Sunburst Marathon and Half Measured Too Long

This is not that important. We should not "keep the pressure on".

So the course was long, did everyone else have to run it? Make sure they remeasure it before you sign up next year and move on to your next goal.

Samantha S wrote:

I and several other people ran the Sunburst Marathon last weekend and it seemed like the course was measured incorrectly. A lot of runners God wAtches measured more than half a mile long. We are trying to make sure that the race official stands by his promise to remeasure the course.

If any one ran these races, please contact the race to help keep the pressure on.

Thanks for helping out the running community.

Here is an article on it.

http://m.southbendtribune.com/news/local/was-sunburst-half-marathon-a-mile-too-long/article_0832cafb-4443-5158-bc64-3ec05a047f83.html?mode=jqm

First off, never judge a course by your GPS watch. Second, this must be a troll.

Learn to run tangents. Also, your watch was actually surprisingly close for the distance.

Hobbyjoggerforsure wrote:

Learn to run tangents. Also, your watch was actually surprisingly close for the distance.

I ran tangents and my, and lots of others watches were over by over 1/2 a mile. Mine measured 26.79. The Officials are looking into (or least that's what they've said).

Look up the USATF race certification map. Compare it to your gps data on a map. Look to see if a pylon was placed wrong or a wrong turn on the route was made. Then you know exactly if or where something was off. If you just claim your gps measured long, that's a useless vague claim. Most runners don't know how to truly run the tangents even when they say they do.

Looks like it was the course. It also affected the 10K.

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More than 7,000 runners participated in the 33rd annual Sunburst Races last weekend in South Bend.

The distance of both the marathon and half marathon courses are certified by USA Track & Field every year and Sunburst organizers typically use the same certifier. This step allows the race to be an official qualifier for the Boston Marathon.

As is standard protocol, Sunburst organizers submitted a proposed race course to the certifier, who then came out and made very precise measurements. In one particular area, between miles 10 and 11, the certifier noted an adjustment that needed to be made to the course to certify the proper distance.

The Sunburst team misunderstood the adjustment that the certifier identified, which resulted in the course being longer than it should have been for half marathon and marathon participants.

The course, which changes slightly every year, was improperly marked by about .38 miles between miles 10 and 11, explaining the discrepancies that were brought to our attention by runners. Smart Street roadwork did not contribute to the error.

The error affected about 1,700 registered Sunburst participants.

The Sunburst team has reached out to officials at the Boston Marathon to see if we can assist our participants in qualifying for the Marathon. A letter has been drafted to the Boston Athletic Association to explain the situation. More information is expected soon.

“We are deeply sorry for the mistake,” says Travis Bladecki, Sunburst race director. “As a marathon runner myself, I know how difficult training can be, and to have something like this happen is very disappointing to everyone involved. Putting on a great event is our goal every year, and seeing that this never happens again is our top priority.”

So op claimed runners measure cover half a mile long, but really it was .38 long, just shows you gpa is not that accurate

Kvothe wrote:

So op claimed runners measure cover half a mile long, but really it was .38 long, just shows you gpa is not that accurate

The OP thinks she knows it all but its clear that the course was only .38 long when she claimed that it was longer than that. So either she isn't running tangents correctly as she is claiming or her GPS isn't accurate. And this is why you shouldn't go around blaming others before you have all of the facts because you just end up looking like a fool.

What's interesting is that if you seriously suspect a race course was too long (or too short), you should notice on your gps watch where it happened. If you're running the race and at mile marker 8, your gps reads 8.05 (or something similar) and then 9.06 at mile 9, and 10.08 at mile 10, and then suddenly 11.46 at mile marker 11 and it never corrects itself back (as if that one single mile marker was the only one off), you should know exactly where the problem occurred. You'll have it narrowed down to a single mile. And probably in that single mile, you can suspect it was a certain turn or out-and-back or something that caused the discrepancy.

The old tired claim, "My gps says the course was long" "or short" gets so old.

And kudos to the race for admitting the accidental mistake and working to correct it for BQ's and such. It's bad PR to have that happen, but it's worse PR to not own up to it and not try to correct it.

Good post by OP, hopefully will result in correct course for future races. If a race is supposed to be certified, it should be correct. One reason to choose one race over another is the accuracy of the course. I do not expect some podunk 5k to be correct, but I do expect a certified course to be correct. You can be sure the entry fee of any certified race is more than if it was not certified.

I am thinking about doing the half this year - what has been the experience of runners here? Obviously the course measurement flub last year was bad but is this one of the better early summer halves in the midwest?

SunburstFessedUp wrote:

The Sunburst team has reached out to officials at the Boston Marathon to see if we can assist our participants in qualifying for the Marathon.

How did this go down?

If they mean those that ran long and still qualified, that's fine.

If it means they adjust the times, that's not right.

What happened?

Did Boston give the finishers an adjusted time?

at 3 hour that would be 2.5 minutes or so.

Was wondering the same thing.

what was the outcomeof request wrote:

Did Boston give the finishers an adjusted time?

at 3 hour that would be 2.5 minutes or so.

I actually don't think they should, even though it sucks for the runners affected. It sets a precedent that it's okay to mess up, because Boston will accommodate the error. Boston should say, "too bad, make sure you don't make this mistake next year," and the companies that put these events on will get the message a little stronger to not mess up.