Talkback: Marathon running: why do people cheat?

skotty

I guess they can't find any incidents from British races in recent years.

cougie

Those twins racing the Comrades and swapping in a portalloo half way ? That was almost genius.

NoodleBug

Cheating to get a Boston qualifing time is one thing but for finishers medal? You get one for whatever time you finish in so why cheat? If you just want bragging rights without running go buy medals off eBay. This article still doesn't explain why people cheat. What's the psychology behind wanting to be seen to do it, but only in a certain time? Well there's my MSc dissertation subject right there.

Nose Nowt

A much more common form of cheating that annoys me... in marathons and other races, is corner cutting.  I'm talking about the sort where it's clearly going a little bit off the measured course by a couple of metres...

It's happened quite a few times, where you work blooming hard over half a mile to close a 10 yard gap and the person in front takes a 'rather tight' line and suddenly it's opened up again.

One 3 lap cross country race last winter... this guy took an inside line on a lakeside paved path when he should have been 5/10 yards wider, on the grass.  That adds up over a sweeping 90 degree bend, and he got better grip too.  On every lap he gained quite a few yards on me. It drove me on to catch him in the finishing straight... but it's bloody cheating. (I didn't say anything though!)

cougie

In London one year I saw someone cutting under the tape and running on the RH side of a roundabout whilst we all filtered round on the left of it. He saved himself a fair few meters there.



I've seen it at parkrun too - run to the left of the marker post - if you cut inside it you'll save 50m and its not a bloody 5k then ! Grrr.

Millsy

I think that article was just copied from Runners World USA.

There is usually a thread every year where suspicious splits from Brighton and London are hilighted but they usually get taken down very soon.

There was a great thread on Letsrun.com recently where the website has offered the suspected cheat prize money if he can prove his times.

plazzy

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15277618

 

but that is class

Nose Nowt

Millsy wrote (see)

There is usually a thread every year where suspicious splits from Brighton and London are hilighted but they usually get taken down very soon.

Those threads do seem to be  taken down  - and it's in line with the article too, in a way.  It seems that nobody in authority wants to know. Don't want to rock the boat.  "“A lot of times, the race directors just don’t care,” Stern told Newswire. “They don’t want to have a scene. They just deal with it and they say, ‘You know what? Just keep them in the results.’”  

 

plazzy

Nose Nowt wrote (see)

Millsy wrote (see)

There is usually a thread every year where suspicious splits from Brighton and London are hilighted but they usually get taken down very soon.

Those threads do seem to be  taken down  - and it's in line with the article too, in a way.  It seems that nobody in authority wants to know. Don't want to rock the boat.  "“A lot of times, the race directors just don’t care,” Stern told Newswire. “They don’t want to have a scene. They just deal with it and they say, ‘You know what? Just keep them in the results.’”  

 

I'm starting to imagine that kind of attitude has filtered all the way from the top i.e.; the IAAF, especially in regards to those on PED's.

PhilPub

plazzy wrote (see)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-15277618

 

but that is class

Ah, classic cheating!  Why piss about dodging round the odd cone, when you can catch an actual bus!  

VDOT52

You may as well ask why some elites are doping. Some people want to achieve by any means possible. The kind of people who cut corners in races are the same type who would be full of EPO if they were an elite. It is how they are made up.

Pete Holt

don't understand why somebody would cheat running a marathon. its not as though he/she will gain a gold medal or world record with the associated revenues that come to elites who do the same thing, via sponsorship, prize money, fame, and big meet invites.  it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

 

Chris2304

For me running is about the personal challenge, so cheating would ruin the whole point of running for me. However the world is full of people who want things without having to put the work in first. My guess is that they figure that they 'deserve' a good time, even if they have to cheat to get it.

Millsy

Some of the bigger marathons now require a qualifying time to get an automatic place eg Boston or London Marathons. There are a few stories about where people have cut the course on qualifying races to enable them to run the big race.

Fubarcoz

It would seem most of the cheating talked about is people taking bibs which happens as a lot of races do not allow you to transfer, even if you are injured, and there is no refund. So after spending in some cases £40-50 entry fee you just want someone else to benefit from the race you have paid for. Let runners swap, end of most of the issues.

RicF

The people who cheat in marathons would be cheats in any walk of life.

If they were blokes, they're the sort who'd boast of all the women they had had when really they're just w...kers.

Screamapillar

Fubarcoz wrote (see)

It would seem most of the cheating talked about is people taking bibs which happens as a lot of races do not allow you to transfer, even if you are injured, and there is no refund. So after spending in some cases £40-50 entry fee you just want someone else to benefit from the race you have paid for. Let runners swap, end of most of the issues.

I can assure you that most of the cheating that has been discussed on this forum over the years has concerned people that deliberately took a short cut to get praise and medals they did not deserve.

Millsy

Have to agree with Screamapillar on that one, can't remember many about swapped bibs (numbers)

The Mike Rossi incident Is one of the all time classics.

asitis

I was in my 2nd year in high school. My first big competitive race. A couple of representatives from hundreds of schools. We all lined up at the start of a multi lap x country course around Wollaton park. This bloke screamed out to all of us "anyone caught not going around the posts will be disqualified " Well this lad went sprinting of and I was lying in second place all the way round biding my time to take him, then on the last corner he missed the post and went straight for the line. The rest of us took the right course. I went up expecting to be crowned the winner and you never guess what the judge said. " he was that far clear all the way round and he would of probably won anyway so he's the winner". Never forgot it. I've been scarred by a bent judge. 1980 was this you.