Dozens of exhausted half marathon runners were dismayed to find that their cars gone. Upon their completion of a recent race.
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The incident occurred on Sunday (October 25). During the San Diego-Tijuana Binational Half Marathon.
Dozens of Marathon Runners Return to Missing Cars After Race
Upon the completion of the race, which extended 13.1 miles from San Ysidro, crossing into Tijuana, many of the race participants were forced to wait in line at the Western Towing impound yard. To get their cars back.
According to a Monday (October 26) report from the New York Post, several runners said they used parking directions posted directly on the event's official website. So the directions assured the runners that they could park their vehicles in a parking lot. At a nearby shopping center, Las Americas Premium Outlets. Without fear of repercussions.
However, when many of the runners returned to the shopping center to retrieve their vehicles after the race, they learned that was not the case.
Participants Believed They Were Parking in Authorized Area
So as you might expect, there was a lot of confusion and anger for the unfortunate participants.
Bernice Diaz, whose sister parked in the lot, told Fox 5: "So we get there, and there's no car. I was like, 'Where is my car?' I was not the only one. All these people are part of it, which is unfortunate."
The incident with parking wasn't solely relegated to those who chose to follow the website's instructions. Marathon participant Alex Rodriguez says that personnel for the race told him that he was okay to park his vehicle by a nearby Popeyes restaurant in San Ysidro Village. His vehicle also vanished when he returned to the area where he parked before the race.
"The team for Binational was instructing us to park in a parking lot ... They told us it was our fault. But it's not our fault when the official people of the Binational Half Marathon instructed us to park there," Rodriguez told the news outlet.
In the wake of the complaints, San Diego-Tijuana Binational Half Marathon officials released a statement.
"No Binational Race staff members were assigned to direct or manage vehicle traffic or parking within or outside Las Americas Premium Outlets," the Binational Race Team told the news outlet.
