Teenagers Move Arrows, Send Runners on Wrong Route
You've trained for weeks, you've checked the course and you've got a personal record you want to beat — amateur running is a serious business.
Of course, things don't always go as planned on race day, as hundreds of runners found out at an event in the UK at the start of June.
At a 5-kilometer road race in the town of Aylsham, 463 runners took part — but only nine completed the correct distance.
Before the race began, a group of teenagers changed the route of the race by bringing their own traffic cones and changing the directions of arrows that had been put up for the runners.
Some of the town's roads are also usually closed for the race, but when the cones and arrows were moved, the runners were sent onto roads that had not been closed.
The bicycle leading the way and some of the faster runners realized what had happened, and they were able to return to the right route.
However, that also meant they ran about 250 meters longer than they'd been supposed to!
Only the last nine finishers ran the correct distance.
The organizers, who called the police, said cars had to stop to let runners through, and it was lucky no one was hurt.
They also said sorry on Facebook. But most people who commented on the post said they enjoyed the race, even if they ran a bit further than they had planned.
Some people were angry with the teenagers, while others defended them, saying everyone does things they shouldn't when they're young.
A runner named Michael Eccles finished first, as he had done a year earlier. But his time this year was almost one minute slower — unsurprisingly, since he ran 250 meters farther!
