http://halfmoonbayim.org/course/
and https://www.facebook.com/halfm...osts/582641548460589
Race may have been a bit too long
By Mark Noack [ mark@hmbreview.com ] | Posted: Thursday, October 3, 2013 10:26 am
Organizers of the Half Moon Bay International Marathon are investigating concerns that Sunday’s
half-marathon race length may have been measured incorrectly, throwing off the finishing times for
some participants.
A marathon extends about 26.2 miles, and all races are measured in advance to ensure they adhere to
that distance. But several participants in Sunday’s marathon say they noticed the course’s early mile
markers didn’t match the readouts on their own GPS trackers. Now organizers are working with a
sanctioning governing body to sort out the mystery.
Every race can vary slightly due to the terrain and how each runner navigates the course, but
participants in the Sunday event doubted those reasons could explain the disparity they were seeing.
At the four-mile marker, Rosa Lear, a 35-year-old race participant from San Jose, said her GPS watch
showed she had traveled an extra quarter mile. She estimated that added distance could have stacked
two minutes onto her finishing time.
“Every single marathon I’ve run I’ve been a little bit over, but it’s maybe five hundredths of a mile
over,” she said. “But when you’re a quarter-mile over, that’s significant.”
Marathon organizers sent out an email to the 1,200 participants early Tuesday morning, saying they
were looking into the matter. Later that day, organizers met to review the course with officials from
USA Track and Field, the national governing body for marathons.
In a separate email to the Review, lead organizer Eric Vaughan of El Granada explained that USATF
officials had measured the distance and certified the course in advance. After measuring the distance
again on Tuesday, USATF officials announced the full marathon was within the acceptable range,
however, they found the half-marathon was nearly four-tenths of a mile — 3 percent — too long.
USATF officials said they were investigating the matter.
“I want to state as strongly as we can that the race organizers did everything right,” said Jill Geer,
USATF spokeswoman. “We’re looking into how and why this happened and taking any corrective
action that’s necessary.”
USATF representatives measure a course by walking the full distance, either with a GPS device or a
mechanical wheel counter. The group typically measures the distance three times, and then averages
them out to determine where to put the finishing line.
If the half-marathon did go longer than the official distance, that could cause problems for some
participants. Race times are important to most marathon runners, but some participants were
reportedly aspiring to use the Coastside event to qualify for more competitive races, such as the New10/5/13 Race mayhavebeenabit toolong - Half Moon BayReview : Sports
www.hmbreview.com/sports/race-...63f4.html?mode=print 2/2
York City Marathon. USATF officials indicated they could make calls to urge marathon organizers to
“request leniency” in qualifying standards for those who ran in the local half-marathon.
Geer, in an email sent from USATF offices in Indianapolis, states: “USATF will take any corrective
action necessary to ensure an error such as this one is not repeated.”
Regardless of any problems with the distance, Lear and other racers say they were delighted with the
2013 Half Moon Bay marathon. Many praised the sunny weather and solid volunteer crews at the
event, saying this was the Coastside’s best race yet.
“I loved the race,” Lear said. “The difference in the time and distance was disappointing, but it doesn’t
cloud my overall enjoyment of the race.
Original Post
