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5ksandcabernets: Half-marathoner takes wrong turn, runs marathon.....

5ksandcabernets

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Half-marathoner takes wrong turn, runs marathon.....

....in 2:19:34 and gets disqualified.
 
Nicholas Kurgat signed up to run a half marathon in Raleigh, N.C. a few weeks ago. But, according to the Raleigh News and Observer, Kurgat, "missed the signs for the half marathon turn and found himself deciding at the 13th mile to keep going, even though he had never run a full marathon and was participating in his first half marathon."
 
Kurgat, a Kenyan runner, would have been the winner, but his results were not counted because he signed up for the half.
 
Jim Micheels, the race director, said Kurgat was disqualified from the half marathon for leaving the course, a rule specified by USA Track and Field, the country's governing body for marathons.
 
"One of their rules is that if you switch races, intentionally or unintentionally, you're disqualified," Micheels told the News and Observer.
 
You can read the entire story here. I originally found out about it by reading My 2 cents blog.

6 Comments:

Blogger Derek said...

That's like the story of the female runner that had the best time in a marathon and should have won it but didn't start with the elite group, so she was not the winner!!

November 12, 2008 at 6:47 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I feel bad for the runner at City of Oaks...can you imagine where his head was? I am nowhere near that fast and when I'm in the zone, I'm in the zone. Even when I cross the finish and those wonderful volunteers ask to get my chip...I'm in a daze. It would seem that the race coordinators/volunteers could keep up with the front runners and make sure the right runner is instructed to where he/she needs to go...because they can't POSSIBLY be in the right state of mind to know or be aware!

Very unfortunate. I was disappointed that my 10K race didn't include me in my age group results to place 3rd!! And there wasn't a prize in store for me!!!

November 12, 2008 at 9:27 PM  
Blogger Reese said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

November 14, 2008 at 7:22 AM  
Blogger Reese said...

For the record the female case was reversed. "Nike fudges, recognizes fastest marathon runner as "a" winner"
I don't see this case as the same. He was not registered for the marathon. Most multiple format races don't allow race day changes. Even if they do, you have to notify them before the race, not after. Just unfortunate, but not the first time it has happened.

November 14, 2008 at 7:25 AM  
Blogger Laura said...

I side with the race officials on this one, unless there was a specific provision that you could change races in the middle (which there wasn't).

Kevin, you didn't give your take!

November 14, 2008 at 10:16 AM  
Blogger rodney said...

Won't catch me doing that!

November 14, 2008 at 1:06 PM  

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