This just in! Just minutes ago, Nike issued a formal statement announcing that Arien O'Connell is in fact the winner of last weekend's Nike Women's Marathon. Initially, O'Connell was not recognized as the official winner, even though she had the fastest time, because she was not registered as an "elite" runner. I think it is great that Nike has responded to this issue, and it looks like they are changing the rules for next year.
To read Nike's official announcement about the matter, just read more.
Nike is announcing today that it recognizes Arien O'Connell as a winner in last weekend’s Nike Women’s Marathon completing the full race in 2:55:11. She shattered her previous time and achieved an amazing accomplishment.
Arien will receive the same recognition and prize, including a Tiffany & Co. trophy, the full marathon elite group winner received. Arien was unfortunately not immediately recognized as a race winner because she did not start the race with the elite running group, which is required by USATF standards. Because of their earlier start time, the runners in the elite group had no knowledge of the outstanding race Arien was running and could not adjust their strategies accordingly.
Learning from the unique experience in this year’s race, Nike has decided today to eliminate the elite running group from future Nike Women's Marathons. Next year, all runners will run in the same group and all will be eligible to win.
Nike has a proven track record of supporting athletes and we’re proud to be able to honor Arien and other athletes who surpass their goals and achieve great accomplishments.
Yay for Arien and for all the other fast, but non-elite, runners out there. I think it is great that Nike will be changing the format of the race next year. I think it will bring some extra excitement to the race. What about you?
Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti
Koodos
Beach Time
"Because of their earlier start time, the runners in the elite group had no knowledge of the outstanding race Arien was running and could not adjust their strategies accordingly."
1wtf does that mean?
It means USATF put the rule in to prevent people from winning a race by sandbagging. People could start further back and so their chip time starts after the gun, but run a faster race and win by chip time even if that means finishing a large amount of time after the first runner finishes. Gun time has always been the rule for USATF races, and if people don't like it, they shouldn't enter USATF races. I think it's a fair rule, Nike just did a poor job of implementing it.
2I'm so glad that they're eliminating the rule for next year so that something like this doesn't happen again.
3It's really, really hard to lead a race. It is an exhausting job (physically and mentally) to block other runners from the wind, to determine and hold the pace, to know that there's a big pack of other runners behind you that aren't working as hard, trying to judge if you should surge ahead to try and lose those that are following or if you should let them take the lead... etc.
These are all things that Arien O'Connor didn't have to do, and the elite runners did. So in a way, Nike is right - it's unfair to the elite runners that someone who didn't run the same race that they did gets the reward. But at the same time, Arien ran the fastest race, so she deserves the accolades. I wish that first place could be shared, because they both deserve it in a way. In any case, Nike is definitely correct to eliminate the elite starting time for next year.
On a semi-related note, I have a lot of friends that are professional athletes who try to go just fast enough to win in their races. They need the prize money to live on, but they know that they have another race in a few weeks, so the more energy they can save up, the better chance of winning the next race they have. It's possible that the second-place finisher was doing just this, but could have gone faster if she had known that Arien was ahead.
4Wouldn't it also be possible that Arien would have run even faster with the elite athletes at her side? It seems that the elite competition could have worked in her favor, too.
5I'm glad that Nike did the right thing and recognized Arien's achievement. She who runs the best time has earned first place!
And what's up with giving "elite" runners a 20-min. head start...if they're elite, shouldn't they be able to kick a$$ regardless of whether or not everyone starts in a big group? Maybe the tippy-top runners could be positioned near the front of the group, but that's the only allowance that should be made.
6She ran a fantastic race - no doubt about that! - but the rules are there for a reason. Elite runners run with a strategy, and that includes knowing where the competition is.
Every race I've ran goes by gun time and not chip time.
7I'd hate to be the person that won the elite category without having ever seen this runner. Good for Arien for winning though. Nike should decide if they want this to be a USATF event, and if so how they should proceed if this were to happen again.
8Nike says she is A WINNER, not THE WINNER.
It's true that there could have been a very different outcome if she were running with the elites. I also don't understand why elites get a head start. They should be in front--definitely, but everyone should start at the same time so that it's possible for a regular runner to win.
9I agree with the Nike decision, she is "a winner", not "the winner". It was an unfortunate set of circumstances with the confusion. I was there and did the half marathon and it was an awesome weekend...."Run like a Girl"!!!
10This is great news!!!! I'm so happy for her, i got goosebumps and my eyes watered
woo hoo Arien!!!!!
11well knowing the one of nike's platforms is excellence in athletics - this is just another sign that they are trying to be true to themselves. i think that there's something to be said about making the decision to change policy to acknowledge that there was someone who truly won but was not in the category to do so at the start. since i'm not a runner like the elites, i don't know how this will affect them, but i think that there will be a lot of debate about this one. i think that some might be a bit upset because they won't be able to be as strategic with their running at the onset of the race, but i think that there's a lot of chance to have unknowns get recognized.
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