Last night, I explained my reasons why I think that Ariel O’Connell did not win the Nike Women’s Marathon this past weekend. After all, she wasn’t the first to cross the finish line.
Thanks to a thoughtful reader, though, it appears as though Nike might be changing their minds. Here’s the reply he received through their help desk system:
Hello,
Nike is announcing today that it recognizes Arien O’Connell as a winner in last weekend’s Nike Women’s Marathon with the fastest chip time, 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 bowl, 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.
Sincerely,
Nike+ / Nike Running
So Nike is going to own up to their not overly well thought out system and change things next year, and will recognize Arien for the great race that she ran this weekend.
They are not going to take away the win from Nora Colligan, since she did in fact win the race, but are going to have a dual prize to recognize that Arien was the first woman to cross the line that started with the main pack.
I’ll update with a link to the press release when (and if) this becomes official.
Update: Still no official word, but there is an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about it that was published about an hour after my article.
I think this is a fair decision. To me, the faster should be winning, “elite” or not.
OOPS! I meant the “fastest”… ;-P
Hellz to the yea!! 🙂
I am glad to see the way this is turning out. Made me a bit livid when I first read the story yesterday.
Good, she should be declared the winner. She ran the same race and had the fastest time. Just because someone ran in another wave, they shouldn’t be denied a victory. Sorry, but that’s a load of crap.
Nike did the right thing, too bad it was probably only because they were getting bad PR out of it.
Jamie,
She is not being declare the winner. Nora Colligan won the race. Arien is being declared a winner, which basically means she gets the same prizes and that’s about it.
Nothing is being taken away from the woman who actually won the race.
That’s a bunch of crap then.
Why? Under the rules, she didn’t win. The rules may be flawed, but that’s what they are. Why should you take the win away from the person who won the race?
She ran the fastest time, and now she’s being recognized for that. She still didn’t cross the line first.
Crossing the line first doesn’t mean jack if it’s the same race, in my opinion. Badwater doesn’t operate that way, despite waved starts. Other races should follow suit. Just makes more sense that whoever gets from A to B quicker is the winner. They are running the same race, just different times. Waves shouldn’t matter, or being labeled as “elite”. It’s obvious which runner was the elite one in this case.
Yes, it’s the rule now, but it’s a stupid rule that should be done away with. It doesn’t make any sense.
Just my two cents.
I’m not arguing that the way this race was managed is silly and should be changed (and, for that matter, is going to be changed.)
That doesn’t change the fact that that was the rule, so why take the win away from the person that won, under the existing rules?
Yeah, but it’s a stupid rule is all I’m sayin’. 🙂
What I can’t understand is why that rule exists in the first place. Just doesn’t seem logical to me. Oh well, like you said, looks like it’ll be changed.
Hey, hope to run with you again soon. I may be picking your brain for some marathon advice.
-Jamie
P.S. Good topics on your blog lately.
I don’t think you’ve reported this yet Blaine, but Reebok surprised O’Connell -- and Nike -- by giving her a special awards ceremony at her school.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cityinsider/detail?&entry_id=32410&tsp=1
Heh, thanks for the heads up, I hadn’t seen that article yet!