Senbere Teferi is the sickest woman on the planet right now. A wrong turn just prior to the finish line wound up costing the runner thousands of dollars on July 4th in Atlanta.
Teferi, the defending Peachtree Road Race champion, was leading the 10-kilometer race mere meters from the finish line but she blindly started following a police motorcycle that took a right turn off the course.
Once she realized her mistake, she tried to get back into her first-place position only to finish third instead of winning the annual race. She won $3,000 instead of the winner’s prize of $10,000.
“As our defending champion, Senbere Teferi, was approaching the finish line, it looks like she momentarily became confused and followed a police motorcycle when it turned off the course. She was within sight of the finish banner, but we understand that in the heat of competition, instructions can be misinterpreted. As an organization, we are disappointed whenever we fall short of perfection, and in this case, it appears we did,” the AJC Peachtree Road Race tweeted.
Her costly mistake allowed Fotyen Tesfay to cross the finish line in first place with a time of 30 minutes, 43 seconds. Teferi finished four seconds behind Tesfay after realizing her mistake.
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Tesfay was asked through a translator about those final meters.
“I was really upset by Senbere’s mistake because she was in the front and she was leading, but she took that last turn,” she said.
“I saw the finish line. At first, I thought they didn’t really show us that well yesterday where the finish was. But after I saw that car turn, I saw the finish sign in front of me, so I pushed ahead. But I was really upset because I really planned to stick with Senbere at the finish.”
That is just a hard pill to swallow as she led for the entirety of the race only to make one crucial mistake that cost her dearly. A lesson was learned and we expect her to be back next year in the same position.
This year was the 54th edition of the Peachtree Road Race.
