Sawe was leading countryman David Tuwei by 10 seconds when, after a left turn onto the final stretch on Southwest Fourth, he stared right at a train passing on the road.
“Nobody is prepared for that scenario,” said Sawe, the inaugural champion in 2002. “I couldn’t believe it. It was a long train.”
Tuwei caught the 40-year-old Sawe and the two waited … and waited … and waited for the train to pass. Third-place Geoffrey Birgen had nearly caught the two leaders when the train finally crossed the street about 40 to 50 seconds later.
A 26.2-mile race came down to a 400-meter sprint, and Sawe used his speed as a former 1,500-meter runner to pull away and win the $3,000 top prize in 2 hours, 24 minutes, 50 seconds. Tuwei finished 5 seconds back.
“When you have to wait, you think about crazy things,” said Sawe, who indicated for a fleeting moment he thought about jumping onto the train. “Usually you don’t get me at the end when you give me a chance.”
The train apparently was operated by Iowa Interstate Railroad. Tom Bernau, the president of the company that puts on the marathon, produced an e-mail thread from Sept. 15 that showed race director Chris Burch had detailed the course map and marathon dates to the railroad.
Mick Burkart, vice president of the Iowa Interstate Railroad, responded to Burch that “this should not be a problem.”
Burkart responded in an e-mail late Sunday night that his company was at fault.
“I sincerely apologize for this happening,” Burkart wrote. “We were well aware of the race and our agreement to refrain from operating through this area during the race. Due to some miscommunication a train was allowed into the race area before it was supposed to. There is no excuse for this happening.”
Creigh Kelly, the Des Moines marathon announcer who travels to road races across the country, said trains impact races more than people realize. He said marathons in Portland and Akron have been interrupted by trains. The Midnight Madness race in Ames also has been stopped by a train.
SOURCE: USA Today
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