Race mishaps?

"anders" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Any other spectacular, absurd or merely amusing incidents or
situations?

Humorous now but not at the time. I just finished a 32 mile leg of 70
relay and lost the trail. A state marked trail went through commercial
ski area and apparently the ski folks were doing some very recent
construction/destruction and took down some of the trail signs. About 25
of us wandered around for about 1/2 an hour searching for the trail.

I didn't care about the time as much as it was 9 miles between aid
stations and this was mile 8 and we were all very low or out of fluids.
The humidity was 99.9% and no tree cover and the sun decided to come
out. Considering the humidity I was damn glad I chose to do the relay
rather than the whole thing this year.

Many years back at a local 10k trail race( I now direct this race) we
had set up a cardboard sign tacked to tree showing the direction to run
at a multi-pathed intersection. Apparently we had some devilish bikers
that thought it would be cute to point the sign in a different
direction. We now use lime/flour in the dirt which is at least harder
to erase/alter and likely don't carry spare white powder to make
changes. It makes it harder to unmark the trail but I prefer the ounce
of prevention.

The entry fee is $2 to cover the flour, cups and some fluid. How many
races can you find that are even under $10 much less $2?

Anders

"anders" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Any other spectacular, absurd or merely amusing incidents or
situations?

IIRC, in the Northeast NCAA regional cross-country meet in the early
90s, the front pack of the race (a dozen plus runners) got going the wrong
way and ended up losing almost a kilometer from the field. Many of them,
including one of the national favorites Louis Quintana, I think missed out
on the NCAA champs because of it. It happened at Franklin Park, Boston,
which is a truly understandable place to get lost (it's a course with only 3
short loops, and each time I raced there I had to memorize a new sequence of
these loops).

Dave

In article <[email hidden]>,

anders said:

There is a variety of things that can go wrong in a race and a variety
of ways in which race arrangers can goof up: the leaders in the
marathon race can be directed to the halfmarathon course (or vice
versa), the bib pickup can run out of safety pins or the arrival of an
unscheduled train can cause the barrier at a crossing to come down at
an inopportune moment etc.

In a recent HM in Germany a sponsor vehicle had wedged itself between
the leading car and the runners, and when its driver missed a turn (and
thereby a 930m section of the course) the entire field of 2800
participants promptly followed suit and the race resulted in a spate of
"PBs"!

(The arrangers later apologized and offered a €4 deduction off the
2006 entry fee.)

Any other spectacular, absurd or merely amusing incidents or
situations?

*Ironman Hawaii, 2004, a race marshall on a motorcylce hit a competitor
and trashed his bike. The poor guy had to walk 6 miles carrying his
bike, then run a marathon after that. I don't think he got a PB that day.

*Some high school XC championship, one of the boy runners thought it
would be funny to take down the course markings for the girls race. It
wasn't funny.

*Philadelphia Marathon, 1983, was supposed to have Gatorade every 3
miles. There was none between miles 6 and 18. But I'm not bitter.

*IIRC, the world triathlon championships in Australia a few years back
produced amazing times because the run course was 8k instead of 10k.
Usually they do a better job with that sort of thing at world
championships.

*2000 Olympics. The vault height for the women's gymnastics competition
is set wrong. Oh, wait. Well, I guess they do have to run up to the
thing.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

ha ha aun't it great. I did a couple ultra were i stay in back of pack
and into mile 5 to 10 we al ways meet up and the100 plus people are
allways mad........ha ha...they should of follow us....ha ha ha..
of corse I never see them again.......

in this group the leaders know.......ha ha .
of again I never see them.......in person... ha ha ha......

Wouldn't it be easier to list the things that AREN'T absurd about jogger
hootenannies?

"Harold Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

anders said:

There is a variety of things that can go wrong in a race and a variety
of ways in which race arrangers can goof up: the leaders in the
marathon race can be directed to the halfmarathon course (or vice
versa), the bib pickup can run out of safety pins or the arrival of an
unscheduled train can cause the barrier at a crossing to come down at
an inopportune moment etc.

In a recent HM in Germany a sponsor vehicle had wedged itself between
the leading car and the runners, and when its driver missed a turn (and
thereby a 930m section of the course) the entire field of 2800
participants promptly followed suit and the race resulted in a spate of
"PBs"!

(The arrangers later apologized and offered a ?4 deduction off the
2006 entry fee.)

