Pre Nats Mishap wrote:
[quote]
200 meters seems way too big an estimate. That’s a good 85-90 seconds of running just to get back to the same place and rejoin the race.
The course around the 4K mark is a long straight path. How did the cart leave the course? The next turn should have been the area where the 5k and 6k courses split for the extra K. Seems there is absolutely no excuse for what happened with the lead vehicle.
I agree with all these. Had to be at about 4.5k, right where they should have turned. My daughter was in top group and said she knew they were supposed to turn, but someone was blocking the turn and the cart went straight. She says she went "at least 15 seconds" before turning around, but that's an estimate and I know sometimes time gets distorted! In any case, not likely that anyone went 200m. But possible the leader went maybe 150, and next went 100? After that, the extra distance diminished with place before the turn.
I also know that no one after about 18th-20th went wrong way initially (or at least, they didn't backtrack), and most runners after about 10th place were alerted to the snafu pretty quickly. So, MIT lost a few places (they had a runner in the lead, who lost A LOT of ground after that, and a few runners who probably lost just a tiny bit - their #2 at 3.9k was 11th). Three other contending teams (Baldwin Wallace, Hope, Oberlin) all had 1 runner in the top group, plus a couple other individuals from non-contending teams. And a few individuals might have moved up due to the mixup. Between 3.9k and 6k, MIT maintained first (barely) but added many points (from 43 to 90). Oberlin maintained 2nd (while dropping from 115 to 90 pts). St Thomas, 3rd at 3.9k, pared a few points but got passed in standings by Hope (dropped from 201 to 148) and RPI. St T's top runners at 3.9k their top runners were 27th, 28th, & 35th - so, if anything, should have benefited. So, hard to separate which teams were finishing strong vs those who benefit or were hurt by Official (ie cart drivers') stupidity.
Anyway while times become meaningless, the pattern of results didn't change too much. Also, I'd note that even if the overall course was, say, 2k short (setting aside those who followed lead cart and ran extra), that's about 44 sec at 6:00 pace. And it probably wasn't THAT short. There are much bigger differences between tough courses or conditions and fast courses/conditions. Some courses routinely run 1-2:00 slower than others, although those are extreme. But one course being 44 sec faster than another? No big deal. Just a shame it wasn't the same for everyone!