Ten-year-old winner among runners disqualified for wrong turn at Daytona 5K

Ten runners at the Daytona 5K in Florida including the initial race winner, a 10-year-old boy, were disqualified on Feb. 7 for inadvertently taking a wrong turn. The race director disqualified all 10 runners because they did not complete the required distance and cannot be listed as official finishers after volunteers misdirected runners.

Dylan Nolan, a runner from Odessa, Fla. (located 240 kilometres from Daytona) crossed the line in first running 15:40 for approximately 4K but was later informed that he didn’t cover the full course.

The race was held at Daytona International Speedway, a famous 2.5-mile (4.02-kilometre) race track, and added a 0.95-kilometre portion (visible in the course map below) to make the race the full 5K distance. The lead pack of runners missed the portion of the race that detoured away from the race track.

The route was corrected following the passage of the 10 runners.

The race website made the course map available well ahead of race day. The detour in question occurs on the far side of the track (compared to the start/finish line) where runners complete a small out-and-back segment.

According to Dylan’s mother, Lauren, he had been training for the race and regularly runs around 18 to 19 minutes for 5K. Last weekend, Dylan ran 18:20 at the Gasparilla 5K, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Lauren claimed that the “race director obviously did not do their job in making sure that all the volunteers knew the course,” according to a post on Facebook just hours following the event’s conclusion.

In addition the above explanation provided by the race director, the event added that the following on Facebook:

“The first 10 runners were told by a volunteer to continue straight around the track instead of exiting the Speedway on the back loop causing the first 10 runners to only run 2.5 miles. By the time the 11th runner approached the volunteer, they realized they were telling the 5K runners the wrong way and directed them on the proper course.”

The race director has contacted each of the competitors to apologize and offered free entry for next year’s race including a free one-night stay at a local hotel. According to the race results, Ohio’s Sarah Anderson was the winner of the race.

The misfortunes at the Daytona 5K raises the following question: Should runners know the course beforehand or rely on volunteers and signage to keep them on course?

Mid-pack runners often have the comfort of following the crowd in front of them but potential race winners, especially without a lead cyclist, have no runners in front to guide the way. Many race course marshals are volunteers depending on the magnitude and size of the race.