I was working the first aid station that was right outside of transition (maybe 1/10th of a mile into the run). There was a left turn at the end of the aid station that had runners go out about .75 miles before doubling back to go by the aid station again. There were 3-4 cones at the left turn to separate runners as you had outgoing runners on one side and incoming on the other. So round trip to that corner was 1.5 miles or so. For some reason she made the left turn and then u-turned at the end of the cones (which was maybe 30 feet after the turn). I don’t believe she intentionally did it the first time because she probably knew there was a u-turn “over there somewhere” and there were no Ironman officials at that turn. The turn was pretty self-explanatory for the other 2300 people. In her defense, when she went through the first time there were just the pro men and a few pro women on the course so not many people to follow. After we saw it we found a race official and told him what happened. We didn’t catch her bib # but told her what colored kit she was wearing.
Looking at the results now and I see she did that on each lap. The first time was a mistake (I think) but I can’t come up with any reason why she did it on laps 2 and 3. By then there were a bunch of people on the course and they had put out a bunch more cones to lead people up the straight away so that nobody else got confused by the turn. So she u-turned early on laps 2 and 3 when she clearly should have seen everyone else continuing to run straight. Plus… did she not realize that her run splits and laps were absurdly fast?
So it looks like she cut 4+ miles of the run. It really did look like she got confused on lap 1 so I’m not going to brand her a cheat. But laps 2 & 3???
Puzzling!
http://www.ironman.com/...un2014%20tbt%202.pdf
Course map^^^
The turn where we were was at the corner right before the 9 mile mark on the map. She made that turn and u-turned about where the 9M mark is on the map. She did not run all the way down to the turnaround on Piper St. where aid station #2 is marked on the map. We were aid station #6 (not marked on the map).
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Agreed, you would have to be in idiot to do this all three laps. Once the 2700 age groupers were on the course it was totally self explanatory.
I wouldn’t trust the results to conclude that she cut it the second two times. The run splits look goofy for a number of people.
She runs a 2:40ish open marathon, so a 1:20ish 70.3 run split seems reasonable, which is what she could’ve had if you add .75 miles. On twitter she says she inadvertently took the wrong turnaround on lap 1, cutting the course by 3/4 mile.
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I wouldn’t trust the results to conclude that she cut it the second two times. The run splits look goofy for a number of people.
She runs a 2:40ish open marathon, so a 1:20ish 70.3 run split seems reasonable, which is what she could’ve had if you add .75 miles. On twitter she says she inadvertently took the wrong turnaround on lap 1, cutting the course by 3/4 mile.
Don’t think so. She crossed several timing mats out of order. Notice how her race time actually descends several times or she runs a 2:55/mile split (run 11). Both of those things are impossible. Unless she was Superman and flew around the earth real fast and reversed the earth’s rotation which caused her to go back in time. 
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Yep, she definitely has that ability…
Is it possible that once she missed the first mat, all of the other splits went haywire?
Probably the best way to resolve this is for you to call her a liar on her twitter page.
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Is it possible that once she missed the first mat, all of the other splits went haywire?
Probably the best way to resolve this is for you to call her a liar on her twitter page.
Our crew on site had a ton of wires on the course, anyone that is DQ would be for a reason, (i.e missing a detection).
very easy to catch on our software since the pace goes from 7 to 3 min miles for example.
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No one, including the athlete, disputes that she missed one mat and that she deserves a DQ for that.
The question is why are rest of her splits screwy? The athlete says she only missed one turnaround. GMAN thinks the splits reveal that she did it on every lap.
Can you explain the various possibilities for why the rest of the splits are off?
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Others have said it, but she has an incredible running resume and typically has the fastest (or close to it) run split in the pro field. Obviously she messed up on the first lap, but she definitely did the rest. the ~79 she would have ended up with is right in line with expectation
No one, including the athlete, disputes that she missed one mat and that she deserves a DQ for that.
The question is why are rest of her splits screwy? The athlete says she only missed one turnaround. GMAN thinks the splits reveal that she did it on every lap.
Can you explain the various possibilities for why the rest of the splits are off?
I’m not discounting her running resume as I looked up some of her other results and she can flat out run. Being off by less than a mile seems to jive with an expected time for her (around 1:19 to 1:20) but…
Her splits are completely jacked up on every lap. Missing one mat will result in a wacky split the next time she would cross a timing mat but it should then be okay for the subsequent splits. Just not so with her splits. And the run 11 2:55/mile pace is certainly suspect.
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What you want to do to get her splits is to use the time of day field at the right. She has only 10 “time of days”, missing two, presumably her first two missed splits. Order the “time of days” corresponding to her Run 3 through Run 12 times. Now that they are in order you can see what were the actual split times. If you compare these with the winner with a 1:19:19 run you can see the splits for both runners are very close.
