American runner demands rule change after losing $20,000 prize due to misdirection by course vehicle

At the U.S. Half Marathon Championship in Atlanta on March 1, McClain was leading the women’s race. With less than 1.6 km remaining, she was comfortably ahead and on track to claim her first title and an automatic spot on the Team USA roster for the 2026 World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen.

However, the course vehicle took a wrong turn at the 19.5 km mark, causing McClain and two other runners, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat, to run the longer path. McClain had to run an additional 900 m and dropped to ninth place overall with a time of 1 hour 11 minutes and 27 seconds.

The three affected athletes immediately filed protests and were subsequently denied by the USA Track & Field. The jury acknowledged that the course was inadequately marked at the point of misdirection. However, they concluded that the current rule offers no mechanism to alter the final order of finish based on an error, Canadian Running Magazine reported.

As a result, Molly Born, who had been running more than a minute behind the lead pack but stayed on the correct route, was declared the official winner with a time of 1 hour 9 minutes and 43 seconds. Carrie Ellwood finished second at 1:09:47, and Annie Rodenfels rounded out the podium at 1:10:12.

After the incident, McClain took to social media to express her disappointment.

“This truly sucks for everyone involved. No one wants this outcome, ever. Mistakes happen & I am sure those who were leading us feel terrible about the outcome. I just hate that the athletes are ALWAYS the ones who pay the price (literally $$$)… time & time again.

“Something needs to change & safeguards should be in place for athletes who are out there doing their absolute best on race day.”

The incident quickly sparked debate within the American athletics community. Some athletes and fans proposed adding a protective clause: if a leading athlete is inadvertently misdirected by an official or course vehicle in the final 1.6 km of a USATF-certified race, their performance should be recognized as corresponding to their actual position before the incident.

Fortunately, the Atlanta Track Club stepped up to make amends. CEO Rich Kenah took full responsibility for the incident, stating that athletes giving their all in a championship race should never have to make a split-second decision between following an official pace vehicle and trusting a course map.

On March 3, the club announced it would pay the affected runners the equivalent prize money. McClain will receive the full $20,000, equivalent to the first-place prize. Hurley and Kurgat will evenly split the combined second- and third-place prize purses, taking home $9,750 each.

USATF has stated it will carefully review the incident in Atlanta before officially selecting the World Championship team in May, leaving a strong possibility for McClain to still represent Team USA in Copenhagen.

Similar errors have occurred in the past. Last October, at the Niagara Falls Half Marathon and 10K, the leading three male athletes were instructed to turn around at the wrong point and were subsequently disqualified.

At the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon the same month, three Ethiopian athletes also made the wrong turn at the split point between the marathon and half-marathon and were disqualified.