Um, oops.Some things should be self-evident. Like the fact that I run with an entourage consisting of very short people with runny noses and a propensity for whining should indicate that I am well versed in how babies are made. (Stranger at Trader Joe’s, sneering, “Don’t you know how those are made yet? Me: Why, don’t you? Are you looking for tips?) Something else that you would think would be self evident: the first person over the finish line (barring cheating) at a race is the winner.
Not so, says the Nike Women’s Marathon. The largest women’s marathon in the world, famous for its Tiffany-designed finisher’s pendant in lieu of a medal, awarded 1st place to the woman with the second-best time. Arien O’Connell, a fifth grade teacher from New York, actually ran the marathon in the shortest amount of time. So why isn’t she wearing gold? Because she wasn’t registered as “elite” in the race. That’s right, an amateur runner beat the pros and instead of celebrating her untapped talent, they penalize her for not realizing how fast she really is.
Not being a professional runner, I’m not exactly sure why it matters what category you register under. I’m not even sure what it takes to be considered an elite runner besides fast times. I do realize that “elite” runners often start in different “chutes”, usually before the rest of the runners. I suppose that that is to given them the full advantage of an empty course so they can run their best race.
I remember running a little 10K here in Minnesota – just a few hundred runners – last year and being really surprised that the winner flew all the way in from New York to compete. She won, (by a mile), collected her few hundred bucks, smiled for a picture for the paper and then headed to the airport to go to another dinky race in another small town. I remember feeling a little ripped off. Not like I was going to win the race but it still seemed like the winner should be, you know, local.
But back to O’Connell. In the Nike race and other large marathons where the prize purse can be thousands of dollars, the practical consideration of who really won is important. And there is no doubt that she crossed that line minutes ahead* of anyone else with a truly remarkable** 2 hr 55 m 11s finishing time.
Nike recanted their idiotic stance today. Somewhat. They decided to make O’Connell “a” winner. Not “the” winner. But still, it’s something. According to Nike officials she will get the same prize as the winner and next year they are eliminating the elite category all together. All of which seems a bit too little too late for me, especially being two days after the fact. I mean, she didn’t get to stand on the podium! You can’t make that up.
Maybe I’m just bitter because my Nike running shorts are the only ones that don’t wedgify me and now I feel icky about wearing them.
Any of you shine some light on this for me? Why should elite runners get special treatment? Does this mean every runner should register as elite, just in case you have a really awesome day and win? Anyone else have a wedgie-free pair of running shorts they love? (Running skirts are awesome for this because then if you get a wedgie, at least people can’t see it.)
*Okay, dislyxec pointed out that since she started 20 minutes after the elite group, she actually crossed the finish line 8 minutes after the awarded winner. That’s good math, is what that is.
**”Truly remarkable” is in the eye of the beholder! Several commenters pointed out that this is actually kind of a crappy marathon time to be considered “the” winner. Although running a sub-3 marathon would be remarkable for me. What, this isn’t all about me??
I hadn’t heard this. Seems odd. I’ll check this out with someone in the know. One thing, however, 2:55 is pretty slow for a marathon winner.
I think it has more to do with the politics of elite/pro running world than anything else. You can’t just register as an elite, you’ve got to have the times, the connections, and often the sponsors etc. 2:55 is kid of slow of THE winner, but given that the marathon’s course is pretty tough with lots of steep hills, and all the elites are pretty much running Chicago or New York, it’s not crazy that that was the winning time.
Nitpicking: The winner is the one who crosses the finish line first.
The runner with the fastest time (O’Connell) did not cross the finish line first, because she started 20 minutes after the ‘elite’ group, and only beat the awarded winner by ~12 minutes. So she crossed the finish line 8 minutes after the awarded winner.
Oh my gosh! I just read this and went on the website and looked at the results. I can’t believe that. It shouldn’t depend whether you are elite or not to win!!!
O’Connell deserved to be the winner. Period.
Am I wrong for thinking maybe elites should just have separate races, if they’re going to be so divisive about it? Then everyone would get a fair chance to win.
Maybe I’m just bitter about the people who come into my slow lane at the pool and swim really fast. It gets water up my nose, in every way.
