At the end of February, the American runner Jess McLain and the two runners behind her followed a lead bike off course at the American half-marathon championship at about mile 13. They turned around to rejoin the course, finishing ninth, twelfth, and thirteenth. They filed protests, of course, but their protests were denied.
About 1985, a leader in the DC Marathon (a much less important race) was led off course with about three miles to go. I think that it was at that race another runner and I were nearly diverted off course by a policeman distracted in a conversation. We were well back from the leaders, and a loss of eight or ten places would have been nothing to garner us sympathy.
In 1980, the lead runners in the Marine Corps Marathon followed a press truck in cutting across above the tip of Hains Point, then were diverted across grass near the Tidal Basin rather than kept on pavement. My recollection is that the race was about 300 yards short of the standard distance. Curiously, the finishers' certificates that went out said that the runner had successfully completed the Marine Corps Marathon "at the Oympic distance of 26 miles 385 yards". At the bottom of the certificate is the adjusted time.
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