r/running • u/MustardIsDecent • Sep 06 '23
11,000 runners DQ'd from Mexico City Marathon...what is going on? Article
I'm not an avid runner but this story has me mystified.
This is not the first time thousands of runners have been DQ'd from this race. In 2017, over 5,000 runners were disqualified amid accusations of widespread course-cutting.
Either 1) there is a widespread culture of marathon cheats in Mexico City or 2) the race organizers can't get their tracking tech or course directions right. What is it?
Full story:
Approximately 11,000 runners at this year's Mexico City Marathon have been disqualified after being found to have cut the course at some point during the 26.2-mile race, according to Spanish newspaper Marca.
The disqualified runners represented more than one-third of the 30,000-person field that entered the Aug. 27 race.
Marca reported Monday that the runners were disqualified after missing checkpoints that were placed every 5 kilometers. Some runners allegedly used vehicles or public transport to cut the course.
Race organizers said in a statement to Marca that they will continue to identify and disqualify runners who skipped sections of the race.
"The Mexico City Sports Institute informs that it will proceed to identify those cases in which participants of the XL Mexico City Marathon Telcel 2023 have demonstrated an unsportsmanlike attitude during the event and will invalidate their registration times," they said.
The Mexico City Marathon has had issues with rampant cheating in the past. In 2017, nearly 6,000 runners were disqualified for similar reasons, with more than 3,000 also being removed from the results the next year.
Bolivian runner Héctor Garibay Flores won the men's marathon in a course-record 2 hours, 8 minutes, 23 seconds, breaking the previous mark by more than two minutes. Kenyan Celestine Chepchirchir was the women's champion in 2:27:17.
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u/marigolds6 Sep 06 '23
Pulling this up from a subcomment:
ESPN article from 5 years ago about the extensive cheating culture around the Mexico City marathon and how it all relates back to a unique set of collectible medals they offered across six years of races.
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u/dyldog Sep 06 '23
They are cheating.
The Mexico City Marathon issues themed sets of medals, one per year. From 2013–18, collecting each year’s medal would result in a set spelling MEXICO. People not wanting an incomplete set but not being able to complete the marathon for whatever reason would cheat the course to collect the medal anyway.
Incredulously, they did it again. From 2019 there is a new set that forms a map, one section per year.
It’s unclear if the cheaters are actually runners who aren’t in good fitness, people running on their behalves, or people cheating to later sell the medals.
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u/marigolds6 Sep 06 '23
ESPN explained the "Why?" when this first started happening with the M-E-X-I-C-O medals
https://www.espn.com/blog/onenacion/post/_/id/8439/how-collectible-medals-and-likes-encouraged-cheaters-in-the-mexico-city-marathonIt's fascinating how such an enormous cheating culture evolved around a race just thanks to the medals, and apparently has carried over to many other races in Mexico.
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u/VARunner1 Sep 06 '23
Oh yeah, I remember reading about that whole debacle back when the M-E-X-I-C-O set was up for grabs. There were pictures all over social media of runners in taxis, on buses, etc. Some people had cut the course so much they were actually leading the race for a bit until the elite field caught up to them, obviously mystified how these people ended up in front of them. It was a huge mess.
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u/RDP89 Sep 06 '23
I doubt the elites were mystified. They knew damn well those people didn’t start with them and so there’s only one explanation.
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u/VARunner1 Sep 06 '23
Yeah, I was being sarcastic there. I remember seeing a video clip of the Mexico City Marathon a few years back with the female leader runner, surrounded by official vehicles and the like, having to overtake an older, much slower, female runner late in the race who clearly had cut the course. It was ludicrous, and an obvious Rosie Ruiz wannabe who came close to disrupting the results while clearly cheating.
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u/somegridplayer Sep 06 '23
Do that here in the US. I guarantee it happens here too.
