Atlanta Track Club Review of the 2026 USATF Half Marathon Championships

ATLANTA - MARCH 3, 2026 - On Sunday, Atlanta Track Club issued a statement regarding the misdirection that affected leaders of the women's field at the USATF Half Marathon Championships who went off course. At that time, we committed to conduct a full review to determine how and why the lead vehicle left the official course. Below is a summary of our findings:

• The intersection where the athletes went off course had been staged according to the operational plan with traffic cones and assigned police personnel.
• Thirteen minutes before the lead women reached that intersection, a report of an officer down was broadcast across the assigned Atlanta Police Department frequency. The officer was reported to be down one block from the race course.
• The intersection where the officer was reported down was surrounded on three sides by the race course. No details on the cause of the officer's distress were yet available.
• As per their training, the police personnel assigned to the race responded to aid the officer down and to support the arrival of additional first responders around and through the race course.
• This action left a number of key race intersections, including the one where the wrong turn occurred, unattended for a brief period.
• In a well-orchestrated response, Atlanta Police Department backfilled this intersection with personnel who would help keep runners safe while helping first responders through the intersection to reach the officer down.
• The lead vehicle driver for the women's race knew the course was to continue over the footbridge. But because the intersection and the traffic cones had not been reset for the race due to the arrival of emergency vehicles, the driver followed a police motorcycle off course - believing the race was being rerouted.
• The backfilled officer at that intersection, who was not assigned to the race, did not know that the race's lead vehicles were going to use a footbridge that does not normally allow cars on it, so was not equipped to prevent the wrong turn.

Atlanta Track Club's position remains unchanged: We are responsible for the integrity of these championships. We regret that Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat were impacted by this incident and were unable to be recognized as the top three finishers reflective of their performance on the course.

Atlanta Track Club has offered to match the prize money as follows: McClain to receive the equivalent of first-place prize money. Hurley and Kurgat will split the combined total of second- and- third-place prize money because they were shoulder-to-shoulder when they left the race course.

Atlanta Track Club also recognizes and appreciates the swift and professional response of law enforcement, who prioritized the safety of both the injured officer and the more than 11,000 participants on the course.

The Fulton County Sheriff's officer involved in the emergency incident was working for the race and had been on a motorcycle. He was transported to Grady Hospital and released later that day.

Below is the minute-by-minute summary of the events that led to the misdirection:

6:00 AM	Cones staged; lined up but not set in final position at Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive. Cones were purposely not set in position because the road was not going to be closed until ~8:00 a.m. and would accommodate race and on-race vehicular traffic up until that time.
7:00 AM	Race-assigned police officer arrives at post at Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive.
7:59 AM	Handcycle lead athlete successfully navigates intersection onto the footbridge with race-assigned motorcycles and bike escorts.
8:05 AM	Officer (riding a motorcycle) working the race is struck by vehicle at the corner of Mitchell Street and Ted Turner Drive. This intersection is 300 feet from Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive.
8:07 AM	Report of an officer down at the corner of Mitchell Street and Ted Turner Drive is broadcast by Atlanta Police dispatcher. Officer's condition is unknown.
8:07 AM	Race-assigned police officers at the corner of Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive and from other intersections respond, running toward Mitchell Street and Ted Turner Drive - leaving the race intersection at Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive unattended. Officer had not yet repositioned cones to prevent any wrong turns before moving down the street to aid fellow officer.
8:08 AM - 8:10 AM	Atlanta Police Dispatch announces that an officer has been struck by a vehicle and that they are searching for a vehicle that may have fled the scene.
8:10 AM	Lead male athletes successfully navigate intersection onto the footbridge with race-assigned motorcycles, broadcast motorcycles and bike escorts.
8:11 AM - 8:14 AM	Race intersection remains unattended as the rest of the men's USATF Half Marathon competitors are crossing onto footbridge while on-duty police, Atlanta Fire and Grady EMS swarm the area.
8:15 AM	On-duty officer (not related to the race) arrives at the intersection of Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive in a marked APD vehicle and helps manage the flow of emergency vehicles through the intersection and prevents other cars from driving toward the scene of the officer down.
8:20 AM	Injured officer being loaded into ambulance for transport to Grady Hospital.
8:20 AM	Motorcycle, pace car and four (4) women's USATF Half Marathon competitors incorrectly turn left at the intersection of Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive. They do not go straight onto the footbridge. The race-related officer(s) assigned to guide them to the footbridge are a block away attending to the injured officer.
8:21 AM	25 seconds after the first female athlete goes off course, the first race-assigned officer who aided the downed officer arrives back to the intersection. Police motorcycle accelerates, catches the four (4) women, who turn around and eventually rejoin the race at the same point they exited the race course.
8:22 AM	Additional race-assigned officers return to their post at Nelson Street and Ted Turner Drive and place cones to prevent any further wrong turns.