Gerald Hug was just two miles into his 5.1-mile chunk of the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon on Sunday when he and about 30 other runners were stopped by what they believed to have been U.S. Customs officials.
The problem? Apparently, the runners set off radioactive isotope sensors inside the tunnel.
Welcome to the post-9/11 world of road racing.
"Customs agents came over with these boxes that looked like big bricks with handles on them," Hug recalled later in the day from his Plymouth home. "I assumed they were metal detectors."
Hug -- who ran the marathon as a relay race with his wife, Andrea, another couple and a friend -- said the agents didn't offer an explanation, but one-by-one the runners were allowed entry. None was deemed a security threat.
Pat Ball, director of the race, said Hug's group wasn't the only one stopped and Sunday's incident wasn't the first.
"I know at least twice when they stopped a group coming out of the tunnel," Ball said. "They did it last year, too."
Customs officials directed questions to U.S. Customs and Border Protection Chief Ronald Smith in Detroit, who did not return calls to his cell phone Sunday evening.
A radioactive isotope is an atom with an unstable nucleus that decays until it stabilizes, emitting potentially dangerous radiation.
Hug said the runners were allowed to pass fairly quickly. He estimated that his run was slowed by about 30 seconds.
"I told the officers thanks," he said with a laugh. "I needed that break after running up the hill. It was a blessing in disguise."
Others, however, weren't as forgiving. Hug said some of the runners who were stopped alongside him complained that the delay could cost them the chance to qualify for the Boston Marathon.
