Introduction
A detailed tip submitted to Marathon Investigation suggests that a coach ran under his injured athlete’s bib at the 2024 Manchester Marathon, resulting in a fraudulent qualifying time eligible to enter the 2025 London Marathon.
The athlete, Mike, is said to have been injured in the weeks leading up to the race. Instead of withdrawing, it’s alleged that his coach, Daniel, ran the marathon wearing Mike’s bib and chip, finishing with a Good For Age qualifying time that Mike later used to gain entry to London.
The Allegation
Mike was reportedly sidelined by a hip injury shortly before the Manchester Marathon. According to the tipster, Daniel — who also serves as Mike’s coach — ran the race in Mike’s place, clocking a time of 2:42:25. That performance was then used by Mike to secure a spot in the 2025 London Marathon via the Good For Age program.
Supporting Evidence
The tipster submitted extensive documentation, including race results, video footage, Strava activity, and social media posts.
1. Matching Race Results with Time of Day
Both runners started within 2 seconds of each other and crossed the finish line 1 second apart. Their split times and times of day are nearly identical:
| Split | Mike (Bib 11211) | Time of Day | Daniel (Bib 10175) | Time of Day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | 0:00:00 | 09:00:26 | 0:00:00 | 09:00:28 |
| 10K | 39:03 | 09:39:29 | 39:01 | 09:39:29 |
| 21.1K | 1:21:25 | 10:21:51 | 1:21:22 | 10:21:50 |
| 30K | 1:55:49 | 10:56:15 | 1:55:47 | 10:56:15 |
| Finish | 2:42:25 | 11:42:51 | 2:42:23 | 11:42:50 |
Finish Line Evidence
A video of the finish (timestamp 3:04:57) shows Daniel running alone down the final stretch, wearing black shorts and a blue-and-white singlet with a pink stripe. There are no runners within several seconds ahead or behind him.
Despite this, official results claim that Mike finished just one second later. However, Mike is not visible in the finish video at all — a major inconsistency given the precision of chip timing.
Race Photo Review
Although official 2024 race photos are not currently published online, the tipster reviewed 18 watermarked, on-course images associated with Daniel’s bib. Mike does not appear in any of them — despite allegedly running within 1–2 seconds of Daniel for the entire race. Given the number of checkpoints and available angles, his complete absence from photographic evidence further undermines the legitimacy of his result.
Strava Activity Suggests Injury
Mike’s Strava activity provides a clear picture of his injury timeline:
- He abandoned key workouts, citing hip issues.
- He switched to indoor cycling, referencing a “labral tear.”
- No Manchester Marathon activity was uploaded to Strava — unusual given the magnitude of the result.
- Post-race, he resumed running and began referencing the London Marathon in his run descriptions.
Examples:
Performance History Doesn’t Support 2:42
Mike’s previous results and personal bests do not support a 2:42 marathon time:
- 2023 Berlin Marathon: 3:17
- Half Marathon PB: 1:27
- 10K PB: 39:15
- 5K PB: 18:07
Even post-injury training suggests a goal marathon pace of 4:30/km, or around 3:10 — far from the 2:42 credited to him.
Social Media and Contextual Clues
Daniel is a running coach affiliated with Club Coaction, and regularly features athletes’ performances on the team’s Instagram page. His post after the 2024 Manchester Marathon highlighted athletes he coached — tagging Mike in a group photo, but notably excluding any mention of Mike’s performance.
A separate Facebook comment implies Daniel “coached himself to a PB while pacing one of his athletes,” but again makes no reference to Mike — despite the official results showing they finished within one second of each other. If both results were genuine, Mike’s performance should have been highlighted as well.
Response from Organizers
The tipster submitted the full evidence to London Marathon organizers, who acknowledged the message and indicated they would investigate. As of this writing, neither Mike nor Daniel has been disqualified from the Manchester Marathon.
Conclusion
The evidence strongly suggests that Daniel ran the Manchester Marathon under Mike’s bib and chip, enabling Mike to claim a Good For Age qualifying time he did not earn. If verified, this would be a clear case of bib fraud, displacing a rightful qualifier and undermining the integrity of one of the world’s most prestigious marathons.
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-Derek
This is brilliant , isn’t the case , Mike didn’t take his bib on the day due to injury, it was left in my pocket. Mike isn’t doing London and doesn’t have a good for age place. But this is a fanatic read. And from the outside does make a lot of sense. Have a wonderful day.
Mike just showed up at a marathon he wasn’t going to run with his bib but then had no pockets or bag so you pocketed it.
Logic checks out.
Weird – I see what you are wearing crossing the finish line. Do those shorts even have pockets? 🤔
lol, don’t be a coward and just own up
Is Mike running Boston then?
Didn’t the bib get mailed to each runner? Why would you have his bib?
So the allegation is that Daniel was running for himself and also had Mike’s bib somewhere on him? Would the chip work if it was concealed? And has Mike actually registered for London or for any other time qualifying race?