After writing about a course incident at The Fort Worth Marathon, the race is promising to make changes going forward.
Once the race received the evidence regarding the 2nd place female finisher, they were quick to remove her from the results.
The Course
Prior to 2018, the course was a single out and back loop. Flooding necessitated the change to the double out and back course for 2018. They decided to keep this course in place beyond 2018 because it allowed for more support and more cheering throughout the race.
Unfortunately, this type of course is an appealing target for someone looking to cut a course. The actions of this runner shined a spotlight on the race, and the course. The lack of timing mats at the turnaround made it more difficult to detect and catch cheaters.
Race officials took notice of the comments and criticisms resulting from Monday’s article:
…the comments are fair that additional mat(s) should have placed to prevent the cheating.
A race official confirmed that there will be additional timing mats for 2020.
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Adding a video camera as well as a timing mat at the turnaround would be even better (to check the claims of chips not registering).
I’m sure entry costs will only be slightly higher. Brought to you by the people who make us pay for gas in advance, force cities to install more expensive public transportation turnstiles, and lead us to use text messages to login to our bank accounts.
Arguably one upside is that race results could now include more granularity; runners might be able to see how their performance changed over each (quarter?) of the race.
It sounds like you’re more angry at people who want to prevent/expose cheaters than at cheaters themselves.
That is not a take I’d expect an honest runner to have.
No! Derek’s the best! Angry with those who “ruin it for the rest of us.”
Seriously, what in the world are you talking about? ExxonMobil and Shell employ Race Directors?
Not having a timing mat at the turnaround is negligent.
Sure, it’s tempting to give these race organizers a hard time for not taking this obvious step before.
But instead, let’s take a moment to congratulate them for doing the right thing. And let’s give a nod to Derek for providing the nudge to make it happen. Cheers!
This is a good example of the good that comes of Derek’s work. I’m thankful for the work he does for the running community.
I know I’m being picky but Derek:
Your phrasing in the title and your first sentence are such that the meaning is the Fort Worth Marathon cheated then promised change, and the Fort Worth Marathon wrote about cheating.
Not a big deal but just a FYI as it is confusing at first the way you invert verb and noun and leave out the second noun.
Not trying to criticize just trying to be helpful.
Good article otherwise I give an “A” for content.
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