Arien O’Connell, a fifth-grade teacher from New York City, ran the fastest time at the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco. But she didn’t win.
O’Connell was told she couldn’t be the winner because she didn’t run with the “elite” group who were given a 20-minute head start. She crossed the finish line of the 26.2 mile race in a time of 2:55:11, a full 11 minutes ahead of the first place elite runner.
And don’t think this is an isolated incident. Something similar happened at this year’s Chicago Marathon when a Kenyan runner, Wesley Korir, finished fourth. But because he wasn’t in the elite group that started several minutes before the main field, race officials said it didn’t count. Korir didn’t receive any prize money.
Jim Estes of USA Track and Field explains it like this. “USATF and IAAF rules about victory are clear: the first person to finish wins. In order to be able to manage their large fields, major events have to make the best judgment call they can about starting separate groups of runners. Chips are used primarily by race directors to give “mid-pack” runners who start farther back a true sense of their finishing time. In their sign-up information and race rules, event directors state that placement is determined by order of finish, not chip time.”
While I understand that the first person across the finish line is the winner, I’m confused as to why race organizers feel they need to start the so-called “elites” early. I think giving elite runners a sizable head start is a poor policy unless race directors are going to clearly give awards for two races, an elite race and an open race. For instance, at the Bolder Boulder, two separate events are raced on the same course, with an elite race and a citizen’s race. It particularly doesn’t make sense for a race like the Nike Women’s Marathon to have “elites” starting 20 minutes early. I’m not sure that many female runners who finish a marathon in more than three hours would truly consider themselves contenders for the title when the winners at major marathons are finishing in 2:20. My advice to race directors: just let the fastest runners start up front. I think that would give all runners the fairest chance to finish in the money.
Happy trails!
Derek