Modesto Marathon top finisher officially ‘did not finish.’ Here’s what happened
To say it was a disqualification seems extreme. And to say it was a “did not finish” isn’t quite true.
Because Benjamin Enowitz finished the race.
Officially, though, those are the only two qualifiers to describe why the 36-year-old was stripped of his first-place finish despite crossing the finish line before any other marathoner at the Modesto Marathon on March 22.
It started to get weird, Enowitz recalled, around mile five. The Strava app marked each mile of the 26.2-mile race, but when he looked for the mile markers at the marathon course, they were a bit off.
When he hit five miles on his tracker, he didn’t see the mile marker. He saw it at around 5.25 miles. Mile six was at 6.25, and so on for much of the first half of the race.
But that is normal. Enowitz estimates he has run 10 marathons and has seen mile markers placed in the wrong spots before.
What has never happened for him before, though, is finishing short.
But this marathon was different.
Enowitz followed the lead bike, led all marathoners and crossed the finish line first. But in the time it took for him to return to receive his medal, return to his Modesto hotel, decompress, read congratulatory text messages and make the five-hour drive back to his Los Angeles home, he was marked as a DNF in the official results.
“The lead bike took the first full marathon runner and turned him around at mile 13 instead of at the correct spot — only 1 Dq,” race director Bree Fitzpatrick told The Bee by test message after the race.
Many runners consider the Modesto Marathon one of the best qualifiers for Boston and New York marathons.
Enowitz came to the Modesto race because of the combination of the good weather, the flat course and the location. He could make a quick trip and not take days away from his 3-year-old child.
“Having run it, it is a great course to make a fast time,” Enowitz said in an interview with The Bee two days after the race. “If you’re in California and nearby, you can run a good time.”
Confusion halfway in
This was the first time Enowitz had run the course, so he relied on the lead bike, which is why what happened around the halfway mark was troubling.
Modesto Marathon runners usually run until they get to a turnaround point. When they hit that spot, they head back, but the return route is slightly different than the first part of the race.
“The biker goes to me, ‘Oh, I think we’re supposed to turn around there,’” Enowitz recalled. “I didn’t know the exact turnaround spot and my guard was a little bit up because the mile markers were slightly off. So we keep going and he says, ‘Oh, yeah, we were supposed to turn around a little bit ago.’”
He ran over 13.1 miles before they turned around.
On his way back through the course, Enowitz saw the second- and third-place runners, he recalled. The lead bike rider found other race personnel in a car and asked about a turnaround sign.
“The biker goes, ‘Oh shoot, I’m really sorry, I think I messed up, we were supposed to go farther down the road,’” he said.
Enowitz turned around too early, was about 15 miles into the marathon and had a lot to process. Could he turn around, retrace his steps to make up the distance then get back on track? He asked the lead bike but said he didn’t get much of a response.
“And, look, I’m running a 5-minute, 40-second per mile pace 15 miles into the race, maybe I wasn’t speaking or thinking as clearly as I would now,” Enowitz said. “But I felt like I suggested a few options.”
Soon after, the lead bike was gone. Enowitz speculates the driver went to find the second-and third-place runners to direct them to the real turnaround point, which was past the 13.1 marathon halfway mark.
He ran the last 10 miles or so on his own.
“There are people who are trying to set a personal best, and they are motivated by beating a time goal. But for people looking to run a sub-2:30:00, this is a difficult one for me to swallow. You train for six months and you want to hit that time,” he said. “It felt like something out of my control.”
Still tracking his progress as he passed the 18-mile mark, his watch said he ran about 16.5. He ended up finishing about a mile and a half short.
Enowitz’s final stats from the race, according to Strava: Distance: 24.64 miles, Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes, Pace: 5:41/mile.
He was one of 2,714 runners across the four events — marathon, half-marathon, 10K and 5K — a post-COVID-19 pandemic record.
“Of the couple thousand people that showed up, I don’t think this really deters people (from entering the race), but these sorts of things, you wish they don’t happen,” Enowitz said. “Who did it impact? It impacted one person, it’s not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But for me, as that individual, I would have loved to look back and see that time as a validation of the hard work I put in.
“I feel content that I had a great race … but there’s also something in the back of your head if you’re not in the results, not with the times, you’re not getting that external validation.”
Trying to qualify for Boston
Even the day after the marathon it was hard for Enowitz to process what happened.
He was torn.
On one hand, he finished the race.
But also, he is a fan of the sport. A former runner at Harvard, he respects all aspects of running from the mental hurdles and the physical toll it takes to the highs of hitting a new personal record. He wanted to see his six months of training pay off, and in a way he did.
He was going for a personal best, which he blew out of the water. Only he was just over a mile and a half short.
His goal was a sub 2:30:00 and, after doing conversions, he estimates he could have finished around the 2:29:00 mark.
“The painful reality, I know it’s easy to say now, but I felt like I was well on pace to break 2:30:00,” he said. “I don’t think I would have run a 2:28:00 and I don’t think I would have run a 2:30:00. I really feel like I would have run around a 2:29:00.
“It’s not a competitive time among pros by any stretch, but it is a competitive time for amateurs who use this as a hobby. They would have no problem qualifying for those races.”
Enowitz was trying to qualify for Boston. For entry in 2026, he had to run a sub-3:00:00 marathon to do so, according to the Boston Athletic Association. For New York, he had to race a sub-2:55:00, according to New York Road Runners, an organization that helps future participants sign up for the race.
Running below the listed cut-off times does not guarantee qualification. For example, if a race accepts 1,000 runners and 1,500 people made the qualifying time, it takes the best 1,000 times. The extra runners, though they made the time, would not get in.
“You don’t just have to run under that time, you have to run significantly under that time,” Enowitz said.
Race director Bree Fitzpatrick said an email has been sent to Enowitz offering free entry into the 2027 Modesto Marathon and free hotel stay.
Enowitz said he will continue running marathons. In a text to The Bee on Tuesday morning, he said though he does not know which race he will enter next, he will try to qualify for the 2027 Boston Marathon.
This story was originally published March 31, 2026 at 2:55 PM.