Any other spectacular, absurd or merely amusing incidents or
situations?

*Ironman Hawaii, 2004, a race marshall on a motorcylce hit a competitor
and trashed his bike. The poor guy had to walk 6 miles carrying his
bike, then run a marathon after that. I don't think he got a PB that day.

*Some high school XC championship, one of the boy runners thought it
would be funny to take down the course markings for the girls race. It
wasn't funny.

*Philadelphia Marathon, 1983, was supposed to have Gatorade every 3
miles. There was none between miles 6 and 18. But I'm not bitter.

*IIRC, the world triathlon championships in Australia a few years back
produced amazing times because the run course was 8k instead of 10k.
Usually they do a better job with that sort of thing at world
championships.

*2000 Olympics. The vault height for the women's gymnastics competition
is set wrong. Oh, wait. Well, I guess they do have to run up to the
thing.

--Harold Buck

From the newswire:

2005 Chicago Marathon: Race organizers screw up and lay out a 27.2 mile
course. They admit the mistake and apologize, AFTER the race. No word on
what this means for people trying to qualify for Boston.

From my personal archives:

2003 Pineman Triathlon: Organizers delay the start of the race almost an
hour due to heavy fog. About 20 minutes after the race finally starts, a
change in air temperature causes the low-lying clouds to suddeenly settle
back onto the lake reducing visibility to less than 50 yards and obscuring
the course markers. Many participants are left in the middle of the lake
unsure which direction to swim. A quick-thinking ambulance driver turns on
his siren to guide people back to shore. Most participants make a b-line
toward the siren (understandably) cutting the course. Race organizers
announce to all participants as they leave the water that the swim has been
cancelled and their official race time will start at the T1 exit.
Participants take their sweet time regrouping in T1. Organizer includes
swim and T1 in the official results anyway. Unlike Harold, I AM bitter.

2004 Deer Creek Triathlon: Race organizers post a volunteeer at a
turn-around point along a dead end road. Volunteer blows the assignment and
lets nearly the entire field pass the turnaround, continuing almost 3 miles
before reaching the road's dead-end where participants finally turn around
in a cul-de-sac. Total length of the Olympic Distance bike course ends up
over 30 miles.

2002 Boilerman Triahtlon: Run course crosses a railroad track - twice.
Train arrives during the run leg causing the gates to go down and holding up
competitors - twice.

"Harold Buck" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

anders said:

There is a variety of things that can go wrong in a race and a variety
of ways in which race arrangers can goof up: the leaders in the
marathon race can be directed to the halfmarathon course (or vice
versa), the bib pickup can run out of safety pins or the arrival of an
unscheduled train can cause the barrier at a crossing to come down at
an inopportune moment etc.

In a recent HM in Germany a sponsor vehicle had wedged itself between
the leading car and the runners, and when its driver missed a turn (and
thereby a 930m section of the course) the entire field of 2800
participants promptly followed suit and the race resulted in a spate of
"PBs"!

(The arrangers later apologized and offered a ?4 deduction off the
2006 entry fee.)

Any other spectacular, absurd or merely amusing incidents or
situations?

*Ironman Hawaii, 2004, a race marshall on a motorcylce hit a competitor
and trashed his bike. The poor guy had to walk 6 miles carrying his
bike, then run a marathon after that. I don't think he got a PB that day.

*Some high school XC championship, one of the boy runners thought it
would be funny to take down the course markings for the girls race. It
wasn't funny.

*Philadelphia Marathon, 1983, was supposed to have Gatorade every 3
miles. There was none between miles 6 and 18. But I'm not bitter.

*IIRC, the world triathlon championships in Australia a few years back
produced amazing times because the run course was 8k instead of 10k.
Usually they do a better job with that sort of thing at world
championships.

*2000 Olympics. The vault height for the women's gymnastics competition
is set wrong. Oh, wait. Well, I guess they do have to run up to the
thing.

*1986 Steve Lynn Triathlon (1/2 IM Distance, Savannah) - Rainy bike course
crosses train tracks at an acute angle three times. Several cyclists take
ambulance rides. 1987, same course; 1988, race throws a carpet over the
tracks, problem solved.

*2003 Inaugural U.S. Half Marathon (Alpharetta, GA). Course is properly
measured by TAC, but incorrectly executed by officials on race day. Entire
field runs 15.3 miles. Race issued apologies/explanations.

