London Marathon Cheaters - let's do this

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  • Snail2Snail2 ✭✭✭
    Its a bit ironic that while we are outing people for illegal number swapping on this thread, over on the Edinburgh marathon thread forum members are still offering and asking for swaps a month after the transfer deadline. :/
  • dctdct ✭✭✭
    DT19 said:
    I e mailed  them yesterday 're walker and had an e mail back saying that my e mail was being passed to the dept that investigates these matters. Maybe that tipped it over edge. 
    Have always found this to speed such matters up. An email being sent/forwarded on by a colleague is likely to be read with more urgency than one being added to a long list sent to a generic email address. I did the same yesterday and got a personal reply saying my message had been passed on.

    I am a grass.
  • I think you're right !
    I've seen a FB photo and it's clearly 20267.
    But how weird that not one of his photos showed up as 20267 on Marathon photos. 

    I always use a number belt too but I've never not had my nunben recognised. 

    It's still a DQ for folding the number over at the bottom though.... ;-)
  • JT141JT141 ✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    This Chris superfly Walker, his Instagram description reads "Retired Rugby League Superstar Now charity runner raising over £14000 for charities." Well, he's not the rugby player. Don't know if it's a joke or he's habitually full of shit. His friends twitter feed reveal a bunch of tedious self aggrandising "beer and tits" enthusiasts - a cabaret of Paddy McGuinness' less talented cousins who, if stuck on a plane with them, would make a flock of geese getting sucked into the engines a welcome event.
  • DT19DT19 ✭✭✭
    what I don't get about Edinburgh threads is that public entry is still open so if someone is looking for a number there's no need to look further than the official route!
  • At least some of the cheats ran the entire way with their fake number or old number. Inventive way to run a marathon without having an entry place. Unofficial marathon time tracked on Strava or on Garmin Connect. Taking a finish medal without having an entry is technically theft. 
  • My only issue with the number swappers is when it occurs and the original entrant gets a GFA they probably wouldn't normally get. This may prevent a genuine GFA in 2019 / 2020 etc.
  • At least some of the cheats ran the entire way with their fake number or old number. Inventive way to run a marathon without having an entry place. Unofficial marathon time tracked on Strava or on Garmin Connect. Taking a finish medal without having an entry is technically theft. 
    As would taking water/lucozade/gels from the feed stations ? 
  • JGavJGav ✭✭✭
    cougie said:
    At least some of the cheats ran the entire way with their fake number or old number. Inventive way to run a marathon without having an entry place. Unofficial marathon time tracked on Strava or on Garmin Connect. Taking a finish medal without having an entry is technically theft. 
    As would taking water/lucozade/gels from the feed stations ? 
    Have you seen the waste at these big events? I really wouldn't be worry about an unofficial runner taking water or a gel.
  • GladragsGladrags ✭✭✭
    I would! They ran out of water in some water stations each year...
  • Brilliant JGav - you might as well say it's ok to nick stuff from a supermarket as they throw out of date stuff away.

    How many unofficial runners were there ? It adds up - and as Gladrags says - water did run out. 
    It's theft - simple as. 
  • Snail2Snail2 ✭✭✭
    JGav - what if the unofficial runner (whether an old number, bib copier, or number swap) collapses and is taken to hospital unconscious - when the details given to the hospital could be those of the official runner? Or in the worst case scenario (for old numbers and copiers) if the police have to visit the relatives of the official runner to offer their condolences?
  • Snail - I think your worse case sceanrio might be a little worse than the worse case scenario.  I think it's quite a stretch to imagine the police would use a race number as confirmation of identity following something as insignificant as a death! Imagine if they'd bought their shorts from a jumble and they still had my name label sewn in the back.  Doesn't bear thinking about.


