I was running a local 10k this morning and at the first turning the Marshall directed all of the runners down the path to the left. After about 20 of us had made our way down to the left (I was in about 5th at the time) the Marshall realised he had made a mistake and called us back to send us down the right hand path. so me and the runner next to me ran the 50 yards back and joined in about halfway down the pack on the correct course. In the end I was the first person to cross the line but after hanging around for an hour after I was told that because some of the other runners had run quite a bit further before being told they were going wrong and had kicked up a fuss, there would be no winner announced and had to go home empty handed. Is this normal practice? I've come in the top 10 quite a few times but never first.
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I'm not bothered about the prize. Just wanted to finish first for the first time.
i think technically you won but you might find the 5 or so that miss out on prizes (assuming they are normaly front runners) might pick up spot prizes to ease the annoyance.
they cant pay out on someone who finished behind you as you could counter by saying if someone was in front you would have chased harder and maybe caught them.
congrats on your win
I don't think knowing the route would have helped as the marshall was stood in the track in front of us with his arm out.
I'm not sure the guy who complained realised that you had also gone the wrong way but had run your way back into contention.
I was about 8th at the incident and only got slightly deviated and you guys didn't re-catch us until about 2k later so must have been going for it.
Dude you was robbed!
Jim (2nd place finisher)
I think you are right to be annoyed; the, "you should have familiarised yourself with the route" excuse is bulls**t. I got sent the wrong way years (decades?) ago and I am still pi**sed off. I got a lecture about how I had let the team down etc. A race is not a navigational exercise (unless it says so!) I think the people who whinged were just being bitter. As far as I am concerned you won! So well done from me! There is always another race (and the prize is not always that great) congratulations!
As far as I'm aware you should always follow marshall's instructions (unless obviously dangerous), so knowing the route is irrelevant. As far as you know the situation on the course might of changed after the start of the race and you might of needed to be rerouted. If you misread a sign or take an unmarked turning, that's fair cop, your mistake.
As it is the race wasn't run correctly, some people might of received an unfair advantage. So sorry but I agree they were correct to null the results. Well done on crossing the line first though, it should give you a confidence boost for next time around.
Disagree it's down to the runner to know the route! Utter nonsense.
The instruction is always to follow the marshalls advice. Otherwise you'd get people just making up what they think is the route!
Millsy, I personally think you've been screwed over. You ran the full course, plus extra, and came home first. End of discussion.
Anything outside that is just hard luck. If you'd run short, then no way should you win.
My local 10k had a screw up once.
I was battling for 4th/5th with 2 chaps. They went the wrong way (no marshall), I knew the right way.
They ended up doing a much shorter route, so I lost them, and lost to a few after them.
Apparently, the guy who won, and me in now 9th, were the only 2 to do the full route. The guy in 1st was miles clear of 2nd, but ended up winning by about 10secs...that could have been ugly.
2nd and 3rd got prizes as normal...I was fuming, as not only had the higher places been taken from me, but I had a solo last 2k!
completely agree, off road routes regularly get altered due to unforseen circumstances.......did one recently that was changed at the last minute due to an area flooding badly.Feel really sorry for you ,I,d be gutted .However theres zero chance of me winning anything ever !
Millsy..i think they should awarded the results for those who crossed the line.............
then apologised to the ones who did the big detour and compensate them with a refund if they felt it was necessary..........
also disagree with those who say you should know the route...you follow the route..unfortunately the marshall made a mistake.which happens from time to time.we are all human
Millsy, you said the marshall made the mistake at the first turning. Presumably this wasn't far from the start. This happened at a 10K I was watching last year and the officials decided to restart the race. It seemed the fairest thing to do but they could see what was going on whereas maybe the officials at your race couldn't and it wasn't an option.
I can't see how it's the runners responsibility to know the route, what are we expected to do carry a map & compass? Does sound like a complete mess though but in truth i can't see how they can have a winner when runners had run different distances & i doubt if 38 mins would be fast enough to win a 10k.
My pal won a 10k MT race in 39:xx once. Decent sized field too!
I was a bit gutted as I was doing some horrendously hilly local offroader which had about 200 nutters and stil only coming in 9th or so!
My club runs in a cross country league called Mabac in Surrey. It's a bit more for fun runners than the Surrey Cross Country league in the sense that everyone who finishes gets some points, so it rewards a good turnout (first six of a team, of course, win 'big' points, the rest get five each). Anyhoo, there was a race last year in Winterfold Forest where they forgot to position a marshal at the first turn and everyone went the wrong way... and the wrong way included an incline that was almost a vertical ten-foot drop. It was like lemmings going over a cliff, and people were grabbing trees and each other to stop themselves falling. Amazingly, no one was hurt and it now seems funny. Didn't seem so at the time. Added about a mile to the race as well.
Millsy, all I can say is well done and jealous that I can't run that fast. In my opinion you won and should have been the winner. I would have been so pissed off.
For those who assume by knowing the course or memorising the course. Wait until you are totally shattered and running full out (lets not muck about here, I'm talking sub six minute mile pace, plus). You can hardly remember your own name sometimes.
At one XC course I nearly missed the turn (spectators involved) towards the finish. And it was my own home course. And I trained there. That's fatigue. Anyone can go wrong.
First over the line gets the prize. No matter.
🙂
If it was my shout I think I'd list the results and give Millsy the win but probably not use the event as counting towards the league.
Would just be nice to go into work tomorrow and when the questioning goes like this
Colleague - "running this weekend?"
Me- "yes"
Colleague - "did you win?"
It would be great for once just to reply "yes I did actually"
They seem to ask the same question whether I've run a local fun run or even the London Marathon.
Yes. Fair and square.
🙂
So reply that you DID win the race,I am agreed with the majority you followed what the Marshall asked you to do and to be honest, if you failed to follow a Marshalls instructions you would of been at risk of disqualification
Well done
Know this feeling well.
The other irritating thing is when they hear you've come say 5th in some 200 strong field, and then say, well you need to beat that next week...when yoiu're doing some 15,000 strong race.