A Whopping 11,000 Mexico City Marathon Runners Get Disqualified For Cheating, Allegedly Using Cars And Other Transportation
A large number of runners in last month's Mexico City Marathon have been disqualified for allegedly cutting the course short during the 26.2-mile race. When we say large number, we mean large number, as in 11,000 participants.
The marathon had a 30,000-person field, which means over one-third of the runners were booted from the race.
According to Spanish newspaper Marca, runners were disqualified for missing checkpoints that were placed every five kilometers along the course. Some disqualified participants didn't simply cut corners on foot, they allegedly jumped in cars and on bikes along the way.
If your mind immediately went to the scene from the Fun Run episode of 'The Office' where Stanley, Oscar, and Creed jump in a cab, you are not alone.
This isn't the first time there has been a huge cheating scandal at the Mexico City Marathon. In 2017, 6,000 participants were disqualified for very similar accusations with another 3,000 runners being disqualified in 2018 as well.
It's clear that cheating in the Mexico City Marathon is a very real thing. Maybe 50-100 participants cutting corners isn't a big deal, in fact, it probably wouldn't even be a story, but with a third of the field from this year's marathon being accused of cheating it's impossible to ignore.
None of the elite runners, nor the eventual winners of the marathon, were disqualified. Hector Garibay of Bolivia won the men's event in 2:08:23 and Kenya's Celestine Chepchirchir won the women's race in 2:27:17.