Oops: Half Marathon Turns into a 16.7-Mile Run
A misplaced U-turn added more than 3 miles to the race.
OK, we’ve all run a race and thought a course might be a little long. Perhaps your time was slower than you thought or maybe your watch said the course was 13.5 miles instead of a true half marathon distance. Well, a half marathon in Bangkok this past weekend has set a new precedent for epic race mistakes.
Instead of a 13.1-mile run through Thailand’s capital, the Standard Chartered Bangkok Half Marathon on Sunday accidentally extended its annual half-marathon to almost 17 miles. The Jogging Association of Thailand, which organizes the race, admitted the error on Monday with an apology.
Race directors said the course was mis-marked, and an inadvertent U-turn at the wrong place added 1.8 miles per lap and about 3.7 extra miles for the two-lap course.
“The association apologizes for the mistake,” Songrakm Kraison, the jogging association’s vice-president said in news reports. “It will not happen again in the future.”
More: The Guardian
