Santa Rosa Marathon Mishap Could Cost Some Entry Into Boston Marathon
Several runners were steered off course by a race pacer, sending the entrants nearly a mile in the wrong direction before turning around and finishing the race.
"The number one thing you have to do when putting up a race is make sure that everything is completely clear," Alex Wolf-Root, who works at Heart & Sole, a running shop in Santa Rosa told KCBS.
The mistake cost the runners valuable time and could potentially impact entry for some into the 2017 Boston Marathon.
"If somebody in ahead of you goes the wrong way, it's a chain reaction – everybody follows – and that's kind of what happened," Heart & Sole owner Danny Aldridge told KCBS.
In 2013, a runner deliberately went the wrong way, cutting off other participants, and taking 1st place before being disqualified. A mishap in 2015 also marred final results, but this year's mistake might have affected the field the most.
No word yet from race organizers about what went wrong.