RUNNER MISSED TIMING MATS IN MULTIPLE RACES OVER 3 YEARS AT THE BOSTON MARATHON AND THE BERLIN MARATHON IS REGISTERED TO RUN BOSTON AGAIN
As you can see below, he missed the same checkpoints in each of the last 3 years.
Likelihood of Missing Timing Mats in Boston
Let’s look at 2016. How many finishers missed a single timing mat?
- 144 runners missed at least 1 timing mat.
- Of those 144 runners, 14 missed more than one timing mat.
- 3 of those runners achieved Boston Qualifying Times for 2017 – including the runner profiled above.
In total there were 170 missed intermediate timing mats out of 237,582 total instances. (26,398 finishers X 9 intermediate timing mats).
3 runners missed both the 30k and 35k timing mats. That is 1 out of every 8800 runners.
The odds of a single runner missing these 2 mats for 3 consecutive Boston Marathons is basically 0.00%. (I did the math).
Berlin Marathon History
The runner has also missed the 5k split in each of the past 3 Berlin Marathons. It would be overkill at this point to calculate the odds of missing those mats along with the Boston mats legitimately. His 2016 Berlin time was faster than his 2016 Boston Marathon, and is presumably being used for his BQ time/corral placement.
Chicago Marathon 2013
The runner has a time listed on marathonguide, but has been removed from the official results. His time in this race was just over 3 hours. He does have photos at this event on marathonfoto.com. I was unable to find a photo from the questionable races that showed a clear view of his GPS watch like I was with the Jane Seo case, but he was wearing what appears to be a GPS tracker at his races. If he uploads his results, he should have the data to show the distance he ran in each of the questionable races.
Registration Status For Boston 2017
I have reported all of the relevant information to both Boston and Berlin. They are evaluating his status. I am confident that they will reach the appropriate conclusion.
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I notice last year he ran an impressive 5:25 min/mi 35-40k split. Must have really gassed him, because his 40K-finish was over 9:00 min/mi.
Is there a place on the course that could be skipped?
Probably hangs a right on beacon street just after mile 16. If that's the case, he's never seen heartbreak hill.
That runner needs spotters at that point. Hmmm is right. At mi 16 he must take Beacon somehow, avoid Heartbreake, and renters by Chestnut Hill… #Cheater
I love that you do the math!
Thanks from the back of the pack (where we are dying but not cheating)
Probably hopped on the Green Line at the Woodland stop.
I should have posted that he also had fast times Hyannis. No splits available for that marathon.
I'm puzzled how he does it. If he cuts over on Beacon Street, it essentially runs parallel to the course on Comm Ave. And even though it's not Heartbreak Hill, there are decent hills on Beacon in that section before it meets back up with the course at Cleveland Circle. Taking the T from Woodland (just before mile 17) is a possibility, but I wouldn't count on the T being all that much faster than running on marathon day. The D branch is the fastest of the Green Line branches, but still … Maybe he has someone meet him with a car at Beacon Street? Maybe he's got a bike stashed somewhere?
Woodland Station to Fenway Station is normally about a 30 minute trip on the D line (according to the MBTA Trip Planner). He consistently goes from 25K to 40K in just over an hour. If you factor in the time getting on and off the course and waiting for a train, then the Green Line seems like a perfectly plausible explanation as to how he pulls this off.
I guess that makes sense. My experience on the Green Line on a normal day has not been so reliable as the MBTA trip planner makes it out to be. I think my question would be how he gets back onto the course if he gets off at the Fenway stop to trigger the 40K mat. The 40K mark is on Citgo Hill (the Mass Pike overpass). It's not all that easy to get from the Fenway T stop to that point, especially considering the crowds at that point. I don't have much doubt that this guy is cheating, I'm just curious how he's doing it given some difficult logistical challenges.
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