Runners who raced in the bungled Edmonton Marathon in the hope of qualifying for the marquee Boston Marathon may still have a shot.
Officials with the Boston Marathon said Thursday there is still a way to use the Edmonton times to get accepted to its next run on April 19.
Qualifying questions arose after the length of the Edmonton course was determined to be two-thirds of a kilometre longer than regulation. Organizers cited a detour that got miscalculated.
The Boston Athletic Association, in an email, said if a runner in Edmonton met the qualifying time to finish the race — even if they had to run farther than they normally should have to do it — they can still qualify.
“So long as the results and times are official and unadjusted, they could be used for the qualifying,” said Chris Lotsbom, the media director for the association.
The Edmonton Marathon says more than 10,000 people registered for its race Sunday.
Before, during and after the event, several racers said their calculations put the racecourse longer than the regulation 42.2 kilometres for the full marathon and 21.1 kilometres for the half marathon.
Edmonton race officials initially rejected the concerns, but confirmed Tuesday the course was 674.7 metres longer than necessary.
Edmonton Marathon director Tom Keogh said Thursday the event is communicating with its partners, including the Boston Athletic Association and Athletics Canada, to see how this year’s results can be recognized.
Boston organizers, however, stressed they will not be accepting Edmonton race times that have been adjusted to take into account the extra two-thirds of a kilometre.
The association said it relies on the marathon and race organizers to “uphold the integrity of their official results, certified course and distance.”
Athletics Canada said it is still discussing the issue with Edmonton organizers.
The issue matters to runners as recognized finish times can affect other valued metrics such as official rankings, race placings and personal bests.
Greg Plester, from Edmonton, has been vying for the Boston Marathon for the past couple years. In his past three attempts, he’s broken the qualifying time, but not well enough to make the cut to be accepted for the race.
The marathon accepts the fastest racers, meaning those near the qualifying time don’t always make the cut.
As he hit the 30-kilometre mark on Sunday, he was ecstatic. He was flying, his family was there to watch what felt like an inevitable success and he was convinced the hundreds of hours spent training meant he could finally breach that acceptance barrier to run in Boston.
“And then I hit 10(-kilometres)-to-go based on the course markers and my heart started to sink,” said Plester.
“I went from just having the time of my life to just desperate, desperate to salvage this run,” he added.
“If they hadn’t got the distance wrong, I’d be all but assured that I’d have made Boston.”
Runner Brittney White, from Sherwood Park, Alta., said she ran Sunday’s race determined to qualify for the Boston Marathon to prove she could do it and to follow in her father’s footsteps.
She said she could tell mid-race the course was too long and pushed herself to speed up.
She received an emailed confirmation Tuesday afternoon that she qualified for women in her age group by logging a time of 3 hours and 25 minutes.
White, in an interview, said even after she got the Boston confirmation she feared it would be retracted, given the problems with the Edmonton event.
“It might sound silly, but it’s something, you know, I worked really hard to get and overachieve,” she said.
“So yeah, I was a little bit panicked and sad and I don’t know, mixed emotions.”
White said that hearing the statement from the association has brought relief, but she hopes things don’t change.
She ran as much as 100 kilometres each week in preparation. White is hoping it doesn’t go to waste, especially after vowing to qualify and run like her dad, Brett White, had.
“I just really wanted to follow in his footsteps because I love him and I think he’s amazing and I wanted to be like him one day, and here I am,” she added with a gleeful laugh.