A North Georgia woman was disqualified as the women’s winner of the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon after officials determined that her time didn’t make sense.
According the Chattanooga Times Free Press, 31-year-old Tabatha Hamilton of Trenton crossed the finish line 26.2 miles from the start Saturday two hours, 55 minutes, 39 seconds after the starting gun.
They had questions after discovering that her time for the first half of the race was 2:06.51, meaning she would have had to run the second 13.1 miles in 49 minutes.
The first place prize was instead awarded to 41-year-old Lillian Gilmer of Nashville, whose time was 3:21:33, according to the Chattanooga newspaper.
“I called and talked to her… and she told me that she ran the full marathon,” one of the races co-directors, Sherilyn Johnson, told the Free Press. “I told her the timing data does not support that she ran a full marathon; therefore, the track club’s decision stands and she remains disqualified, and I hope we can move forward.”
Johnson said race officials reviewed the race data on Sunday, “and everything we looked at showed she did not complete the marathon.”
Hamilton said she ran the entire course and disqualifying her was a mistake.
Hamilton said the time her husband recorded at the halfway point differed from what race officials claimed. Hamilton said her husband shouted to her that she had been running 1:36:51 when she reached the 13.1 mark; a time significantly less than the 2:06.51 race officials said she had run the first half of the Saturday marathon.
About the Author
