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Wrong Turn in SC Marathon Course

kevinplucaskevinplucasMember
Charleston Marathon organizers release updated results after wrong turn
Posted: Jan 19, 2015 7:08 PM EST
Updated: Jan 22, 2015 3:25 PM EST
By Mayci McLeodCONNECT

http://www.counton2.com/story/...lts-after-wrong-turn

CHARLESTON, SC - More than 4,000 people ran in one of the Charleston Marathon races on Saturday, but many runners were scratching their heads at the finish line because their end time was higher than anticipated. Marathon directors are chalking it up to miscommunication.

The route for the marathon and half marathon was mapped to turn from Broad Street onto Ashley Street, but the lead car took a wrong turn and ended up going down to Rutledge Avenue instead. The detour added about a quarter mile to the course.

Race Director Howie Schomer says, "Apparently there was a fence put up-- I just heard about this actually-- put up in the wrong spot also. So it was a combination of the lead vehicle not having the correct course and a fence that was sort of showing the incorrect course as well."

And adding an extra few minutes to a runner's time could be detrimental, especially if they are trying to qualify for a race like the Boston Marathon.

One of the runners from the Charleston Marathon, Don Oswalt, says, "The guy I was running with, he was trying to qualify and I think he actually bumped over the time limit that he needed to qualify. So if they reduce his-- I think he was two minutes over-- so I think he will be able to make it if they do adjust things."

Schomer says, "We are actually going to go back and do a very accurate re measurement of the difference and then we're going to change the times-- they will obviously be unofficial-- to show what the runners truly would've done if they would've run the marathon or half marathon distance."

News 2 reached out to the Boston Marathon and they could not confirm the adjusted times will be honored for qualifying. They said it will ultimately be decided by the Boston Athletic Association, but this is not the first time a qualifying race has been miscalculated. Directors of the Charleston Marathon say they are already looking at ways to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Schomer says, "We'll just have someone who's very familiar with the course riding with the lead vehicle."

Here are the updated results based on the course re-measurement last night. The "Official Time" is your new time based on recalculation. The course was .1918 long. This was 1012' or 334 yards long.
The revised results can be found here Click on the results tab to search. This is the file being sent to BAA for Boston qualifiers.
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brandonwilsonbrandonwilsonMember
It's unfortunate SOME races don't take course setup more seriously. It's almost like "the course is certified, we have the golden seal of approval" and they forget they need to ensure the course is run that way.

It's sad they said "next year we'll have someone familiar with the course in the lead car". As Adam Sandler said, "that's information that would have been more useful to me yesterday".

They took a major black eye on that one, I hope more RD's use it as an opportunity to pay attention to detail on their course setup.
B bobthurstonMember
Kevin, thanks for sharing that story. It reminds me of a Marine Corps Marathon in the early 80's that went off track in 4 or 5 places. AJ VanderWaal, who was teaching me the ropes of course measuring, had measured the course. Immediately following the event, as word of the diversions got to him, he set out first to interview enough runners to confirm what route was followed. Then he went out and measured all the differences, reported the results to the RD, even breaking everything down into a "cookbook formula" that actually appeared in the next day's paper. (This was when the Washington Post still covered running as a sport!) "Convert your time into seconds, multiply by this factor, then convert back into hours, minutes and seconds, and you'll have your equivalent marathon time."
In that year anyway, the BAA accepted those conversions for qualifying.

I've always loved AJ's quick action as a model of what we need to do when stuff goes wrong. If we are able. One year the Army 10 Mile was aborted due to a security scare, and I was asked to figure out how far folks actually ran as they were led back to the finish by a spur-of-the-moment alternate route. I was game until I learned that there were at least 3 different ways this was done-- at that point I declined.

One thing I think is questionable is actually changing folks' finishing times-- there are rules people out there who can correct me but I don't think that's the right thing to do (?)
I think it better to report actual times because thats factual not speculative, but of course the discrepancy should be noted.

Regarding race snafu's, I think they are a lot more common than we like to think. I agree with Brandon's comments, but in addition to "setup" and knowledgeable lead driver, I've noticed an alarming tendency to skimp on course marshals in some events. As if you can just put out a bunch of cones and signs and you're ready to go.

Someone taught me a long time ago about the value of redundancy in providing directions in a race and I still think it's the right way to do things. Show them the turn, tell them to turn, and sometimes put something in the way so they have no other choice!
pastmemberpastmemberMember
Good points, Bob. When it comes to course directions, it's the "Department of Redundancy Department" for me. I think it is risky to arrange for a lead vehicle instead of a lead cyclist. A good lead cyclist will practice on the course ahead of race day. I have never know a lead cyclist to go off course.

Having said this, most of us have probably encountered racers who are so "into the zone" they barely know where they are. More than once, I have had to "hand block" fast runners to make a turn. In one race, the first woman actually jumped OVER the solid line of cones directing her to the Finish line. She was wearing a bib and a chip. We gave her the win anyway, because it was a low-key race. She later accepted her award, so she wasn't bailing at the last second.

For some events for which I know there will be a paucity of marshals, I lay out huge arrows on the road with day-glow yellow 3" wide duct tape. Since racers typically are looking down at the road, these 30' long arrows are usually effective.

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