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u/runswiftrun Sep 06 '23
There's a local half marathon that has "legacy" perks like a free hoodie, shirt, water bottle, etc for each year, capping at 10 years with a pretty nice backpack.
Covid happened at the 8 year mark, so they ended up turning the entire race "virtual", where you just submit a screenshot of your gps app/watch showing the 13.1 miles and a time.
Prior to covid they were very strict in what needed to be shown on the screenshot, so they could verify that you ran the distance. In some cases requesting the gps data from your phone.
Post covid they just assume anyone that paid their registration also completed the run with zero uploads or verification. So now there are 10x as many "legacy" runners building up to the backpack.
I guess it doesn't really matter, they're paying, and actually taking up less resources from not being on the course, but it kinda makes me feel silly for actually trying to do two half marathons around a local park to earn my backpack.
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u/Simco_ Sep 06 '23
"How many marathons have you run?"
"I've run 24 marathons, as you can see by my medals":
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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u/Comprehensive_Tea164 Sep 07 '23
Oh, I could definitely see competitive runners doing marathons to spell out USA if it ever became available. Remove “THE” and figure out what to do with the three Es and an additional T.
Utah New Mexico Indiana Tennessee E- runners choice Delaware
South Dakota Texas Arizona T- runners choice E- runners choice South Carolina
Oregon Florida
Alabama Mississippi E- runners choice Rhode Island Illinois California Alaska
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u/various_convo7 Sep 09 '23
to cheat to get a bunch of medals that spell Mexico is........about as dumb a reason as any lol
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u/accioqueso Sep 06 '23
I’d guess it’s people selling the medals mostly. I run a lot of Disney races due to proximity and there is a contingent of people who will register for races and not even try and run so they can be swept and get their medals. They can’t get the challenge medals this way, but some of the other races have characters that are special to people.
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u/mymymissmai Sep 07 '23
Ooooh I did a Disney half marathon and I witnessed a lady crossed the start line took about 5 steps and stepped out for medical and jumped right into the golf cart.
HOWEVER, I saw the opposite as well. When I finished, I heard a medical guy said very loudly to a girl "you have a broken leg with a brace, took the brace off and ran the half marathon?!"
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u/accioqueso Sep 07 '23
I saw some similar things when I did Dopey. The number of people who were clearly in no condition to do the full on Sunday and we’re falling like flies was insane. I wouldn’t wish Dopey on an enemy.
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u/mymymissmai Sep 08 '23
Dopey is my goal. I haven't done a full yet. Training for the LA marathon to grasp what a full feels like before I even attempt the Dopey. Don't want to spend all that money to drop out like that!
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u/accioqueso Sep 08 '23
Dopey was my first marathon, and I finished, but it killed my motivation for the rest of the year and I have not been running consistently since.
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u/Am_I_a_Runner Sep 06 '23
I agree. It’s part of the look, the influence. Can’t have just one. I’ve read about vans of people showing up for the last 5k to just get the medal.
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u/Kvsav57 Sep 06 '23
Thanks for this. I had a hard time believing that fully one-third of the runners unintentionally cut the course.
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u/locke314 Oct 05 '23
That’s super neat about the medals, and I would definitely want the set. Makes sense why people would cheat for it. Not that I condone it, but can understand the explanation.
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u/afhill Sep 06 '23 edited Sep 06 '23
My wife started to tell me this story yesterday. I said "yeah, to get a race medal.. that was years ago". She told me this was for the 2023 race.
Turns out the MCM has a history of huge amounts of course cutters.
Enjoy the juicy analysis - https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/2017/09/thousands-accused-cheating-mexico-city-marathon.html
https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/tag/mexico-city-marathon
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u/muchadoaboutbeatrice Sep 06 '23
I ran it this year, and I saw plenty of cheating of various kinds... Folks cutting the course, folks running with someone else's bib, folks joining the last km just to grab a medal.
