At least 7 runners that posted Boston Qualifying times have been disqualified from The 2017 Los Angeles Marathon. There is one more runner that I identified with highly questionable results that remains in the results. I have provided the information on this 8th runner to race officials.
Bib Mules
All of the above runners have been disqualified.
Course Cutting
I have identified 4 instances of probable course cutting in addition to the two above that both cut the course and ran with another person’s bib. One of these runners seemed to jump in to pace a friend on the 2nd half of the race. I do not see evidence that this person was claiming the result as legitimate. He has been removed from the results, and I believe that is sufficient.
These two runners have been also disqualified.
There is one more runner that I submitted for review. This runner has not been DQ’d. He did not miss any timing mats but has very unusual splits.
| Mile | Total Time | Total Pace | Intermediate Pace |
| 3.1 | 0:28:47 | 0:09:17 | 0:09:17 |
| 6.2 | 0:53:56 | 0:08:42 | 0:08:07 |
| 9.3 | 1:13:40 | 0:07:55 | 0:06:22 |
| 12.4 | 1:34:53 | 0:07:39 | 0:06:51 |
| 15.5 | 2:06:50 | 0:08:11 | 0:10:18 |
| 18.6 | 2:34:42 | 0:08:19 | 0:08:59 |
| 21.7 | 3:02:41 | 0:08:25 | 0:09:02 |
| 24.8 | 3:27:35 | 0:08:22 | 0:08:02 |
| 26.2 | 3:4x:xx | 0:08:xx | 0:11:xx |
In addition to these unlikely splits, the runner’s history does not support a sub 4 hour time. He has a history of 5:30:00 to 6:00:00 hour marathons.
The marathon did a good job at responding and removing the questionable results. Additionally they were very fast to review and remove a runner that was registered for The 2017 Boston Marathon. that runner was only detected a couple of weeks before the race. They quickly reviewed and made a determination in time to have that runner removed from Boston. I will update the article when a decision is made regarding the last runner profiled.
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Nice work, keep it up!
Can’t wait to see the full analysis of Boston 2017 results.
The Bib Mules photo roll is laugh-out-loud hilarious.
I was the beneficiary of one of these disqualifications, so Thank you!!
I think it’s worth noting that a lot of “bib mules” are probably just people who bought a bib off Craigslist and didn’t realize that their finish time would place in a female age group. Doesn’t excuse them, as they should certainly be more aware, but I wouldn’t be so quick to assume they have nefarious intentions.
How are you allowed to use watermarked photos? Shouldn’t you pay for them before using?
I think it’s good work but tacky to post pictures. Just list and submit to Boston officials would be sufficient right?
I pay for many photos – most that I never end up using. I am able to use the watermarked photos under ‘Fair Use’. Marathonfoto has never had an issue with how I’ve used the photos. thanks. In cases where the pictures are particularly relevant to the evidence (bib swapping), I use them as part of the evidence.
You missed the age group winner of the women’s 45-49 at la, who only was the age group winner for half a day because we notified la marathon and we took care of it. The supposed to be runner was a 48 year old female first time marathoner who is quite heavy. The marathon foto of the 45-49 female winner was a bearded male.
La marathon promotly removed the results.
We saved all the photos and have the names of both the supposed to be runner and the bib mule (one a ‘coachee’ of a known cheat, the mule a close friend of known cheat.)
Thanks! I was a little slow in pulling the results from L.A. She was already removed.
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