I just lost a race because I was pointed the wrong way - How often does this happen?

I'd be willing to bet that this happens - on average - once per weekend in the US. Many "race directors" are woefully inexperienced and are only interested in fundraising.

I'm glad you didn't try to get your money back. There's no way you would ever get your money back, as you consumed their resources - water, food, police protection, volunteer time, and so on. You would have made both yourself and "faster" runners look bad by throwing a fit.

Yes, it happened to me in my second race ever

It happened to me in a small low-key race, and it would've been the first race I'd ever won.

The race director had jumped into his car to meet us at mile 2 so he could call splits. I was ahead by at least 30 seconds, and he shouted to me as I ran past that he made a mistake in the pre-race instructions and to turn on a different street instead.

I kept looking for the street name, extending my lead. Eventually I got to the point where I realized I had missed the turn because I should've been nearly finished. I turned around and eventually found the finish, crossing the line just ahead of 3rd place.

I knew the race director, and he realized that his mid-race instructions confused me. It was clear that I was going to win and second place was not going to catch me. After talking to the guy who crossed the line first, the race director was gracious enough to award me the "win". It was a little bit of a disappointment because I didn't get the glory of crossing the line first, though.

One time I was leading a 5k by a huge margin and a volunteer who was supposed to be marking a turn just let me run past without saying anything. I didn't complain at all, but they ended up giving me first prize. There was another time when I was leading an 8k and about 5k in there was an unmarked turn. I waited about 20 secs for 2nd place to catch up and then went on to win.

"Sometimes it is the smartest, not the fastest, runner who wins the race"

You said second place was gracious. You mean the winner was very gracious to you.

Follow the course wrote:

You said second place was gracious. You mean the winner was very gracious to you.

He was humble bragging about himself in the third person.

It happens often.

It is the athletes responsibility to know the course which is the reason there is a reason XC races allow you to walk the route before the race. If you think you are going to be a potential leader you definitely should be walking the course.

Lesson learned..............

I always jog the last mile of a course in warmup, even if it seems "obvious". Fatigue at the end of a race messes with your judgment of distance and pathway, and I don't want to be employing guesswork at the end of any race. On at least one occasion it has gotten me the win, knowing when to time my kick properly.

Happens pretty frequently. It has happened to me twice in the last 12 months. The first time, the course was just mismarked and I was competing for third or fourth, so the lead bike was not around to follow. This was in a race by a very reputable event company and race director. Mistakes happen. We ended up ahead of first and second place, so we waited for them to pass us and the cruised in behind them.

Also happened to me in May. I was in distant second in no man's and the police officer at a key turn was not paying attention because he was fishing something out of his car. I ended up cutting the course, and ended up where I should have.

I fully disclosed to the race director in both instances. In the first instance, everyone except first and second place ended up screwing up the course, so they had no choice but to not DQ the entire field.

In the second instance, it really was my fault, but the guy right behind me acknowledged that he was not going to beat me that day and they awarded me second place.

Those are the only two times that I have not accepted into my Athlinks profile.

Probably happens a lot in small races where one person is well ahead of the pack.

Many times the volunteers will assume nobody will get to their checkpoint quickly so they amble there leaving the first few people hoping they know the way.

Or else they think the person way ahead can't possibly be in the race.

I ran one race with an out and back and when I came back past the start line the volunteers that were supposed to climb a set of stairs and direct us across a footbridge were still gossiping at the start down below.

Another time I hit the turn around point (with another person) and they stared blankly at us and made no mention that this was the actual turn. When we came back eventually they said they thought we weren't even in the race. This despite us wearing numbers and strained expressions.

That sucks. On the other hand someone cut the course mistakingly in front of me for a race, and beat me for a place. He should've been DQ'd.

You should study up on the course the night before, I think this needs to become more common. Having said that though, race officials should study up on the course MORE. There's no way they should ever point you the wrong way!

I disagree with comments about not getting your money back - their mistake, their pockets. Make some noise. Otherwise this thing will happen over and over again, race directors need to learn that this should never happen!

Armchair Statistician wrote:

I'd be willing to bet that this happens - on average - once per weekend in the US. Many "race directors" are woefully inexperienced and are only interested in fundraising.

I'm glad you didn't try to get your money back. There's no way you would ever get your money back, as you consumed their resources - water, food, police protection, volunteer time, and so on. You would have made both yourself and "faster" runners look bad by throwing a fit.

I'm guessing you're a slower runner who can't empathize what it's like to lose a race due to someone else's mistake. Way to typecast faster runners, Mr moral high ground.

I recommend filing a lawsuit against the race. That is unfair!

Live to run wrote:

Armchair Statistician wrote:

I'd be willing to bet that this happens - on average - once per weekend in the US. Many "race directors" are woefully inexperienced and are only interested in fundraising.

I'm glad you didn't try to get your money back. There's no way you would ever get your money back, as you consumed their resources - water, food, police protection, volunteer time, and so on. You would have made both yourself and "faster" runners look bad by throwing a fit.

I'm guessing you're a slower runner who can't empathize what it's like to lose a race due to someone else's mistake. Way to typecast faster runners, Mr moral high ground.

False. I've won more than my fair share of races. I just happen to understand that everything from the time you register for a race until you leave is an exhaustible resource that costs the organizers.

The only marathon I ever won (women's division) was a tiny local race with about 100 total runners. I had a big lead with about 3 miles to go when a volunteer sent me the wrong way at the final cloverleaf intersection. Apparently the volunteer didn't realize any woman was "already" starting the final little loop and sent me out on the next-to-last long loop instead. After about a quarter-mile I realized the mistake, turned around, sprinted back to the intersection and went out on the correct final loop, and felt much better after spectators started telling me I was still the lead woman. I won the race in 3:08; it was a PR and I wouldn't have broken 3 hours anyway, so I really didn't care that I had run about 26.7 miles.

As others have noted, this sort of thing happens all the time. Running the last mile of the course before the race is a good idea, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect runners to to pre-run and memorize the entire course particularly if it has lots of turns. There's really nothing you can do about it.

Armchair Statistician wrote:

I'd be willing to bet that this happens - on average - once per weekend in the US. Many "race directors" are woefully inexperienced and are only interested in fundraising.

I'm glad you didn't try to get your money back. There's no way you would ever get your money back, as you consumed their resources - water, food, police protection, volunteer time, and so on. You would have made both yourself and "faster" runners look bad by throwing a fit.

It has happened to me and I was able to get a refund. It was a race with ~3000 runners so I guess my refund didn't really change anything when compared to the 150k amount they "raised".

If it's a race I care about I do my best to memorize the map.

One time I asked to see the course map before a 10 mile race and the volunteers at the check-in tent refused! First they asked why. I said I wanted to know the course. There was a map right there under some papers but they refused to let me see it, they just told me to follow the people in front of me. I told them there might not be many people in front of me, but they said, "Don't worry, it's a big race, there will always be other people nearby." To their credit, one of them did come up and sort of apologize, "Wow, I guess you really did need to know the map!" but at the time I viewed it more as astonishment that I had done well and felt a little bit peeved.

Eleven