Boston Marathon officials see no problems for Santa Rosa event after DQ

The finish line disqualification of a female runner briefly presumed the winner of Sunday's Santa Rosa Marathon should not affect the race's affiliation with the Boston Marathon, according to an official from the Boston Athletic Association, the group that has administered the vaunted race for more than a century.

'There is not a whole lot you can sort out when someone decides they want to bypass the system,' said Marc Davis, communications manager for the Boston Athletic Association.

Wendy Jennings, 49, of Huntington Beach crossed the finish line first Sunday with an apparent time of 2:41:23. She was wearing a race number indicating she was part of the full marathon race and not the half marathon that was being hosted on much of the same route. She did not complete the full course and failed to alert both the official timekeeper and a reporter in a post-race interview that she turned around midway through the full marathon and headed back to the finish line.

When Caroline Boller, 40, of Solvang crossed the line at 2:45:30, she alerted officials that Jennings had not been seen on the full marathon course. Official race timers found that Jennings had not been recorded by sensors anywhere along the course other than the start and finish line, and declared Boller the winner. Jennings was disqualified.

Runners changing course or otherwise not completing the official race — either purposefully or by mistake — is not unusual, Davis said.

'Any race out there can have somebody that can try to complete the course inappropriately,' he said.

'All they can do is police the afterwards,' he said, pointing out that perhaps the most notorious case of marathon fraud occurred at a Boston Marathon.

Rosie Ruiz famously ducked into the 1980 Boston Marathon course within the final mile and was declared winner of the vaunted race. Her ruse was later uncovered.

Ruiz's deception is often credited with prompting race officials to move to more advanced technology to both accurately track runners' progress and times, but also to make sure participants are completing the entire course.

The Santa Rosa Marathon had five timing points including the start and finish line at Juilliard Park downtown. Jennings was clocked at both the start and finish but did not cross timing mats placed at miles 8.6, 13.1 and 20 along the route, according to race director Orhan Sarabi. Jennings stopped at a medical tent at the 6.8 mile point.

In a post-race interview, Jennings did not correct a reporter's questions about her 'win,' but in an interview Monday, she said an injury forced her to cut short her marathon ambitions and complete an unofficial half marathon instead.

Boller, a sponsored ultra-runner for Nike who celebrated her first marathon win Sunday, has repeatedly credited race officials with rectifying the situation at the finish.

Registration for the Boston Marathon is restricted to runners who have posted qualifying times on courses approved by USA Track & Field.

The Santa Rosa Marathon has grown from the approximately 600 who ran it in its inaugural year of 2009 to the approximately 1,475 who ran it Sunday in part because it is considered a flat, fast course and one of the last USA Track & Field certified events held before registration for the Boston Marathon opens in September.

The 120th running of the Boston Marathon is scheduled for April 18.

You can reach Kerry Benefield at 526-8671 or kerry.benefield @pressdemocrat.com, on Twitter @benefield and on Instagram at kerry.benefield.