Yep, you read that correctly. Thanks to Mark “Stinkman” Kostinko (his nickname, we didn’t do that) for tipping us off on this one. 24-year old fifth-grade teacher Arien O’Connell finished the race with the fastest time in Sunday’s Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco.

But, officials said that she didn’t win, because she didn’t run with the “elite” group, which starts 20 minutes ahead of the next group.

What?

Mark offered his thoughts when he sent us the tip:

“What a joke…woman has fastest time in marathon by 10 minutes, yet is not declared the winner because she did not run with the “elite” group. So it’s her fault the “elite” group laid back and strolled along? Bigtime joke.”

OTR agrees with Mark. It would have been great PR for the race to have this young underdog win, but no, they botched it because they had to stick to some stupid rule.

Photo Caption: No way she’s only 24.

O’Connell noticed the screw up at the awards ceremony.

“They called out the third-place time and I thought, ‘I was faster than that,’ ” she said. “Then they called out the second-place time and I was faster than that. And then they called out the first-place time (3:06), and I said, ‘Heck, I’m faster than her first-place time, too.’ ”

“At this point,” Nike media relations manager Tanya Lopez said Monday, “we’ve declared our winner.”

As for O’Connell’s decision to not run with the elite group?

“I’m a good, solid runner,” she said. “I never considered myself elite.”

So it’s her fault she had a good day and ran the fastest race? This isn’t like some phantom pass interference call or a dispute about whether the shot clock ran down before someone got the shot off. It’s a friggin’ foot race. You start. You run. You cross the finish line.

So she should be punished for being humble then?

“If you’re feeling like you’re going to be a leader,” race producer Dan Hirsch said Monday, “you should be in the elite pack.”