.5 hr marathoner and by mile 21, it's hard to think about anything but the race itself,

Matt

Race courses are certified. Races are sanctioned.

Yes, race directors are way too casual about this sort of thing. Sucks for the competitors.

Mr. Obvious wrote:

Race courses are certified. Races are sanctioned.

Yes, race directors are way too casual about this sort of thing. Sucks for the competitors.

Exactly. A course for any race can be USATF certified, as long as the person measuring the course follows the protocols set forth by the Road Running Technical Council. For a race to be USATF sanctioned the RD has to file paperwork to do so. Sanctioning gets you insurance, and it states that you agree to follow USATF rules. The description from the USATF website: "A USATF sanction is an official designation issued by USATF, through a local Association, which approves and licenses the holding of a competitive track & field, long distance running or race walking event in the United States. The sanction is also a contract, which evidences the event's commitment to follow national and international rules and regulations of the sport and to provide a safe environment for the participants and spectators."

Maybe I just never noticed before, but I feel like I'm seeing more events that I would expect to be sanctioned that are not in the last few years. There are a number of runners who have run times in marathons or halfs that meet the Olympic Trials qualifying standard but the races they did so on were not USATF sanctioned, so their performances didn't earn them a spot at the trials. Some fairly high profile races in that group. Compare the list of qualifiers on the USATF site to the one posted on marathon guide and you'll notice a few names missing from the USATF site. Last I looked Marathon Guide had been including any US runners who hit the time standards even if the race wasn't sanctioned.

I checked out the course map online and it looks like somethint that's pretty hard to screw up. It would have been mistaking a 2:40 runner for a 6:45 runner. by 2:10 into the race everyone should have made it past 8.5 miles. The marshalls should have been directing everyone left at that point.

I'm just a hobby jogger, so I always cared very much about if the course was certified, but the sanctioning didn't mean anything to me. For people competing at a high level that seems much more important.

Dude should have stop, dropped, and Rolled his way to the finish.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_TZYrMD8fhxc/S2ohEIfE_8I/AAAAAAAAABk/HKQMnhTdvmw/s320/stop,drop,roll.bmp