It was a strange case of two courses, two times and one runner missing a crucial piece of information.
On Sunday morning in Sioux Falls, SD, Olok Nykew of St. Paul was the first runner to cross the finish line of the Sioux Falls Marathon, finishing a full 25 minutes ahead of the course-record time for the 26.2-mile event. It looked at first like a major milestone, as Nykew's black identification numbers set him apart from the half-marathon runners, wearing red, who finished as he did.
It looked like a milestone — until the confusion began.
"I thought what is this?" Nykew told The (Sioux Falls) Argus-Leader. "When I got there I thought it was not long enough."
Nykew wasn't the only one with questions. Officials had monitored the two men at the front of the marathon throughout the event, which began at 6:45 a.m., following them along the course. Neither of those men was Nykew. Something was wrong.
After consultation with Nykew and the individuals in charge of timing the event, the real story came out. Nykew had misread the email announcing the race's start time, and he believed that the marathon, for which he'd registered, began at 7:30. So when he showed up and collected his black identification numbers, he simply fell in line with the pack of runners assembled at what he believed was the beginning of the marathon.
It was the half-marathon group, which ran a course that overlapped in places with the marathon's but was only 13.1 miles long.
"He just lined up with the other racers thinking he was with the marathon runners, when actually the marathon had started 45 minutes prior," Michael Sullivan, the executive director of the Sioux Falls Sports Authority, said. "In following the runners he lined up with, he actually ran the half-marathon course and not the full marathon course. His finish time obviously was way out of line for a full marathon."
Once the confusion was sorted out, Nykew was disqualified and his official time of 1 hour, 29 minutes and 30 seconds (not including his late start) was nullified. There's no way to know how well he'd have done on the full marathon — he started 45 minutes late and finished 25 minutes ahead of the record — but Nykew was guilty only of a misunderstood start time and a few assumptions.
"I'm thinking I'm not cheating," Nykew told the Argus-Leader. "I was just confused. It was an honest mistake."
Justin Gillette of Goshen, Ind., finished first in the marathon with a time of 2:30:10, followed closely by Thomas Madut (2:30:24) of Mitchell, SD.
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