Sports

Runner Disqualified After Turkey Trot Collision

Screenshot of video posted on Twitter by @Kevin_McCashion.

Melanie Wilcox Contributor
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A video of a collision that occurred at the finish line of the 10-kilometer Turkey Trot race in Troy, New York went viral Friday, garnering nearly half a million views.

Xavier Salvador of Washington, D.C., tried to hold off Jack Huber of Delmar, New York for fourth place as they sprinted to the finish line. As Huber tried passing his competitor on the right, Salvador also veered right, bumping Huber with his hip. Huber slammed into the metal barrier and fell on his right shoulder. Delmar also fell and immediate checked his watch. (RELATED: Joy Reid Says That She Goes Jogging With Two Masks While Fully Vaccinated)

“It just so happens I was right at the finish line when it happened,” Turkey Trot coordinator George Regan told Times Union. “I watched second and third go across and fourth and fifth were right there. I said to myself ‘Fifth is going to pass fourth.’ [Huber] was on the river side of the fourth-place runner and I just watched in dismay and horror because the kid could see him in his peripheral vision and kept creeping to the right and wouldn’t let him by.”

“[Huber] didn’t get in anybody’s way and got boxed out into the barricade,” Regan said.

Regan disqualified Salvador and expunged his name from race records for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Huber told Times Union that he was “ready to give it a hard push at the end.” He chose to go to Salvador’s right. “I saw him looking over his shoulder, which isn’t out of the ordinary,” Huber said. “I started to move up on him and I couldn’t switch back and pass the other way. He kept pushing me further and further into the barriers.”

Salvador, who grew up in Loudonville, told Times Union, “I feel really bad about it … I never had an intention to hurt him, tackle him.”

“I look at it and I see I’m veering right in his way,” Salvador added. “I didn’t realize he was on my right shoulder and I’m sprinting as hard as I can.”

Huber had scrapes on his hands, a rash on his right shoulder, and bruises on his right knee and forearms and Salvador has a swollen right wrist, sore ribs, and scrapes as well, according to Times Union. Both went running the next day.