Timing Error

USATF 10 Mile women’s champion Sara Hall will receive a $10,000 bonus matching the one awarded to men’s champ Shadrack Kipchirchir, after race officials discovered a mistake in the timing of the staggered starts of the women’s and men’s fields at the USATF 10 Mile Championships on Sunday.

At the race, held in conjunction with the Medtronic TC 10 Mile, the women’s field is given a head start and the first USATF champion to cross the finish line – female or male --  is awarded the $10,000 “Equalizer Bonus” in addition the championship’s other prize money.

Twin Cities In Motion race officials discovered today that the men’s race started only six minutes and 10 seconds after the women, rather than the 6:18 announced before the competition. The race-within-a-race received increased attention this year, when the men caught the women just before the finish line and Kipchichir finished first.

“I hold the stopwatch that counts down the time between the start of the women and the start of the men, and I called for the starting gun at 6:18 on the watch,” Twin Cities In Motion executive director Virginia Brophy Achman said.  “The timing computers show only a 6:10 gap between the starts, so there was clearly a mistake in the process.”

“We think it’s only fair to award both Sara and Shadrack $10,000 equalizer bonuses, since the execution of the equalizer was in error,“ Brophy Achman added. “We regret the error and will review our process for the future.”