Leader runs astray at Georgia marathon, disqualified
By Ken Sugiura
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The fourth ING Georgia Marathon mostly ran in a positive direction. That is, if you discount the lead runner veering off course, following a pace-setting police motorcycle to disaster.
An otherwise perfect Sunday for running ended badly for Tesfaye Sendeku, a 26-year-old Ethiopian who trains out of Fayetteville, when he finished first in two hours and 15 minutes only to learn he had been disqualified.
A 20-second leader over the field near the 22-mile mark in Piedmont Park, Sendeku temporarily left the course, totally unaware of his error. The motorcycle in front of him drove straight when it should have continued to the right, skipping an out-and-back loop, before merging back onto the designated route.
Once everything was sorted out, Jynocel Basweti, 23, was declared the winner. A Kenyan who lives in New Mexico, he completed the course in 2:20:49. Basweti earlier this year won marathons in Albany and Jackson, Miss.
Sendeku's coach, Sue Bozgoz, acknowledged Sendeku's responsibility to know the course, but said "if there's a lead vehicle, you're supposed to follow it." Bozgoz intended to appeal the result.
Race director Jeff Graves called it a communication error. "It [stinks]," Graves said. "You don't want somebody to not run the race correctly."
To accommodate everyone and share in the blame for the mishap, race officials awarded the $2,000 winner's share to both Basweti and Sendeku.
"It's a painful thing to happen," second-place finisher Richard Chelimo of Kenya said. "The marathon is not a joke. It is hard."
Basweti had to feel sympathetic. Last year, the same thing happened to him at the Miami Marathon when he followed a video production truck off the course.
Near ideal running weather and a race free of the organizational slip-ups that led to past criticism brought high marks from the roughly 12,600 marathoners and half marathoners who competed. Cheered on by thousands and supported by 2,500 volunteers, they ran through downtown, the Sweet Auburn district, Inman Park, Little Five Points, Virginia Highland, Decatur and Midtown.
"It was way more organized (than 2009)," half-marathoner Jamie Dewberry of Duluth said.
Marathoner Malisa Anderson-Strait of Tucker rated it a "100-percent improvement over 2008, which was the last year I ran."
Changes in the pre-race corralling system, pace clocks posted at the mile markers (though some were blown down by the wind) and plentiful drink stations were well received by the runners. The best part was the one uncontrollable variable.
"Perfect weather," half-marathoner Michael Lipsitt of Alpharetta said.
Russian Tatiana Mironova, 42, won the women's marathon in 2:54:54. Mironova was also the women's masters winner and Nikolay Kerimov of Eugene, Ore., took the men's masters championship in 2:40:28.
Kenyan Geoffrey Kiprotich, who trains out of Atlanta, won the men's half marathon in 1:07:43, while Atlantan Alexandra Lonergan captured the women's half marathon in 1:23:26. Tony Nogueira of Glen Ridge, N.J., won the wheelchair half marathon in 59:54.
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