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Nike Women’s Marathon Ends in a Mess

There’s a lot of raucous going around in the other side of the world right now over the way the Nike Women’s Marathon at San Francisco ended last weekend.

Turns out that Arien O’ Connell, a fifth grade teacher from New York City who ran the fastest time of 2:55:11, was not immediately recognized as winner even if she beat the elite first placer who finished at 3:06 mainly because O’ Connell did not run with the elite group which got a 20-minute head start. That sucks.

As of today, Nike announced that O’ Connell will be recognized as one of the winners but still not as THE winner. Still sucks. 

Read more articles on Nike Women’s Marathon:

Marathon “a” winner; Nike a loser (SF Gate)

Award the real winner. Just do it, Nike (SF Gate)

In SF, fastest time doesnt win (Runner’s World)

Thanks to Neville for the news.

Posted on 10.23.08 to 03 Race Announcements. Tags: , , . Subscribe to follow comments on this post. 17 comments. Add your thoughts or trackback from your own site.

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17 Responses to “Nike Women’s Marathon Ends in a Mess”

  1. The problems we encounter in Manila races seem small compared to this one. Nice going Nike!

    So true!

    DATC said on Oct 24 08 at 9:21 AM Reply

  2. I think the first one to reach the tape of finish line is THE winner. So if she had a 20minute late start, her 11minute faster time is not enough.

    Aren’t their times based on the timing chip so it doesn’t matter if one started later than the other?

    nathaniel said on Oct 24 08 at 9:55 AM Reply

  3. This is nice suggestion:”It would be sweet if New Balance or Asics or Addidas signed her up to do some ads. That would be hilarious” – save10′s response to the SF gate article

    maybe something like Adidas:no elites, just runners!

    I’m sure they’re already doing the storyboards :)

    diospyross said on Oct 24 08 at 11:50 AM Reply

  4. they capitulated, but yeah it sucks nonetheless.

    wassup Jamie :)

    Hey gary, how’re you? Actually, they just recognized Arien as A winner in that article, not THE winner.

    gary said on Oct 24 08 at 11:51 AM Reply

  5. sheesh – hassle!

    I wonder if this will affect you guys :P

    hector said on Oct 24 08 at 5:03 PM Reply

  6. *shakes head in disbelief* Nike, the Nike who brought us the race which my dad and I personally dubbed the best race of the year, did THIS? That just stinks like a pile of *bad word*! I’d just hit them on the head with the reality brick and scream that they just realize that Arien won! And not only that, she even finished a whopping ELEVEN minutes ahead of this “elite” group! That’s like saying Manny Pacquiao would win in a coin toss against a poor, homeless child on the streets, using a coin with both sides heads, by saying TAILS, just because he is who he is! But, why does my opinion count anyway? I’m just a 10-year-old in the Philippines. Obviously, Nike doesn’t care about those who they don’t dub “elite”

    Well said Cougcat! Are you sure you’re just 10?

    cougcat said on Oct 24 08 at 9:59 PM Reply

  7. The one year I’m not working the event is the year all this excitement happens. It was a tough situation but it was set forth in the rules. I’m glad Nike backed down though, at least now they have a champion that at least broke 3 hours. Personally and this is just me, Nike should pony up some money for a cash prize so we can truly have elite women in this race, they have it to spend.

    Yeah, sub-3hr for a gradeschool teacher. It gives a lot of us some hope! :) I’m sure Nike will make a lot of changes for next year which may include your recommended cash prize.

    rick said on Oct 25 08 at 4:50 AM Reply

  8. Cougcat darling (hi, remember me?), I think you make a lot more sense than some “adults” in Jaymie’s blog. Very good analogy, huh!

    marga said on Oct 25 08 at 8:39 AM Reply

  9. I have a big feeling she wasn’t wearing N—e.

    Idnod said on Oct 25 08 at 6:10 PM Reply

  10. Ooops!!! she does wear N–e. :D

    Idnod said on Oct 25 08 at 6:26 PM Reply

  11. A Pinoy Runner won the Guam Koko Road Race.
    I just want to share with you that Pepito “Pito” Deapera from Lucban, Quezon won the Half Marathon in Guam Koko Road Race last October 19, 2008. He also won the TNF100 Ultramarathon last July 2008 in Nasugbu, Batangas.

    To see his interview by Lhar Santiago, click the link below:

    http://www.gmanews.tv/largevideo/sports/30589/RP-farmer-wins-international-marathon

    For additional information about the said Guam race, please click the link below:

    http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=M0&Dato=20081019&Kategori=SPORTS&Lopenr=1019006&Ref=PH

    mharlo pua said on Oct 25 08 at 7:00 PM Reply

  12. guys guys guys…. please stop blaming nike and ask yourself what would you have done?

    I can’t believe you guys don’t have any sense of time and space. Arien’s time of 2:55:11 marathon was the time she stepped on the finish line minus the time she stepped on the starting line (20minutes after the gunshot). Now imagine there were no high-tech chip sensors invented. Since she started 20 minutes later than the elites (because of the large volume of runners) her time now would really be 3:15:11. She would definitely without a doubt lose to Nora Colligan who had a time of 3:06:30.

    Don’t blame nike. Blame technology that confused everybody of the true spirit of racing.

    zixednatz said on Oct 25 08 at 9:47 PM Reply

  13. “Aren’t their times based on the timing chip so it doesn’t matter if one started later than the other?”

    If would always base our races on the timing chip, we would always be confused with racing. For example, what if in a marathon, X beats Y on the finish line by an inch? Y would then always and will always protest to the race officials to check the timing chips if X started earlier. Perhaps X started the race by 5 seconds earlier? If so, this would be a big advantage and Y would clearly be the winner.

    If this is the case, then photo-finish races would be in vain, and the spirit of racing is ruined.

    zixednatz said on Oct 25 08 at 9:57 PM Reply

  14. Well said Cougcat! Are you sure you’re just 10?
    —
    Umm, I think so?

    Cougcat darling (hi, remember me?), I think you make a lot more sense than some “adults” in Jaymie’s blog. Very good analogy, huh!
    —
    Yes, I do. You’re the one who gave me a shotgla–*gets mouth covered with your hand* Really? Thanks!

    cougcat said on Oct 26 08 at 12:34 PM Reply

  15. It’s an interesting and controversial case. This is big news here in New York, where O’Connell won an 18-mile race in September as her last long run (results here, photo here) before heading over to San Francisco.

    There’s a long discussion of this in my running club’s message board here:
    http://thereservoirdogs.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=22580#22580

    Jud Santos said on Oct 27 08 at 12:25 PM Reply

  16. if thats the rule of the game why blame nike. its a simple rule one ought to follow as a sportsperson. its simple but sometimes we took rules for granted. sand pit rules we may say very basic

    efren antiporda said on Oct 27 08 at 4:09 PM Reply

  17. Hi Jaymie. Living is SF, this is an embarassment. Nike and the marathon have decided not to have the elite division starting next year. However, their decision was a total “cop out!”

    Arien handled this with a lot of class. It’s too bad that the race organizers couldn’t have handled it that way.

    I’ll see you and the Pinoy running community very soon!

    sfrunner said on Oct 28 08 at 11:36 AM Reply

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