The National Marathon long course resolution

I just got the following email from the RD of the National Half Marathon and Marathon, which I think is a gracious resolution to the long course problem we had. I'm a happy customer. Hooray! My 2nd sub-2:30 half marathon!!! I wrote an email to the DC Mayor (4:09 in the marathon) thanking him for his support of the event and expressing my hopes that he will continue his strong support of DC running.

-----Original Message-----
From: racedirector@nationalmarathon.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 8:57 AM
Subject: Adjusted Half Marathon Information

Dear 2007 Half Marathon participant,

On behalf of the Wirefly National Marathon & The Greater Washington Sports Alliance, thank you for participating in the 2007 Half Marathon event.

I am pleased to announce that we welcomed over 4,600 race participants from around the globe this past Saturday morning including District of Columbia Mayor, Adrian Fenty, who completed the marathon in just over 4 hours.

Included among our field were 2,800 of you who registered for the Half Marathon, making us twice the size of the previous year.

We wanted to make you aware that due to a cone placement error this course was inadvertently .24 miles longer than the 13.1 official distance which race officials had mapped and USATF had certified. While your Official Time remains the same for the event, we are providing an amended section to the posted results. Click below for adjusted half marathon race results.

* Adjusted male half marathon results
http://www.nationalmarathon.com/Results/2007/mens-half-marathon.asp

* Adjusted female half marathon results
http://www.nationalmarathon.com/Results/2007/womens-half-marathon.asp

Within this document you will find your converted time, which adjusts your official time for the actual 13.34 mile distance. We sincerely apologize for this error and thank you for your patience and understanding in this matter.

Know that we are taking measures for future races to be sure that this does not happen again. Please report any errors in the results to results@gwsportsalliance.com

What we hope you will remember from the 2007 National Marathon and Half Marathon is the great feeling of accomplishment you felt when you crossed the Finish Line; the sights and sounds as you ran through the neighborhoods and monuments of Washington, DC; and the volunteers, spectators and fellow runners you met along the way.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2008 Wirefly National Marathon and Half Marathon next spring. Stay tuned to our website for details.

All the Best,
Keith Dowling
Race Director
Wirefly National Marathon

National Half Marathon followup

THREE days now, one email to the Race Director and two emails to the scoring folks, and they still haven't managed to post the correct results online for the race.

Here is the email exchange from yesterday after sending the scoring correction to the scoring folks (after the Race Director bounced it back to me):

---

fixed

---

It's NOT fixed in the online results yet!!
http://www.nationalmarathon.com/Results/2007.asp
Even though the half marathon course was TOO LONG by about 0.4 miles, I still would kind of like to know my official time within over 2 days of the race....
Thanks!!

---

fixed on my computer only. I have not set the new results to the web site yet

---

Sheesh!! Am I just expecting too much? Is knowing your time three days after the race expecting immediate gratification? Is politeness too much to ask for a $65 entry fee?

Like perhaps: "We're sorry for the error. Thank you for providing us with the correct timing information. The corrected results have now been posted. Your correct gun time is x:xx:xx, and your chip time is x:xx:xx. Thank you for running with us this year."

Their principal sponsor is a wireless telephone company. Somehow I thought that would prompt them to have better communication of timing results.

Just can't get good help these days. . . .

---

Update: 9AM: I'm now listed as:

1088 65/73 4996 Nancy Toby 49 St Michaels MD 2:30:54 11:31 2:32:33 11:39

Which assigns me a chip time that is still 45 seconds longer than my watch time. And I'm still listed as 2nd place in my age group. But believe me, I'm not nearly as frustrated as I would be if I had actually earned 2nd place in my age group and not been awarded it!!!

It's still not clear exactly what the actual race distance was, but 4 different Garmins recorded it as between 13.48 and 13.54 miles.

---

Update 2: I just got another email from the timing folks: "You were caught by the backup system at the finish. There was no backup at the start so you net time = gun time". Hmm. I recall at the finish area there were two widely-separated mats, and I stopped and began walking after crossing the first mat, since there were people walking around in my way near the 2nd mat. I guess the lesson here is always run hard through the 2nd mat if your time matters to you.

So much for their low-cost proprietary ankle-strap timing chips, eh? I do understand that sometimes chips don't register. But I still don't think that accounts for 45 full seconds difference. And there still is 1:39 between my chip time and gun time, which must have been the time before going over the initial starting mat. Something's still messed up in their numbers. This all seems a little amateurish for a "National Half Marathon".

I think every participant in the race deserves accurate timing results for a $65 entry fee, not just the front-runners - don't you?

And I got 2nd!!

And here are the official results!!

FEMALE AGE GROUP: 45 - 49
1 3128 Debi Bernardes** 48 King George VA 1:35:13
2 4996 Nancy Toby 49 St Michaels MD 1:39:16
3 5269 Debbie Daughtry 49 Ellicott City MD 1:44:44

That darned Coach Debi, she beats me every time!!!

Uh, no, that's about 50 minutes before I actually finished. I think I was something like 65th out of 72 in my age group. I emailed them and confessed. Too honest for my own good.