Tyler Pence from Illinois was the surprise winner of last weekend's Quad Cities Marathon — not because he was the first U.S. runner to win the race since 2001, according to AP, but because for the first half of the race, two Kenyan runners "had far outpaced him." One of them should have won. But, unfortunately, the lead runners took a wrong turn.
Apparently, a volunteer bicyclist, who the Kenyan runners had been following, took a wrong turn, and the runners followed.
From AP:
Pence's win came after Elijah Mwangangi Saolo and Luke Kibet diverted from the course a little more than halfway to the finish line when the bicycle rider leading them mistakenly went straight when he should have turned, the Quad-City Times reported.
Race director Joe Moreno confirmed that the bicyclist went the wrong way but said the two runners also should have known not to follow him.
"At that intersection where that incident happened, the course was well-marked," Moreno said. "The signage is well-displayed. The volunteers are there. And the fourth element is those elite runners have a meeting the day before to get familiar with the course." …
Moreno said the race was planning to find a way to compensate Saolo and Kibet.
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