Link. Lead female misses turn/follows cyclists who go off course, at mile 19, runs two miles in the wrong direction. Gets ride with cop to mile 17, somehow is allowed to go via cop car to mile 22.5. Wins the race.
It sucks that she was led off course. But I thought outside assistance was not allowed. And why wouldn't she restart from the point she went off the course? Just seems like a very odd chain of events.
They should have dropped her off where she went off course, though if it was on a trail, that may not have been possible. Maybe mile 22.5 was the nearest road access? Very strange.
race obsessed
My take?
No - scratch the race and especially being put back into it and after the race discuss it with the race officials.
Even if she had not had a ride and somehow ran a legitimate 26.2 miles (somehow getting off course and back on without accruing more or less distance) the fact is that she did not run the course.
Part of it is on greenway type trails.
I will read the link when I get home but if she went off course at mile 19, then ran 2 miles off course I would not have an issue with her resuming the race at mile 21, however she got there. But that is without reading the story so I guess I should do that first before opening my stupid pie-hole.
USATF Rule 163.6(c) states that, "in any track event of 20,000 meters or more or in any road race, a competitor may leave the road or track with the permission and under the control of a judge or other authorized official, provided that by going off or returning to the course the athlete does not lessen the distance to be covered." That doesn't specifically cover what should happen if you take a wrong turn on a course but here is my thought.
Many rules are designed for the purpose of ensuring that one competitor does not have an unfair advantage over other competitors. Thus, if you take a wrong turn, at least the following should be applicable.
1. There must be some way to ensure that you run AT LEAST the advertised distance. In most cases, that would mean bringing you back to the point at which you left the course. Naturally, that means you'll end up running more than the advertised distance but some of it is your fault for not paying close enough attention to course markings. I'm not being hyper critical of the runner because I have missed turns myself and, sure enough, they were marked - I simply was too focused on my running and missed the marking. Hell, in my one and only ultra, four or five of us were running together and we all missed the turn. We went on a road for 4 freaking miles before a volunteer chased us down and brought us back to the point where we left the course.
2. Let's assume that, for whatever reasons, you aren't brought back to the point at which you left the course. For example, it's a marathon and you show the RD 21 miles on your Garmin so the RD drops you off at Mile 21. If you are not brought back to the point at which you left the course, this should not allow you some kind of unfair advantage over the competition. Maybe there were some killer hills between Mile 18 and 21 and you managed to skip them due to your wrong turn. Sorry. You should be required to run those hills even if it means extra distance. Skipping them isn't fair to competitors who have to run them.
Short term goal: 17:59 5K
Mid term goal: 2:54:59 marathon
Long term goal: To say I've been a runner half my life. (I started running at age 45).
oops. wrong thread.