The night before the 17th annual Combos Marathon (née Snickers) in Albany, Georgia on Saturday, March 4, Jarrett Leblanc pored over the race route, memorizing the turns, mile markers, and water stations. He knew that within meters of the start, the course went to the left. So when the police officer leading the runners took a right turn, Leblanc was confused, but followed along anyway.
The 32-year-old runner was correct. The course directions clearly stated that racers should turn left, but the previous year’s route began with a right turn, so the cop mistakenly guided competitors that way. The marathoners who were led astray were course-corrected after a few short minutes, but the blunder added up to a mile to their prescribed 26.2, and for many who were vying for Boston qualifying performances—the Combos Marathon is a popular qualifier because of its fast, flat course—those minutes may have cost them their qualifying time. Leblanc made his way back to the front and broke the tape with a 2:28:01 finish, but other runners whose times were more on the cusp were sorely disappointed.
WALB in Albany captured the start of the race on video.
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Qualifying for Boston is a challenge, and a marathon is a huge undertaking—not something you can quickly or easily just redo like you’d be able to with a shorter race distance. Race entry fees can also be expensive, so it’s not necessarily convenient to just give it another go.
The race director, Rashelle Minix, acknowledged that while the wrong turn was unfortunate and she empathizes with the runners who weren’t able to meet their goals at the Combos Marathon, there’s nothing that can be done about it now.
There’s a good chance you’ve had an experience with being led off the race course, getting lost, or finding that the route was inaccurately measured, resulting in finish times that are somehow skewed. It even happens to the pros. However, runners are resilient. So after nursing that loss, perhaps it’ll just spur on the marathoners who took the wrong path to even greater victories.
