Sunderland marathon course was 264m short

The races took place on 28 April

Thousands of runners who took part in the Marathon of the North races have been told the course they followed was 264m short.

Competitors in the full and half marathons took a wrong turn in the Sunderland events because marshals were standing in the wrong positions.
Only the winner of the full marathon completed the full distance.
Organiser DS Media & Events apologised and has offered affected runners a 25% discount on next year's entrance fee.
In a statement, it said: "Only the lead athlete followed the correct route through the Sheepfold area near the Stadium of Light.
"Unfortunately, the second and third placed runners were not within line of sight of the leader and lead bikes and vehicle.
"This resulted in all those who followed taking an incorrect route through this section."
Jake Harrison of Leicester Tri Club completed the full course and won the marathon.
About 5,000 runners took part in the races, which started and finished at the Stadium of Light.

上個月底在英國東北部「桑德蘭」舉辦的「北部馬拉松賽」，有5000名英國馬拉松選手參加。由於跑在隊列第二、第三位的選手沒看到提示選錯路，導致跟在他 倆身後4997名參賽者也都跑錯了。最終，除一直跑在首位的選手跑完全程外，其餘全部參賽者都因少跑路程而失去比賽資格。

四月二十八號，「桑德蘭」馬拉松，全長四十二公里。路線的終點在當地體育場。計算總長度的時候包括了最後在體育場外的一段。

但是，第一名選手跑完這一小段大約兩百六十四公尺以後，開道的車輛和工作人員就都跟著進了體育場。

接下來的參賽人沒看到指示，直接進入體育場，所以都沒跑最後這一小段。由於，這五千多人跑的總里程，不到馬拉松比賽要求的四十二公里，所以，他們都不算完成了馬拉松。

整個比賽就只有第一名的人跑完。主辦單位十分愧疚，已經退還了每個人兩成五的報名費???。他們也希望大家不要受到這起事件的影響，今後會繼續跑馬拉松。