TA x
Dr. J – duly noted and I updated my post to reflect that!
Kjirsten – thanks for the info. If anyone would know, I knew it would be you!
dislyxec – you are, of course, totally right. I updated the post to say so. Rock on with your bad math self;)
girlontop – I’m glad you actually went to their site and looked up the times! ‘Cause I didn’t… yep, that’s good research;)
TA – Oh yes, the people that pass in the pool. It always freaks me out. And I hate water up my nose!
So, this is the cynic in me, but I’m guessing it costs more to register as “Elite”. If so, then Nike wants more people to register as “Elite”. Which means they want an “Elite” runner to win so more people will strive to meet the physical and financial qualifications to be “Elite”…and they’ll take in more money.
Too cynical?
Ive been LISTENING to this for a few days now with marathon friends..listening to them talk I mean.
me? Im with you on the ‘crappy’ time thought in that mere FINISHING would be amazing for me and I think shes the winner. period.
sign me,
runs if chased.
Here’s an update to the story: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/22/BACI13MAIT.DTL
I’m with TA on the idea that maybe the elite runners should have their own darn races and winners should be winners regardless of their status. I think it’s ridiculous that the winning time is not really the winning time.
Bah.
I’d love to run a sub-3 marathon, but doubt that will ever happen. Whoever runs the fastest time, which is not necessarily the first to cross the finish line, should win the marathon, elite or not. That’s the whole reason for the timing chips – to make sure that the actual time of finishing is the deciding factor.
That’s just not fair. Even if it is something like the elite runners have to pay more, I don’t see why the person who clearly won can’t be recognized as the winner!
I read another article about this yesterday. Nike maintained that her not registering in the proper category was a disadvantage to the elite runners who would not be aware of the competition that she represented. I sort of get this because I would push myself harder to win if I could see a competitor breathing down my neck. But the so-called “elites” should have run their best race regardless.
I don’t understand why the woman didn’t register in the “elite” category, although twelve minutes is a lot to beat someone by.
A winner's a winner, that's that! I think the NIke winner should have walked over and said, hey you beat me fair (more than fair) & square. That would have been the stand up thing to do.
Now, about winning and losing and competition in general. Although the biological effects associated with a win are far from monetary reward (or trophy) they are there and strong. There is now good evidence that winning during competition results in increases in testosterone, especially in males. The effect is so robust that if occurs in running, tennis, arm wrestling, and even Chess! Yes, I said chess. If you square off against an opponent and win – you experience subtle, albeit biologically effective increases in testosterone! If you lose… well guess what – decreases in T. This is cool, right. For males, this might actually drive a competitive nature in males. Winning is cool and has extreme effects on one's competitiveness, effectiveness as a competitor and such. The idea that Nike could by announcing that the winner was in fact not the winner, well that is just bad. Nike actually may have impacted the winner's biological being and future competitive abilities.
A recant on this point may not be important, except is she gets monetarily compensated and leaves with one helluva story. The effects are acute and occur at the end of the competition. Nike, shame on you. Bad enough you make a shitty sneaker, but now you have to start messing with people's biology, well just one more reason for me to never purchase your products. Oh wait, they do make good tank tops (yes I wear tank tops, its hot in Atlanta). Hmmm….
Great post Charlotte.
As someone that was supposed to start with the elite wave at this marathon, my decision to not go was a good one. This particular marathon is about recognizing women’s health and celebrating survivors, not about the winner. Unfortunately this situation has taken the focus away from the good things about this event.
Elites do not pay extra. In fact, most marathons invite them and most of their expenses are paid. This marathon is not that way. Not sure why they had an elite wave for this event in the first place. It has never drawn the best of the best which is why I was actually placed there. I had to send a resume and my times were good enough. If I went, I had to register just like everyone else, book a hotel, pay for my airfare yadda, yadda, yadda.
Now the call that she wasn’t in the elite wave so she cannot be “the winner” is written very clearly in the USATF rules. IT is too bad that Nike is getting such a bad rap because of this because other marathons would stand behind this. It is true, had she run in the elite wave, the other runners in that wave would probably change their strategy. The elite wave and the age group wave are really two different races. Who knows, if O’Connell had run in the elite wave she might have gone out too fast and bonked.
