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How long is a 10k race?

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Sam Jelfs May 2019 7:45am, 13 May 2019 304 posts	Quote Pin Sam Jelfs At least according to the Utrecht Marathon the "quarter" race (10.5 km) ended up being around 15k. Apparently the only person who followed the correct course was the eventual winner who had an escort the whole route, the other 1800 runners all ended up off course somehow. One friend logged 14.8k, another 15.5k... Ooops! dutchnews.nl
Homer May 2019 9:02am, 13 May 2019 12,654 posts	Quote Pin Homer Wow...bit of a mess
Wriggling Snake May 2019 9:03am, 13 May 2019 22,534 posts	Quote Pin Wriggling Snake Excellent, if you went for it over the first 10k, the last 5k would have been hard work.
McGoohan May 2019 9:10am, 13 May 2019 39,492 posts	Quote Pin McGoohan From the report it looks like that part of the event is being scrapped, results-wise. How did people even know they'd finished?
Sam Jelfs May 2019 9:44am, 13 May 2019 305 posts	Quote Pin Sam Jelfs I know someone who was aiming for a PB so went all out at the beginning and was hanging by then end. From what I can see people got turned around and sent back on to the course, so they still crossed the finish line, eventually. Ironically the faster you were the further you had to run, by the time the mistake was realised runners had to double back so people further down the pack were told as the lead runners came back passed them. Will be interesting to see exactly what went wrong, was it one of the bikes that went wrong, signs, etc. Though I am also amazed that seemingly no runner, other than the lead runner, knew the course well enough to see the mistake, or was it just heard mentality and they realised but followed anyway?
westmoors May 2019 2:30pm, 13 May 2019 3,217 posts	Quote Pin westmoors I have experienced a similar thing back in 2015 at Bournemouth Bay 10K. The route had been changed from previous years due to works around the Pier and was essentially being run in reverse. The marshal that was meant to direct the 10K runners off the cliff down to the prom went missing. Having only ever done the half before, I only knew vaguely where the turn off point was so followed those in front, thinking that if everyone went the same distance it would still be a race. When the marshal reappeared, runners were directed the correct way. So some did 13K and others 10K. No results were published as it was not known who had done what distance. I was really annoyed as I was in great shape and going for a PB and according to my Garmin I did go through 10K in a PB but no official time to corroborate it.
Wriggling Snake May 2019 3:01pm, 13 May 2019 22,546 posts	Quote Pin Wriggling Snake "direct the runners off the cliff" hard race that, one of those adventure jobbies. I have only seen this once, and it was me, in the middle of a small HM in Gloucestershire, they announced at the start that some sections had no marshalls but look out for directional arrows. I was on my own, about half way, and got to a road junction, no arrows left or right or straight on. I stood there in the middle of the road when the runner behind passed me, he said "look down" and there was a huge yellow chalk arrow drawn on the road pointing straight on.
Surrey Phil May 2019 4:59pm, 13 May 2019 3,008 posts	Quote Pin Surrey Phil I remember the report on the Bournemouth Bay issues. I used this incident to ensure that I had plenty of marshals at my own 10k so that all positions were covered.
Surrey Phil May 2019 5:00pm, 13 May 2019 3,009 posts	Quote Pin Surrey Phil ...and here it is: theguardian.com
westmoors May 2019 7:32pm, 13 May 2019 3,218 posts	Quote Pin westmoors That's the one!