This time Tyler McCandless PhD was ushered in the wrong direction at the San Francisco Half-Marathon. Both he and the second place runner followed the lead bike and missed an out-and-back 0.6 mile section of the race. I'll let Tyler tell it from his Facebook Post:
In today's San Fran half, I took out the pace aggressively and had a considerable lead early on. I stayed focused on the lead bike ahead but noticed by mile 5 the splits were not adding up to the time in my watch. I ran strong to the finish, splitting between 4:51-5:15 every mile from 3-finish. After crossing the line in 1:02 I told the next official immediately that there's no way the course was a full 13.1 miles. I then turned to the lead cyclist and told him the same thing and we needed to talk to the race organizer immediately. Turns out, the lead cyclist missed taking me and the second place finisher on an out-and-back, cutting the course short by 0.6mi for the two of us. Both him and I were (rightfully) disqualified since we didn't run the full distance. Frustrating to not have the opportunity to achieve goals I had set out for the race, but every setback is the opportunity for a comeback...
I personally witnessed the Philadelphia debacle in 1983 when Bill Kvashay was steered in the wrong direction just before entering Franklin Field for the Marathon victory and 1984 Olympic Trials qualifier.
The most interesting part to me was how well both took their setbacks. True Nittany Lion poise.
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