S5E23 USATF Atlanta Fiasco

USATF Atlanta: right off the bat ill say its a very unfortunate event, bad look and sad circumstances surrounding it. I would absolutely be pissed off if a pace car drove wrong way and cost me placement and money.

Now let me begin to tell the truth since thats out of the way. While its unfortunate its still the responsibility of the runner to know the course and go the right way. While the pace car not knowing and driving wrong direction sucks its still up to runners to pay attention and know where to go. It is that simple. With technology today you should absolutely have a course on your watch if you dont know it or have previewed it so your familiar with it. Thats why alot of races still have course maps at registration even have gpx files for you to download.

As a runner and even more so a lead runner its your responsibility to know where to go. Its part of being out in front.

Its thier fault going wrong way. You are to never depend on lead/pace vehicles or volunteers.

Yes I have been taken the wrong way be a lead vehicle before. I knew the course but followed lead vehicle that took me wrong way costing me a win i figured maybe they knew soemthing i didnt. I also have been sent wrong way tons of times by volunteers who didnt know or thought they knew where to go also costing me wins. Also confusing cpurse marking or marking that got turned. Even have followed runners in front of me that went the wrong way.

It happens. It happens way more then people know. Yes both at road and trail races, even once at a ocr race.

It was always my responsibility to know. It does not matter if its some small town local race or a world class event. Its still up to runner to pay attention and know.

Also pace car give a huge advantage over competition. But noone is talking about that. A pace car that you can draft off of can give runners a good 10% advantage, yes I can absolutely tell the difference in when a car or even a human is in front of me during a race. It also allows you to run better overall because you dont generally have to worry where to go, so your not as tense and dont have to pay attention. I bet none of the top 3 complained when they benefitted from it over thier competition. And yes it is a unfair advantage that other runners dont have. So its all fair game when it benefits but not when hurts.

#usatf #trackandfed #altlanta #atlantarunclub #half marathon #usachampionships #pacecar #wrongway #offcourse