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Here is the finisher’s medal from the Texas 10 Series – Fort Worth that took place on October 12, 2014 in Forth Worth, Texas.

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[medal photo submitted by Stephen G – @stepheng73]

This is the medal the finishers of the Cowtown Half Marathon received on February 22-23, 2014 in Fort Worth, Texas.

“The Cowtown races took place this past weekend, February 22 and 23, in Fort Worth, Texas.

There is a 10K, adults 5K and a children’s 5K on Saturday, and on Sunday there is the half marathon, marathon and 50K.

If you run a race both days, that’s known as The Cowtown Challenge. For your efforts you earn an additional medal (and an extra technical shirt!).

I ran the 10K (PR!) and the half marathon. What’s really fun about the medals is that it’s designed as a spur on a leather (pleather?) strap and it spins! There were color designations and designations on the ribbons for the half (green), full (yellow) and ultra (orange). I also love that the ribbons say “I earned my spurs”. Too fun!”

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[Medal photo and description submitted by Christy Bowers.  Follow her on Twitter @run2bake]

You win some and you lose some….sometimes during the same race.  

Oklahoma native Scott Downard won the 2012 Cowtown Marathon on Sunday in Fort Worth, Texas in 2:31:40.

However, minutes later he was stripped of his win after race officials discovered that Downard had never registered for the race. He had a bib though, but the bib belonged to a friend who was unable to compete in the marathon.

Downard admitted it freely and didn’t cause a stir.  The runner-up, Kolin Styles, was declared the winner. Styles finished the race in 2:37:53.

This is a practice that isn’t rare. It happens often, but the difference is that it is almost never if ever the race winner doing it. Usually the top dog is comped or signed up weeks in advance of the race.

The reason it is happening more and more is because of the rapid rate that a lot of marathons are selling out months in advance. So runners are signing up months in advance for races that they might never run. Injury, work, illness, family, conflicts can get in the way when trying to plan or train so far in advance.

Then on the flipside you have runners who really want to run these races who got shut out.  So bibs are usually transferred often at a fraction of the cost the original runner paid or given to a friend or buddy.

To me it’s no harm no foul…unless you win!

Unless of course you are helping a friend cheat their way into a BQ or age bracket win. It does get complicated on a certain level but for the most part runners just want to run.

Downard didn’t cheat the race or course. He won fair and square. He just didn’t sign up for the race. The race officials made the right decision.

Some races (fewer and fewer) will let you transfer a bib/registation to another runner before a certain date or for a small feel.

Congrats to both Scott and Kolin on winning the Cowtown Marathon.

[image: Paul Moseley/Fort Worth Star-Telegram]