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The finished or not question can be a bit confusing in some events like mountain races where the course is always a bit fluid and organizers might need to change or shorten the race for reasons outside their control.

For example, I ran the 2026 Ultra Tour Monte Rosa, where they cut off the last 15 or so miles because of a rock fall. educatedguesswork.org/posts/utmr/ . And in fact it doesn't count as a finish for some purposes, like Hard Rock qualifying. hardrock100.com/hardrock-qua...

None of this applies to marathons, which are a strictly defined distance. Nothing wrong with racing 18 miles (~30K); I've done it myself. But it's not a marathon and just giving someone a finisher medal doesn't make it one.