*19xx-to-200x - More races than I can count, run out of water and/or sports
drink before the final quarter (BOP) of the field has completed the run
course.

rsquared

In the original 1999 Pineman the swim visibility wasn't even to the
first bouy at the start and immediately got worse so those on shore
couldn't see more than ten feet into the water. The group I vectored
off with hit a sandbar and while standing in 3 feet of water started
singing the theme to Gilligan's Island out of frustration. They
canceled the swim and reduced the bike from 112 to 56 miles because the
fog made biking outside the park unsafe until around 11AM. Those who
stayed for the marathon (about 220 out of the original 500) were
further challenged with mislayed mile markers throughout the second
half of the course.

Harold Buck said:

Quoted message said:

Any other spectacular, absurd or merely amusing incidents or
situations?

Recently I was in a cycling road race; as the only female competitor in
a predominantly elite/a grade field, I got dropped. Marshalls were
posted, but when the rain came down in lap 12, they stopped directing
traffic so they could put on their rain jackets. As a result I nearly
got killed by a truck on the roundabout, then had to slam on the brakes
and swerve around an elderly couple that wandered onto the course on
their way to church.

Ran a two-lap half marathon (combined with a marathon) where the water
stations were topped up by a guy on a motorbike driving around the
course and filling up fresh cups. It was unseasonably hot and they ran
out by my lap 2. That one really sucked, it was my personal worst.

Tam

anders said:

Any other spectacular, absurd or merely amusing incidents or
situations?

Anders

Years ago (1986?) in a very popular (1,000 entrants) and fairly
competitive race the lead car missed a turn in the first 100 yards and
the first 50 or so followed. The rest of the field knew the course and
made the turn. Then somehow the race organization stopped the race,
backed up the entire field and restarted the race. It was kind of
interesting when we were stopped, everybody was just milling around
wondering what happened and what was going on.

Andy

Quoted message said:

2005 Chicago Marathon: Race organizers screw up and lay out a 27.2 mile
course. They admit the mistake and apologize, AFTER the race. No word on
what this means for people trying to qualify for Boston.

Note that that was the LAKESHORE Marathon, not the big Chicago
Marathon in October.

--
Brian P. Baresch
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

Quoted message said:

2002 Boilerman Triahtlon: Run course crosses a railroad track - twice.
Train arrives during the run leg causing the gates to go down and holding up
competitors - twice.

This happened at the California International Marathon (once, not
twice) a couple of years ago.

--
Brian P. Baresch
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Professional editing and proofreading

If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill

In article <[email hidden]>,

John Hardt said:

2003 Pineman Triathlon: Organizers delay the start of the race almost an
hour due to heavy fog. About 20 minutes after the race finally starts, a
change in air temperature causes the low-lying clouds to suddeenly settle
back onto the lake reducing visibility to less than 50 yards and obscuring
the course markers. Many participants are left in the middle of the lake
unsure which direction to swim. A quick-thinking ambulance driver turns on
his siren to guide people back to shore. Most participants make a b-line
toward the siren (understandably) cutting the course. Race organizers
announce to all participants as they leave the water that the swim has been
cancelled and their official race time will start at the T1 exit.
Participants take their sweet time regrouping in T1. Organizer includes
swim and T1 in the official results anyway. Unlike Harold, I AM bitter.

Actually, I was bitter, but not as bitter as I'd have been about your
race. How the %$#@ can you count the swim results when no one swam the
right course?!

I've seen some of this sort of thing in United States Lifesaving
Association events. One year at the regional tournament, they said that
there would be two heats for the paddleboard race. Then, after the two
heats, they announced that they weren't going to do a final and were
just going to award the medals based on the times from the two heats. My
friend was unchallenged in his heat and tried to save himself for the
final, while the other heat was hotly contested and of course had faster
times. Even disregarding the fact that you not only didn't get to race
against your competitors--and didn't know you should be going all
out--you can't do this kind of thing in ocean racing anyway, since
people in different heats are affected differently by surf.

Quoted message said:

2004 Deer Creek Triathlon: Race organizers post a volunteeer at a
turn-around point along a dead end road. Volunteer blows the assignment and
lets nearly the entire field pass the turnaround, continuing almost 3 miles
before reaching the road's dead-end where participants finally turn around
in a cul-de-sac. Total length of the Olympic Distance bike course ends up
over 30 miles.

Some volunteers don't pay attention and should be shot.

