Woman Accidentally Wins Marathon AFter Taking Wrong Turn

DiamondSmiles · #1 ● 09-26-2013, 08:50 PM

By James Daniel

September 26, 2013

Don’t you just hate it when you go out to run a half-marathon and you accidentally run a marathon instead? I know. Me, too.

One wrong turn was all it took.

A 34-year-old Canadian woman, who entered a half-marathon in Ontario accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up winning the whole thing.
Meredith Fitzmaurice entered the Sunday’s Run for Heroes Marathon as a test run.

Then, she was going to try to achieve a Boston Marathon qualifying time at a race in Detroit next month.

But, at some point during Sunday’s race, she realized that she had been running for far longer than she had anticipated.

‘I just run with my watch, so I was watching my time since I planned to do my half in under 1:28,’ she said. ‘I was doing the race as training for my first full marathon in Detroit. But I’m looking at the time and wondering where the finish line is,’ Fitzmaurice explained to Metro News.

After realising her mistake, Ms Fitzmaurice spoke to a race director who was riding along the route on a bike.

‘The guy was awesome,’ she recalled. ‘And once he said I was good to go, my adrenaline just kicked in.’

With a time of 3:11:48, Fitzmaurice was the first woman to cross the finish line and the tenth person overall – good enough to qualify for Boston.

‘I didn’t even realize I was the first female until people started yelling at me and high-fiving me. Once I crossed the finish line and realized the magnitude of what I had done, I started crying.’
In an interview with the Windsor Star, she said that her headphones put her in the zone, perhaps distracting her.

Ms. Fitzmaurice said that she had never run more than 20 miles before and had no idea that she was first among women competitors.

She credits her win to, ‘the guy on the bike,’ – an official who accompanied her for the last 10k.
‘When I crossed the finish line I saw my friend and I started to cry and then I hugged the guy on the bike,’ said Fitzmaurice. ‘Without him, I wouldn’t have been able to do it.’

‘I had only ever run 20 miles, but I think at that point the adrenalin just pulled me through,’ she said. ‘I just kept thinking you can do this, just get it done. The last couple miles were really tough.’
Whilst her victory may have been the result of a wrong turn, her winning time of 3:11:48 proves it was no accident.

Ms. Fitzmaurice says she plans to run the Boston Marathon next year.

Accidental winner: Meredith Fitzmaurice, 34, won the woman's full marathon, but only after taking a wrong turn from the half-marathon course