I just read her race report and her is what she said about her run:
"The actual DQ mistake occurred only .25 miles into the run at the very start of the 13.1 mile chase. No excuses now, but the run course was complicated and confusing. Even after the third lap, I was somewhat uncertain where to go at all times. Driving the full run course was virtually impossible because there were so many ins/outs/in-betweens—mostly on paths, behind buildings, not on real roads. I should have done what the pro briefing officials suggested and biked the course. Instead we drove a portion of the run course, and I studied the run course on the map until I thought I knew it.
At the start of the run, I knew the first turn around was coming up shortly. The course exited the transition area, then did a strange short loop I wasn’t anticipating. After the loop, we hit some pavement where we were met by a succession of 6 orange cones, then no more. This must be the turn around. No doubts, no hesitations. No one was in sight ahead of me as far as I could see (600m or so) to give me alternative visual cues. BUT, the six-cone sequence was not a turn around, it was a divider for the first out and back segment. This move curtailed ¾ of a mile, a critical timing mat, and led to my demise.
After I finished the first lap (4.3 miles), there were now age groupers in view running straight past the six lined up cones, and it was at this point when I started to have some question whether I had made a major mistake."
She also mentioned that as she prepared to enter T1, she typically removes her 910 from the aero bars and mounts it to her wrist (I assume she is using the quick release band) but the road into T1 was very rough and she was concentrating on staying upright. As she left T1 and began the run, she noticed she forgot to grab her watch but felt confident she could pace without it. She mentioned she would have noticed the turn error is she had the watch on as the mile splits would have shown her a timing error.
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She might have avoided the DQ, if having realized her mistake on laps 2 & 3, she notified and official that she made a mistake and then doubled back and re-ran that section she cut an additional time. Its’ not only the honest thing to do as a sportsman, it could have avoided the DQ.
To fully and legally avoid the DQ, she’d have needed to run a 4th lap so she had 3 “full” laps crossing the timing mat. I’m not sure I’d be willing to run an extra 4 miles to do that. I would have gotten a hold of an official and tried to get a ruling by the head referee while I was on the course.
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She might have avoided the DQ, if having realized her mistake on laps 2 & 3, she notified and official that she made a mistake and then doubled back and re-ran that section she cut an additional time. Its’ not only the honest thing to do as a sportsman, it could have avoided the DQ.
How true is that? I was DQ’d for cutting on a 2 loop course. It was more or less a triangle and I, with several others, cut over a street early. Think of it like a capital A - We cut across instead of going to the top. On the second loop I considered turning right when I got to the second intersection - essentially doubling back and then running the section that was cut off. But I figured I would still be DQ’d so I didn’t bother.
For the record I immediately turned myself in!
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She might have avoided the DQ, if having realized her mistake on laps 2 & 3, she notified and official that she made a mistake and then doubled back and re-ran that section she cut an additional time. Its’ not only the honest thing to do as a sportsman, it could have avoided the DQ.
How true is that? I was DQ’d for cutting on a 2 loop course. It was more or less a triangle and I, with several others, cut over a street early. Think of it like a capital A - We cut across instead of going to the top. On the second loop I considered turning right when I got to the second intersection - essentially doubling back and then running the section that was cut off. But I figured I would still be DQ’d so I didn’t bother.
For the record I immediately turned myself in!
I’m pretty sure they don’t give you a do-over and she would’ve been DQ’d either way.
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She might have avoided the DQ, if having realized her mistake on laps 2 & 3, she notified and official that she made a mistake and then doubled back and re-ran that section she cut an additional time. Its’ not only the honest thing to do as a sportsman, it could have avoided the DQ.
To fully and legally avoid the DQ, she’d have needed to run a 4th lap so she had 3 “full” laps crossing the timing mat. I’m not sure I’d be willing to run an extra 4 miles to do that. I would have gotten a hold of an official and tried to get a ruling by the head referee while I was on the course.
Rule 3.4.e would apply here. If you leave the course for any reason, you have to re-enter at the same place and then complete the rest of the course from there. Normally that applies to situations where someone visits a porta-john, changes a flat, etc.
I’ve seen several situations where runners have missed turns, run an extra distance and then come back to where they left the course, were allowed to re-enter, and then complete the course. It doesn’t much for your finishing time, but it makes you legal. Happened to yours truly once several years ago.
The thing that wouldn’t be allowable is to run the course out of sequence, i.e., re-running only the section she missed on the first lap.
Mark
The DQ seems appropriate, but at least she’s taking responsibility for it and not trying to pawn it off as someone else’s mistake. Which is classy.
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The DQ seems appropriate, but at least she’s taking responsibility for it and not trying to pawn it off as someone else’s mistake. Which is classy.
Agree 100%. Refreshing to see someone admit to, and then take responsibility for their mistakes.
Mark
The DQ seems appropriate, but at least she’s taking responsibility for it and not trying to pawn it off as someone else’s mistake. Which is classy.
Agreed.
Also looking at the map. That is a messed up run course.
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