US EditionLeaders Taken Wrong Way by Guide Vehicle in US Half Marathon Championship Race
Lead vehicle error after 12 miles forced top women to backtrack, costing about 2 minutes and affecting Team USA selection for World Road Running Championships.
- On Sunday in Atlanta, the lead vehicle at the USATF Half Marathon Championships led Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley, and Ednah Kurgat off course after the 12-mile mark, forcing a U-turn.
- Local organisers, the Atlanta Track Club, coordinated the lead vehicles and a jury of appeals found the course was not adequately marked at the point of misdirection.
- Evidence from the broadcast shows the leaders braking and U-turning, with video and Strava data indicating the wrong turn added about half a mile and cost roughly two minutes.
- After the incident, USATF issued an early-afternoon statement saying some athletes filed a protest that was denied before an appeal, and the posted results order of finish is considered final.
- The misdirection cost the leaders Team USA qualification chances as the three misdirected athletes lost top-three finishes required for the 2026 World Road Running Championships team, finalized in May.
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55 Articles
Associated Press News
US half marathon women's leaders guided off course in error. One asks officials to 'make it right'
The runner who was leading the women’s race of the U.S. half marathon championships until she was mistakenly led off the course by a guide vehicle is calling for USA Track & Field to make right an outcome that cost her a spot in the world road running championships this fall.
Chaos at the mid-marathon U.S. Championship. An error of the car leading the race, which drifted three kilometers to the finish line towards a route that was not part of the circuit, left the three athletes leading the race without a podium: Jess McClain, who maintained a significant advantage over Ednah Kurgat, and Emma Hurley
Jess McClain, 34, was on her way to winning the US half marathon championship and $20,000. Then the organizers pointed her in the wrong direction. “This really sucks for everyone involved,” she wrote on Instagram.
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