How many "race bandits" will run the Boston Marathon this year? Or even your next race?
Rosie Ruiz, the Boston Marathon course-cutter was stripped
of her victory in the 1980 race and is known as an enduring symbol of cheating
in sports. She was an unknown who didn't look or act like she had just run 26.2
miles, Ruiz finished first in the women's division in Boston in 1980 in a
then-record time of 2 hours, 31 minutes, 56 seconds. Even as she was awarded
her medal and the traditional olive wreath, her competitors wondered how a
woman they hadn't ever heard of — or seen on the course — could have won.
In an era before tracking chips and electronic checkpoints,
race organizers used spotters to scribble down the bib numbers of runners going
by. Ruiz didn't show up there, on videotape or in any of 10,000 photographs taken
along the first 25 miles of the course.
Grilled by the Boston Athletic Association, or BAA, about
her training methods and pace, she had no answers and didn't seem to recognize
terms that would be common for elite marathoners; she also couldn't identify
landmarks she would have passed on the course. Two Harvard University students
soon came forward to say they saw her join the race near Kenmore Square, about
a mile from the finish.
It was never established how Ruiz got to Kenmore Square, but
the ensuing investigation showed that she took the subway during the 1979 New
York Marathon to obtain her qualifying time for Boston.
For professional athletes, the motives for cheating
generally are more obvious: money, fame, and often a low likelihood of being
caught. But why would a middle- or back-of-the-pack runner lie or cheat in a
race that doesn’t even matter? It happens and more than you might think.
Organizers with New York Road Runners estimate that of the
more than 50,000 runners who hit the starting line each year, the number of
marathon bandits typically exceeds 50. The threat of banditing was large enough
for the NYRR to create an anti-banditing campaign: “Respect the Run.” The
campaign launched this spring, featuring amoeba-like cartoons stealing bibs and
proclaiming it “risky business.”
NYRR staffers spend days before the race patrolling
Craigslist, eBay, and Facebook, looking for people trying to purchase bibs or
runners who may have errantly posted images of their bibs online, unaware of
the counterfeiting risk they’re creating. Each year, bibs for popular races
like the Brooklyn Half and the marathon are designed differently and with
distinguishing features—a US Mint-like approach.
Critics of banditing argue that while marathoning is for
many a personal quest, road races are often public events that use city
streets, volunteers, and law enforcement. Entry fees from registered runners go
toward costs like food, police, and other operations, and with a glut of
bandits, organizers are concerned about straining resources. More crucially,
bibs also may contain emergency contact information that could be necessary in
the event of a disaster. After the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, road races
have ramped up security efforts; that includes monitoring who is running races.
Most major races, including the New York City Marathon,
require runners to provide photo identification when picking up a bib. Most
provide bibs only a few days before the race, shortening the window in which
someone could copy a bib. The start of the New York City Marathon, at Fort
Wadsworth in Staten Island, is sealed off to those who aren’t registered,
making it difficult for someone to start the race with a faux bib. The finish
line is filmed, allowing for further forensics.
And then there are the short-cutters who simply didn’t hit every
inch of a course, a la Rosie Ruiz at the 1980 Boston Marathon. There was the
young woman who posted a series of Instagram images of herself “training” and
smiling at the finish line but had no entry to the race. The health blogger who
furiously biked a course in Fort Lauderdale in February to try and create GPS
data that could “validate” her missing splits.
A woman identified only as “Patty” was a runner in a
Tinkerbell skirt who was outed for using a counterfeit bib in the Disneyland 5K
and 10K, two races organized by runDisney. (The race series encourages runners
to complete the course in costumes.) A serial offender from prior bib
banditing, Patty was apprehended in pants and a T-shirt at the race finish line
by law enforcement, according to photos on MarathonInvestigation.com
It might be easy to understand the motivation of people who
are trying to qualify to run Boston or be part of it. You can see the benefit
even if you don’t agree with it. But when it comes to less prestigious races
like cartoon character-themed 5Ks, it really makes no sense.
Honestly—It makes no sense no matter the distance or race.
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