Drama mars finish of half-marathon national championships in Atlanta
The 2026 Publix Atlanta Marathon, which served as the USA Track & Field Half Marathon Championships, met chaos Sunday in the women’s half marathon event.
Three runners — Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat — were led off course by an official race vehicle with less than 2 miles to go. The nearly-half-mile error, according to data from Hurley’s Strava account, cost the runners their top-three finishes.
McClain is seen saying “I’m so pissed off” as she crosses the finish line, scored in ninth place.
Molly Born crossed the finish line first and is credited with the win.
Hurley, who is scored as finishing 12th, is from Roswell and a former three-time state champion runner for Fellowship Christian. Kurgat, the third affected runner, finished 13th.
The top three finishers automatically qualify for a spot on Team USA at the 2026 World Athletics Road Running Championships, according to a release from the Atlanta Track Club, the race organizer.
According to USATF, a protest was filed by athletes impacted, however the protest was denied and an appeal was submitted.
The jury found that “the course was not adequately marked at the point of misdirection,” but it also determined there was “no recourse within the USATF rulebook to alter the results order of finish. The results order of finish as posted is considered final,” according to the USATF statement.
“I take full responsibility for what occurred,” said Rich Kenah, CEO of Atlanta Track Club, in a statement. “Athletes should never have to make a split-second decision between following a pace vehicle or trusting the official course.
“We are conducting a full review to determine exactly how and why the vehicle left the course to strengthen safeguards moving forward.”
Kenah also said that the organization would make efforts to see that McClain, Hurley and Kurgat “are made whole.”
This is not the first brush with drama for the Publix Marathon.
Last year’s race course was discovered to be 554 feet short of the full marathon distance, rendering the results uncertified, meaning that runners also were unable to use their times as qualifiers for the Boston Marathon. The news was announced more than a month after the race.
“While official results will remain unchanged, we know how much training, time and heart go into running a marathon, and we deeply regret this mistake. The effort and achievement of every marathon participant are no less valid, and the commitment deserves recognition,” Rich Kenah, CEO of Atlanta Track Club, said in a statement at the time.
About the Author
Caitlyn Stroh-Page is the senior sports editor high school sports and college football at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her resume includes stops at Sports Illustrated Kids, Scout.com, The (Macon) Telegraph, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader and the Athens Banner-Herald. A South Georgia native, Stroh-Page lives in the Athens area.