    As you were.
  • Snail2Snail2 ✭✭✭
    Disagree. This is absolutely the main reason why unofficial entrants are not allowed in races. Many runners don't provide any details on the back of the bib, and don't carry any other form of identification during the race, so the race number is the ONLY means of identifying them. It is why marshals, St John staff etc are told never to remove a race number, however distressed a runner might be. If a hospital has an unconscious or deceased competitor they ask the race organiser for the details of the entrant with that running number - how else do you think they are going to identify them? Clearly if gender, age etc don't match, or if say the baggage for that number for that number has already ben retrieved, further enquiries will be made. But if there is no other identification, and no reason for doubt, then the starting assumption can only be that the person is the official entrant. Theft of water, medals etc are minor by comparison.
  • Snail - conversely, it's precisely because number swapping goes on that police etc wouldn't take info from the race organiser as proof of identity.  They might use it as a starting point in their enquiries, but they're not (as you said) going to be straight round to relatives to offer condolences.
  • NessieNessie ✭✭✭
    Snail2 said:
    Its a bit ironic that while we are outing people for illegal number swapping on this thread, over on the Edinburgh marathon thread forum members are still offering and asking for swaps a month after the transfer deadline. :/
    Hopefully no-one from this thread is doing that ;)
  • dave wood 4dave wood 4 ✭✭✭
    Leaving this thread now,it’s run it’scourse,you’re never going to stop cheats, number swoppers etc, it’s human nature to do what you need to do to achieve your goals
  • I actually was at a race  (swimming not runnng) where a competitor died and it turned out he was using someone else's number. I didn't hear the full story so I don't know if the wrong family was contacted but it really does happen 
  • Might be in some people's nature - but not most of us Dave. Luckily.
  • NorthEnderNorthEnder ✭✭✭
    Leaving this thread now,it’s run it’scourse,you’re never going to stop cheats, number swoppers etc, it’s human nature to do what you need to do to achieve your goals
    Bet you have a few more sneaky peeks before you completely give up on it ;)
  • edited May 2018
    Nice article in The Times this morning.  Even RW gets a mention!

    Mind you, they're claiming to have done all the analysis themselves, but I bet the reporter just read this thread.
  • What is the article about? I hope Mr. Walker gets a name check!
  • bol saucebol sauce ✭✭✭
    I'm going to have a look at it later but just turned on TV this morning halfway through Sky news and the paper reviews, just as they finished talking about this, and they did mention what he did, but didn't hear a name.  
  • JoelDJoelD ✭✭✭
    Mr Walker very much did but apparently it was his condition that turned him into a massive cheat.... 
  • Hi folks, I'm one of the journalists that wrote said story in The Times. We were aware of this thread (as we in fact mention in the story), but only after we'd done the analysis. I am a data journalist, and used computational techniques to find the outliers. We stumbled across this when doing research on the names we found. It's not letting me post the link, but I hope you enjoy the piece.
  • I'm going to have to pop out to the news agents! This is intriguing, I am guessing the condition is some kind of narcissistic complex, it's a shame the symptoms manifest themselves at the VLM.

  • Oh my God. I honestly want to run into Walker at some point. 

    He contacted London Marathon... 
  • Big_GBig_G ✭✭✭
  • peteryeung said:9
    Hi folks, I'm one of the journalists that wrote said story in The Times. We were aware of this thread (as we in fact mention in the story), but only after we'd done the analysis. I am a data journalist, and used computational techniques to find the outliers. We stumbled across this when doing research on the names we found. It's not letting me post the link, but I hope you enjoy the piece.
    Peter, good article but Chris Walker, in his post marathon social media posts, made no mention of suffering from his condition or having to seek treatment or cutting the course.

    Instead he was full of boastful self congratulations and show boating finishing photos. His result only got pulled due to multiple emails to the organisers from the public. 

    I believe he was also sufficiently aware that he needed to hang about for a while before crossing the finishing line to get a time that didn't appear overly quick, there was intent involved.

    I just hope your article doesn't obfuscate his true actions and behaviour.
  • JT141JT141 ✭✭✭
    From The Times:

    Chris Walker, a former rugby league player from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, has run the marathon twice before, raising money for research into Guillain-Barré autoimmune disorder, which he had diagnosed in 2012. Images show him walking through a portion of the race for which data indicates he averaged more than 12mph. He admitted cutting out part of the route but blamed his condition.

    “I got to nine miles and my body packed up,” he said, adding that a volunteer with St John Ambulance, his charity this year, allowed him to cut through a barrier on the northern side of Tower Bridge. He then walked the remainder of the route and collected a medal. He has contacted officials, who will remove his result, and informed his sponsors, many of whom increased their donations after hearing of his problems. St John Ambulance declined to comment.

    Well, may want to check the "former rugby league player" claim. There have been name players called Chris Walker, but not this guy. Don't know what level he claims to have played at. His explanation is a complete reinvention of what he was posting on social media. I would take everything "superfly" says and claims with a pinch of salt.

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