Marathon Cheats and questionable finishes.....

[sp...@mich.com]

Here's my tally. It's hard to prove intentional cheating, but here
are people who euther were dq'd for gutting a little more than
tangents, to outright phonys who hop on the subway.

Any more? Most are from the following articles:
http://www.boston.com/globe/sports/packages/marathon_1998/cheat.htm
http://www.letsrun.com/2001/franklincheat.html
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/story.asp?id={5F25E695-9F71-4F46-8FCE-CEA5B6117984}
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,11758,00.html

Howard Pearce: '09 Boston
Freddie Merchant: '16 Boston
Oscar Miranda: '79 Boston
Rosie Ruiz '80 Boston
John Bell: '85, '86, NYC
Polin Belisle: LA / Long Beach
Richard Roodberg '88 LA
Joe Harp: '91 Columbus
Abbes Tehami: '91 Brussels (Coach ran first half)
Candy Dodge: '93 San Diego, Las Vegas, Boston, and LA .
Tony Wingerter: '95 Sacramento
Ron Merville '97 Boston
Nadhezda Ilyina '97 LA (Cut too far off tangents)
Suzanne Murphy: '97 Boston
John Murphy: '97 Boston .
Norman Barwin '00 Boston '01 Ottawa
Martin Franklin : '01 NYC
Chandra Bozelko: '02 MCM, Boston, Va Beach, Long Is., Hartford.
Kent Hollingsworth: '02 Detroit

[Miss Anne Thrope]

Dishonest, cheating, untrustworthy, joggers? I'm shocked!

[Miss Anne Thrope]

[Jean S. Barto]

I'm sure there are plenty more--these are simply the ones that were caught
because they were *competing* for finishes totally out of sync with their
actual fitness level/race history, and folks were able to see the
infractions, and/or were energized for some reason or other to make the
cheating an issue.

When I mentioned/questioned the unusually fast time for a moderately well
known (around here) senior (early 60's) runner in this year's Rock n' Roll
1/2 Marathon, my friend said *she would never* cheat*, or words to that
effect. He didn't make an official report, and neither did I, and because I
was so busy with my own marathon training/tapering afterwards, I didn't go
further with it on my own. Reading this thread again reminded me of the
above circumstances, and now that I'm in my marathon recovery mode, now I
have more time to check it out again.

In the case I'm familiar with, I question whether someone in their early
60's who does a 5K in 29:30 or so on a good day could break 2 hours in a 1/2
marathon--I just don't think it's possible, and in the particular race I'm
mentioning (RnR 1/2 this year), it was possible in 2 places on the course to
cut it short without being seen/noticed and take 20 to 25 minutes or so off
the time--which is what I think she did.

Since I only saw her at the beginning of the race and not where it would
have been possible for her to cut the course (she was already ahead of me by
then), the only *evidence* I have to present are finishes/times at local
races as an indication of what an *honest* 1/2 marathon result would be for
her! At this point, I'm not sure if she won an age-group award or not, it's
possible she was 3 or 4th, but probably not 1st.

I'd like to add that she's 15 years older than me, just in case anyone here
would think I have sour grapes against someone in my age group. In her
defense, she *does* run well for a senior runner

So, I bet this kind of cheating goes on quite a bit with the good
*age-group* runners when the opportunity presents itself in larger races,
when regional rankings are at stake.

Just my 2 cents--

Jean in VA

<sp...@mich.com> wrote in message
news:aa7jtusu0a15pptom...@4ax.com...

[Kelly M]

<sp...@mich.com> wrote in message
news:aa7jtusu0a15pptom...@4ax.com...

> Here's my tally. It's hard to prove intentional cheating, but here
> are people who euther were dq'd for gutting a little more than
> tangents, to outright phonys who hop on the subway.
>
> Any more? Most are from the following articles:

I read that the first finisher of the 1904 Olympics was DQ'd for riding in a
car:
http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/st_louis_olympics/