Atlanta Track Club offers to pay runners prize money after guide vehicle mishap led them off course
The Atlanta Track Club has completed its review of the mistake at the weekend’s USATF Half Marathon Championships that cost the front runner of the women’s race a spot in the world road running championships.
Jess McClain was ahead by a wide margin with about 1.5 miles to go Sunday when the guide vehicle she was following turned the wrong direction, sending her and three other runners off the course for around a kilometer.
“I had to come to a stop, make a tight & complete u-turn & run back onto course as a national championship title & a world team spot slipped away,” McClain wrote on Instagram. “I’m going try my hardest to walk away from this weekend remembering the joy I felt in those moments where I thought I was on my way to becoming a National Champion & finally make Team USA outright.”
“This truly sucks for everyone involved. No one wants this outcome, ever. Mistakes happen & I am sure those who were leading us feel terrible about the outcome,” she continued.
McClain ended up finishing ninth. The next two runners who followed her off the course — Emma Hurley and Ednah Kurgat — were 12th and 13th, respectively.
According to the club’s review, the incident began 13 minutes before the runners arrived at the intersection when an officer riding a motorcycle was hit by a vehicle at the corner of Mitchell Street and Ted Turner Drive, close to the area.
“As per their training, the police personnel assigned to the race responded to aid the officer down and to support the arrival of additional first responders around and through the race course,” the Atlanta Track Club wrote. “This action left a number of key race intersections, including the one where the wrong turn occurred, unattended for a brief period.”
While the driver of the guide vehicle knew that the race should have continued over a nearby footbridge, the club said that they believed the race was being rerouted and followed a police motorcycle off the course.
“We are responsible for the integrity of these championships,” the club wrote. “We regret that Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat were impacted by this incident and were unable to be recognized as the top three finishers reflective of their performance on the course.”
While the trio’s appeal of the order of finish was rejected by USA Track & Field, the Atlanta Track Club said it has offered to match the prize money, with McClain receiving the first-place amount and Hurley and Kurgat splitting the combined second and third-place amount.
Officials say the officer who had been hit was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital and has since been released.