Quoted message said:

2002 Boilerman Triahtlon: Run course crosses a railroad track - twice.
Train arrives during the run leg causing the gates to go down and holding up
competitors - twice.

I've done races where this was a possibility, but it didn't actually
happen. You wonder if there's some way to put a championship mat on
either side of the tracks to adjust the times somehow.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

In article <[email hidden]>,

BillX said:

In the original 1999 Pineman the swim visibility wasn't even to the
first bouy at the start and immediately got worse so those on shore
couldn't see more than ten feet into the water. The group I vectored
off with hit a sandbar and while standing in 3 feet of water started
singing the theme to Gilligan's Island out of frustration. They
canceled the swim and reduced the bike from 112 to 56 miles because the
fog made biking outside the park unsafe until around 11AM. Those who
stayed for the marathon (about 220 out of the original 500) were
further challenged with mislayed mile markers throughout the second
half of the course.

And I had been planning to do that race this year before it was
cancelled.

Of course, most of these stories are mildly amusing, especially to
people who didn't have to compete in them. One that is not amusing is
the (Half?) Ironman Utah race which started despite heavy chop and wind
and in which an athlete drowned. That's something they should always
keep in mind when they're deciding whether to start a race in poor
conditions.

There were some accounts that they were holding the race and people
jumped the gun and started the swim, so someone said "they're going, so
you might as well fire the starting cannon," but I don't know if that's
what really happened.

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

The one and only DisneyLAND marathon in 1995, the front runners missed a
turn and cut about a mile off the course. The race crew scurried around
and added the distance back, worst effect was no one's splits were
correct.

anders said:

There is a variety of things that can go wrong in a race and a variety
of ways in which race arrangers can goof up: the leaders in the
marathon race can be directed to the halfmarathon course (or vice
versa), the bib pickup can run out of safety pins or the arrival of an
unscheduled train can cause the barrier at a crossing to come down at
an inopportune moment etc.

In a recent HM in Germany a sponsor vehicle had wedged itself between
the leading car and the runners, and when its driver missed a turn (and
thereby a 930m section of the course) the entire field of 2800
participants promptly followed suit and the race resulted in a spate of
"PBs"!

(The arrangers later apologized and offered a €4 deduction off the
2006 entry fee.)

Any other spectacular, absurd or merely amusing incidents or
situations?

Anders

Bumper said:

The one and only DisneyLAND marathon in 1995, the front runners missed a
turn and cut about a mile off the course. The race crew scurried around
and added the distance back, worst effect was no one's splits were
correct.

A couple of years ago, I ran a 5K in California where the
front runners took a wrong turn. IIRC, my time was 17:40,
the winner was 13:10 or something. The announcer, when he saw
the first guy, said something along the lines of "what an
incredible time..." I think he realized the problem soon enough.
The distance was around 4.5K.

jobs

It seems to me I heard somewhere that Bumper wrote in article
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

The one and only DisneyLAND marathon in 1995, the front runners missed a
turn and cut about a mile off the course. The race crew scurried around
and added the distance back, worst effect was no one's splits were
correct.

I was about to mention that, but you got there first. :-) The whole
day was a mess from that point on; the amazingly odd thing is that the
screw-up came before the runners ever left the park, still close to the
start. Inside the park I'd guess they were employees, not volunteers
like farther along the course.

Quoted message said:

anders <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

There is a variety of things that can go wrong in a race and a variety
of ways in which race arrangers can goof up: the leaders in the
marathon race can be directed to the halfmarathon course (or vice
versa), the bib pickup can run out of safety pins or the arrival of an
unscheduled train can cause the barrier at a crossing to come down at
an inopportune moment etc.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

In a recent HM in Germany a sponsor vehicle had wedged itself between
the leading car and the runners, and when its driver missed a turn (and
thereby a 930m section of the course) the entire field of 2800
participants promptly followed suit and the race resulted in a spate of
"PBs"!

We had a train crossing the route on my one and only 8k, but I still got
my PR for the distance.
--
Don Kirkman

In article <[email hidden]>,

Don Kirkman said:

We had a train crossing the route on my one and only 8k, but I still got
my PR for the distance.

That's kind of like how everyone running the Chicago Lakeshore Marathon
set a PR for the distance, huh? :-)

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night,
and party every day.
Then it was every other day. . . ."
-Homer J. Simpson

lol