Japanese runner’s “fail”? Not quite
A video of a Japanese runner taking a wrong turn at the end of an ekiden relay has gone viral, but it's not quite the "fail" that many observers are declaring, nor that unusual.
This video of Japanese runner Natsuki Terada taking a wrong turn at the end of the Tokyo-Hakone ekiden relay marathon has gone viral, with many posters calling Terada a fool for his wayward jaunt. One news commentator said of this: “I’ve never heard of that happening,” but there have been many examples of runners veering off-course in races.
Here’s another example.
And this one at the Georgia Marathon, where the leader was sent off-course when he followed the lead motorcycle:
The most famous of all wrong-turners has to be Mexico’s German Silva in the 1994 New York City Marathon:
Note that Terada recovered enough to finish 10th overall in the relays, securing a berth for his team in next year’s race – so not quite the “fail” that many video links are calling it.
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