While timing mats out along the course can catch people who take short cuts and photos can catch bib mules, the sheer number of runners can make it difficult to catch cheaters.
Cue Cindy. According to online results, she has never broken 2 hours for a half-marathon yet she 'finished' the 2016 New York City Marathon in 2016 in a time of 3:17:29. This also gave her a Boston Marathon qualifying time.
After the race, she posted this on social media...
SO THIS HAPPENED AGAIN TODAY. WHAT I LOVE MOST ABOUT RUNNING MARATHONS IS THAT IT TRULY DOES TEST MENTAL STRENGTH THAT ALSO TRANSLATES TO HOW WE DEAL WITH CHALLENGES IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES. RAN MY HEART OUT TODAY AND LEFT EVERYTHING ON THE COURSE. ALL THE TRAINING PAID OFF AND QUALIFIED FOR THE BOSTON MARATHON! ?♀️ AMAZING THINGS HAPPEN WHEN YOU #BELIEVE. NEXT UP: LOTS OF YOGA AND HIBERNATION!
All very well except there is a guy who runs a website called www.marathoninvestigation.com and he check through suspicious results and time. Post about Cindy. The guy above on the right is shown wearing Cindy's number so she was well and truly caught.
Looking through that website, it would suggest that just over 1% of the entire field for the Boston Marathon may have cheated to get there. This is way way higher than the 0.01% that the organisers suggest.
The full story is also up on the BBC News website.
1 comment:
It would be hard to walk a marathon after eating that many gels and cliff block bars. One of those cliff bars could keep me alive for a month I reckon.
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