Not to say O’Connell shouldn’t be recognized for her performance, because it was stellar. However, I am sure she did some research in past marathon winning times and she new she was right in there. She should’ve known!
OK, I have some information from an “expert!” First I would like to say how impressed I am with the resources and knowledge of your posters, Charlotte!
“She was not entered as an elite runner and did not start with them. They have this rule that if you do not actually run with the elites it’s technically considered another race. Not necessarily a good rule. They should have given it to her, but this has happened before in other races, so it was not the first time. The biggest thing is the elites might have employed some strategy to win rather than go for a fast time and she wasn’t concerned with that.”
I think the last point of not having to run a strategic race may have explained the slower time of the pros, and is the best explanation of why it is as it is. Maybe they will change the rule now.
I agree with Gena…they should go with the overall times with those timing chips. So if you start 20 minutes late and finish 1 minute ahead, then you’re not the winner. It should be about overall time, not just who crosses the finish line first.
The elite status is for just that, getting a different chute start time so that you have the whole course in front of you. The fact that she beat the elite time and still had to wade through a sea of recreational runners (and walkers) is down right amazing. Good for her. Good for NIKE for rethinking it. I’d love to trash on them for this, but tons of races do it. Some people run “for a living” and that is why they are elite.
If i FINISHED the marathon i would declare myself the winner and snatch the title from anyone. and by snatch i mean just claim i was the winner.
Kelly Turner
http://www.groundedfitness.com
Thank you posters- I briefly read this on my yahoo page but now i feel i understand it a little better. I wonder how she feels about it and maybe she’ll just take it out on a vengence with her next race…
Thank you posters- I briefly read this on my yahoo page but now i feel i understand it a little better. I wonder how she feels about it and maybe she’ll just take it out on a vengence with her next race…
I ran into my expert buddy today and have a few more things to add. O’Connell’s fastest time prior to this race, was a 3:15 or so. She probably didn’t feel good enough to be an elite, but maybe now she will!
A few years age, in a men’s marathon, a Kenyan man just showed up for the race. I guess he was in town and felt, hey I’ve got a few hours to kill and look, they’re holding a marathon, so I must have some running shoes somewhere in my bag(after all he’s Kenyan!)I’ll just do this. Well in this race everyone ran together, and he took FOURTH! No one knew him as an elite. He just ran with the others. He was not given prize money, as he didn’t register as an elite! He protested, but those were the rules!
I guess I’m one of the minority who thinks the rules should stand. I totally agree that if she ran with the elites she probably wouldn’t have won. The elites are more seasoned runners, and they probably didn’t kill themselves to have a super-fast time because the competition wasn’t as good as some other races. I think people should do more research into these things instead of not following the rules and then complaining later!
So, the elites get a handicap? They get to start earlier, so even someone with a better time doesn’t beat them? I’m not a runner, can’t imagine ever running a marathon, but that doesn’t make sense. At all.
And reading the comments (I know, I should read before I comment) makes me even more convinced I’m not going to be a runner. Too much work, and too much to understand. 😛
I’ve run lots of road races and a couple marathons, although I am certainly no expert. However, my understanding of most races (at least the ones I’ve done) is that the reason the elite runners start in the front (not just to be able to run on an empty course) but also because when awarding things like place and prize money, some races use your clock time as the official time, not your chip time. So technically it is who ever crosses the finish line first who wins, not who has the fastest chip time. I’ve read this rule in most of the marathons I’ve done. They actually say I wasn’t surprised to hear about Nike’s register as an elite in order to place rule.
I’m a pretty avid runner (just ran my ninth marathon on Sunday), and I agree it’s a pretty complicated situation – I’m not sure what the “right” answer is. However, since most people here are supporting Arien, I’ll play devil’s advocate and point out that in most marathons (actually, most races of any distance) that use chip time, it’s clearly specified in the rules that “gun time” will be used to determine the winner, not “chip time.” (For non-runners, “gun time” means the actual time on the clock, while “chip time” subtracts the time it took you to cross the start). Arien ran an awesome race and should be commended for that, but the rules from the beginning were that gun time was what mattered.