A miscalculated racecourse at the Edmonton Marathon, which exceeded the proper length, has resulted in 13 runners missing their opportunity to qualify for the esteemed Boston Marathon.
On Thursday, organizers from Edmonton announced that while the Boston Marathon would accept the finishing times of 92 participants for qualification, the same would not apply to the 13 affected runners.
The event held on August 16 was approximately two-thirds of a kilometer longer than it should have been.
Initially, the organizers defended their reported course length but later acknowledged a miscalculation during a review, attributing the error to a mapped detour.
The Boston Athletics Association, which oversees the Boston Marathon, stated that although the Edmonton runners had to cover a longer distance, they would still be eligible for qualification provided their finishing times met the Boston qualifying standards.
However, it clarified that it would not recognize adjusted race times from Edmonton that accounted for the extra distance, which ultimately resulted in the rejection of the 13 times.
Edmonton marathon organizers have pledged to reach out to the 13 affected individuals and collaborate with Athletics Canada to reassess the course certification process.
“It is clear that the community brought together by this event is resilient, passionate, kind, and deserves the best from us,” remarked Tom Keogh, race director of the Edmonton Marathon, in a statement on Thursday.
“We assure that such a distance miscalculation will not occur again.”
The Edmonton Marathon race director has apologized for an error in accounting for detours that added over 600 metres to both the marathon and half-marathon courses. One runner failed to qualify for the Boston Marathon because the added distance extended his finishing time.
Throughout the event, numerous competitors indicated that their personal distance trackers indicated the course was longer than the standard 42.2 kilometers for the full marathon and 21.1 kilometers for the half marathon.
In the days following the race, officials confirmed that the course exceeded the required distance by 674.7 meters.
Despite the increased length, the Edmonton Marathon reported that new course records were established for both the men’s and women’s marathons.