#221 Let the Winner Win

Nike fudges, recognizes fastest marathon runner as "a" winner in last week's Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco.

Arien O'Connell smoked the field and finished the marathon with the fastest time by a rather substantial margin, nearly 11 minutes. The only thing is that she wasn't running in the elite group of women that got a 20 minute head start and, in Nike's inestimable stupidity, were the only ones who could win the race.

Except nobody told Arien that she wasn't supposed to beat all the top runners.

And, instead of capitalizing on a great PR story, Nike gave the first place trophy to the first place woman in the elite group who crossed the finish line in a time 11 minutes longer than Arien did.

Nike has backpedaled and will now award Arien a medal as "a" winner of the race. Which is utter bullshit because she was "the" winner and deserves the accolades for crushing the field.

Nike really messed up here, they could have gotten a great boost from holding Arien up and showing how even non-elite runners can win. Instead they look like douchebags being forced to give a prize.

Rule #221 is Let the Winner Win