Thank you for all the tips, keep them coming!
Even if I don’t respond to your email, I am taking note of all the tips that I am receiving, and will make sure that those runners are included in the review of the 2016 results.
I have been working at putting together historical race data to aid in the 2016 review. We are going into this review with more knowledge, and the historical data that we need to efficiently filter and review the 2016 results. The criteria for review will be modified based on a few other factors.I expect that we will begin to start the individual runner reviews next week.
On a side note, just because a group of runners are flagged DOES NOT mean that we go in suspecting that they all cheated. Last year, there only 4% of flagged runners were determined to have cheated. There are many reasons for a slow Boston time – and most of them are legitimate. For a runner that legitimately ran Boston, the review usually takes a couple of minutes. We match photos, and check the qualifying splits if available, and glance at historical times.
Also, we will begin reviewing marathons within the 2016 qualifying window using a similar method to flag runners to review. The goal here is to review the results and notify the Race Directors prior to Boston registration to stop the ones that cheated to earn Boston qualifying times from entering in the first place.
I will continually provide updates on our progress. I suspect we will find more instances of cheating than we did with Boston 2015 – not because there are more cheaters, but because we will be able to get through more results with the additional data and resources.
-Derek
After sleeping on this a bit, I have to say… the bandits don't bother me as much as the people who cheat to get fake qualifying times. People like the Donnellys, Rossi, etc., are despicable and deserve whatever internet rage comes their way. They're basically stealing spots from people who actually earned them and deserve to be banned for life and ridiculed. Tracking down these people and identifying them is a worthy endeavor.
The bandits, though… they're more like party crashers. To be sure, they make the race more crowded, they drive up the cost to the organizers by stealing aid station stuff and finishers medals. It also takes some nerve to counterfeit a race bib, steal a finisher's medal, and mug for the camera as if you either earned it or you're taunting the people who did.
I can only imagine the feeling of pulling up your race photos and seeing some this douchebag smiling back at you. This guy deserves to be punished, but he's no Donnelly or Rossi.
"I can only imagine the feeling of pulling up your race photos and seeing some this douchebag smiling back at you."
The feelings not good: "2 people duplicated my Boston bib – help me find them?"
Read more: http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=7221659#ixzz46WQeKQ00
Hi commenter two slots above me…
As someone who has run Boston in 2105 (my first time!) and 2016, I can tell you one other group of people the bandits are "cheating"… folks like me.
Boston is CROWDED the whole way along the course, and having a few more bandits in there does not help.
I don't really care so much for the increased $ cost passed on to me. (Boston is freakin' expensive, if you are coming from out of state)
But it's easily the most crowded field I've ever run in, and I've done NY and Chicago.
I do 100% agree with your main point, which I think is that Rossi and the like are much bigger pieces of shit than the bandits.
Comments are closed.