run49er, have you ever heard of this occurring anywhere? A runner takes down trail tape and puts at another location for conference meet.
Prank turns bad at running meet, Greensboro News & Record
HP, it says the link no linger exists.
Fixed the link, it should work now.
I’ve never seen it done on purpose, but I have been in a race where the course was marked so badly that the entire field got lost and had to double back. The next wackiest thing I ever encountered was a train dividing the course. I was the last guy across the tracks before the train came at Stumptown in Matthews one year. Most of the runners had to wait for the train to pass.
[b]The next wackiest thing I ever encountered was a train dividing the course. I was the last guy across the tracks before the train came at Stumptown in Matthews one year. Most of the runners had to wait for the train to pass.[/b]
Darwinism meets Cross Country. I love it!
This could(and should) only happen at small meets, but I’m surprised it happened at a conference meet. At regionals and state meets and larger national events, there would and should be officials monitoring the course at critical trail crossings. I’ve heard on that sort of thing happening at smaller meets. I had a girl friend in h.s. skip a portion of a course…she should have finished about 95th out of 100, but instead finished 14th!!!
HP, just reading your post after a weekend in Charleston watching my son play soccer.
I have never heard of this in a cross country meet, though I can’t say it surprises me that someone might do that. I’m always reminded of probably the most famous cheat in running, Rosie Ruiz, who jumped on the subway during the middle part of the New York City Marathon!
I’ve run 5Ks in Matthews as well and have always worried about a train rumbling through town during a race. Haven’t seen it happen there, but a friend of mine on the faculty at UNCC recounted a similar experience running a race in the University City area. Part of the course took the runners on Back Creek Church Road and – you guessed it – a train came along a split the pack.
A 5K I ran in Huntersville a number of years ago provided all the runners with PRs when the police officer leading the race didn’t know the course and took a wrong turn that resulted in a shorter course, thus providing some really great finish times! 