Broadcast News Story

WOMEN'S RACE WINNER DISQUALIFIED

60 SECONDS

FIRST PLACE DID NOT WIN THE RACE AT THE NIKE WOMEN'S MARATHON IN SAN FRANCISCO ON SUNDAY. ARIEN O'CONNELL, A 24-YEAR OLD FROM NEW YORK CITY, CAME IN FIRST PLACE, BEATING RECORD TIMES, BUT DID NOT RECEIVE THE FIRST PLACE TROPHY. 

NIKE OFFICIALS CLAIM HER TIME DID NOT COUNT DUE TO THE FACT SHE HAD NOT CLASSIFIED HERSELF AS AN ELITE RUNNER. ALTHOUGH O'CONNELL RAN THE MARATHON IN LESS THAN THREE HOURS, THE TROPHY WAS AWARDED TO ANOTHER RUNNER WHO'S TIME CLOCKED IN OVER THREE HOURS.

DIRECTOR OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNING PROGRAM, JIM ESTES, EXPLAINED THAT THE ELITE RUNNING GROUP IS GIVEN A 20 MINUTE HEAD START, THEREFORE BY NOT RUNNING WITH THE PROPER GROUP, O'CONNELL WAS DISQUALIFIED.

O'CONNELL ADMITTED HER MISTAKE BUT REMAINED CONFIDENT "I'M A GOOD, SOLID RUNNER. I NEVER CONSIDERED MYSELF ELITE." IT SEEMS THAT THIS RACE WAS A MATTER OF OPINION AND NOT SPEED.