Controversy at Cleveland Marathon: Winner was wearing a tshirt over his bib most of the race. Agent of 2nd place wants a DQ

My solution.

Give the rules violator his money

Give the real winner the title and matching money. Everyone in men's race moves up one spot. Cost race a couple of thousand to put it to sleep. Easy out.

Tell Mr. Violator please do not do it again and sweep it all under the rug.

Set a precedence for the future that rules are meaningless and get creative in your strategy (anything goes).

Cleveland, The Sponsors, The Executive Director, Agents and Money Grabbers can all be happy and life goes on.

It mostly about the money anyway from the sponsors to the runners and all in between.

The money would come out of somebody's profit so that won't happen.

Marathon races are so cheap they won't even provide a decent number of port-a-loos in order to save money.

So he made up his owns rules.

You other fools that might suffer from cramps - no tee shirt for you. Must have had a TUE for the tee shirt.

He must have known he was going to have cramps since he wore it the whole race.

But he says he is so proud in his interview.

In race walking, you get multiple warnings before a DQ. Here, the guy didn't even get one! Is this fair?

According to ARRS, he has only made $8,905 recently.

Needed the dough.

What was the weather? Why was he wearing a t-shirt?

We're they given 2 bibs?

My reading of rules is they don't have to sq if they don't want to. Some discretion is possible or is that a wrong read?

Rule:

No athlete shall be permitted to participate in any competition without the

appropriate bib, except as indicated in these rules. Bibs are to be worn as issued

(cutting or folding numbers is not permitted). The identifying information on the

bib need not be numeric. It shall be of sufficient font type, size and contrast for clear

visibility. Not wearing an assigned bib may be grounds for disqualification under

Rule 145.2

And 145.22.

Any competitor who shall refuse to obey the directions of the Referee or other proper

official, or who shall conduct himself/herself in an unsportsmanlike manner, or who is

offensive by action or language to the officials, spectators, or competitors at any

competition, or under Rule 162.17, shall render that competitor liable to disqualification

by the Referee from participation in all further events, including individual events of a

Combined Event, simultaneous events and relays, at the meet. If such disqualification

occurs, any performance accomplished up to that time in the same event session shall not be considered valid. Performances accomplished in any previous event session, such as a

qualifying round or previous events of a combined event, shall stand. If the Referee

thinks the offense worthy of additional action, he/she shall promptly make detailed

statement of the offense to the appropriate National or Association Officer.

Bitter Taste wrote:

Seems like sour grapes by the 2nd Place Guy. He got beat and now wants to whine.

People cover up numbers, with jackets or whatever, and race numbers fall off during races all the time.

None of that should result in DQ.

The winner of the race wins the race.

I don't think the USATF rules matter unless they were referenced at the technical meeting. According to a search of the USATF event calendar, the Cleveland Marathon isn't sanctioned (search for a marathon in Ohio on 5/19-5/20):

https://www.usatf.org/calendars/search/

That being said, even if they don't plan on USATF sanctioning in the future, I would make this rule clear at the technical meeting in future years for at least two reasons:

1) not having the bib visible makes it hard to identify athletes on the broadcast (and they made a big deal about getting a live broadcast back this year);

2) to avoid situations exactly like this where there's ambiguity about the event's winner (which can create a sense of controversy around an otherwise great race).

Was the Cleveland Marathon USATF sanctioned? The USATF website is a bit slow right now. I did a search and saw that the course was USATF certified, but it's NOT bolded as being sanctioned. This is why races need to pay, esp the ones with money, to be USATF sanctioned so the competition rules are enforced. A race can be insured through the RRCA and pay a reduced sanctioning fee with USATF.

Agent issue wrote:

Any agent that allows their athlete to run the race without their number exposed should be fired immediately. Every agent knows this rule.

I understand that the masses may not know this, but every elite runner does.

1. Chip times are meaningless

2. Can not take any aid from someone on the sidelines. No GU or Fluids that isn't at an official table.

3. NUMBER MUST BE VISIBLE

Technically #2 above isn't entirely true. You can have someone handing/crewing you aid along a course, as long as they do so within the confines of an aid station. It's "stand and hand" too-- they can't run/cycle beside you when handing aid. Having someone cycling beside you "coaching" or giving feedback would be considered assistance and ground for protest/disqualification.

Another thing I've seen is someone having a registered ~relay team/spouse/friend "pacing them", ~blocking the wind, and possibly handing aid. If the race is USATF sanctioned you have the right to protest any perceived assistance.

Ha, you beat me to the punch.

They talk about USATF being their governing body in the FAQ's

I can't believe what this board has been turned into. Elite runners all know this rule. It is amazing when something the joggers do and they think it is legit.

DQ all day long.

It used to be a Boston Qualifier in past years

I thought you had to be USATF sanctioned to BQ.

Maybe the status changed recently .

Is it still a BQ course?

Someone should tell the 2nd-placer that out here in Cleveland, "DQ" stands for Dairy Queen. If he wants a DQ, lots of folks would be happy to treat him. Those DQ treats will help him get over his 2nd place finish.

At Comrades, they even DQ you from awards of age groups if you do not wear your age group indication, i.e. Vet/Masters or 40+,50+,60+ whatever the case may be.

You can still compete, just not get the ranking.

If you are racing others, then those competitors should be aware that you are doing so.

In this case the 'winner' should only get a DQ with respect to his ranking, he is still a valid finisher.

no filter wrote:

Lemme do some "investigative reporting" here.... wrote:

[quote]

3. Headphones ARE permitted on the course due to the revised legislation passed by the USATF, the governing body.

The headphone rule was reversed due to a potential revolt by the masses. There is strength in numbers.

A lot of money is brought in by the headphone wearing entrants.

I haven't figured out why any self respecting runner wouldn't want to wear headphones when running. It makes it TWICE as enjoyable. Why would I subject myself to some of that garbage crap music they want to play on the course?

Soft serve wrote:

Someone should tell the 2nd-placer that out here in Cleveland, "DQ" stands for Dairy Queen. If he wants a DQ, lots of folks would be happy to treat him. Those DQ treats will help him get over his 2nd place finish.

That's a real dilly of a problem.

If he passed him anytime after the 13.1 mile mark, and all races started together, then how can the second place finisher make a claim that he didn’t know which race the guy was in?

Exception could be if there was a marathon relay.

Unclear wrote:

They talk about USATF being their governing body in the FAQ's

If they're not USATF sanctioned the rules don't apply. That's why if you want to qualify for the Olympic Marathon Trials you better make sure the race is sanctioned.