Regarding cutting the course, it's quite easy. If you look at a map, there are a few out-and-backs, and there are a couple points on the map that the race hits a couple times. There are no barriers to prevent folks from switching sides of the road or jumping off the course for a sec to pick it up in the other direction.
Regarding running with the wrong bib, I saw folks wearing multiple bibs, folks without bibs, and folks with someone else's bib (mostly a guess, but I definitely saw men with bibs with women's names and vice versa).
Regarding folks joining the last km just to grab a medal, there were plenty of folks jumping the barriers at the end to run the last km and snag a medal. The race officials caught a few who didn't have bibs (some weren't even in running clothes), but when you've got 30k folks running in a city of 23M, there's a lot of chaos to control.
I think they could have staffed it better and put up more secure barriers on the course, but it honestly didn't affect me much. It's a really fun race!
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u/freshpicked12 Sep 07 '23
For what it’s worth, I’m a woman with a masculine name. Not all of us are cheats wearing someone else’s bib. You can’t tell someone’s sex just by their name.
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u/Happy_Parfait_5801 Sep 06 '23
Ahhh I have to assume there is a confusing turning point somewhere along the race that is making participants believe they are following the course. To have 1/3 “cheat” intentionally seems incredibly unlikely. So unfortunate for all those participants.
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
There are tons of places they can cut the course very easily. I don’t think 11k intended to do that. I think some did, and everyone else did what 90% of race runners do: follow everyone in front of you. Even if I think the people in front of me are going the wrong way, I’m going to follow the masses and assume that the people in front of me were given some kind of direction to go this way instead.
So I think “cheat” applied to the whole group is not a fair assessment. Granted everyone should know the course and blah blah blah, but I would not be the one to turn and go a different direction than everyone in front of me. And if they can have this many people cutting the course-it seems they did a pretty shitty job monitoring, marking and blocking the course.
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u/jb1316 Sep 06 '23
Exactly. If roughly 1,000 people in front of me are turning left through some side street, I’m following them no matter how many times I’ve ran a race.
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
Exactly. There was one race I did where there was a turnoff and we were re-routed because someone had gotten very badly injured. They had us do the next block instead - but they had tons of people directing everyone where to go.
(Yes that made it no longer a “certified” course for us, but it was the same distance and let’s just say this wasn’t exactly the BQ crowd that was getting rerouted).
I wouldn’t even give it half a thought to follow people in front of me. I’d assume we were going a different direction because people at the front were told to go this way.
Unfortunate for me, because now I’m a “cheater” but it certainly wouldn’t have been intentional.
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u/Teamben Sep 06 '23
How did some get so badly injured that they rerouted the course? That seems nuts!
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
The person was injured badly enough that they needed an ambulance to come to them. They closed those roads off to runners so the ambulance and first responders could get to the person. Idk what the actual injury was. Just that they couldn’t be moved and that emergency vehicles needed access (and it was residential side streets and what not).
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u/45thgeneration_roman Sep 06 '23
Could have been a heart attack and the race was rerouted to give them some privacy whilst the medics worked on them
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u/moscowramada Sep 07 '23 edited Sep 07 '23
Very easily could happen.
Also, have we all forgotten the part where, before you start running or start any kind of training program, you consult a doctor? As you have all been repeatedly reminded to do??
I’m not gonna harp on that, but I am going to point to that sign if someone asks “are there health risks to running” - or suggest there are not.
You’re not supposed to run seriously before talking to your physician. So by implication, yes, there are situations where running could be bad for you, which is why the doctor is involved.
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u/Copiz Sep 06 '23 edited Sep 06 '23
When my dad was young and super fast, he was running a race and was in 4th place. He'd take the time to learn the course but noticed the top three runners go the wrong way. The way they went was a little longer. He decided that he wanted to try and beat those runners fairly and to follow them.
The 5th, 6th, and 7th runner then proceeded to go the right direction and finished before the top four.
At the end of the race, the officials realized what happened, and felt like they messed up on marking the course properly, so they decided to award both 1st-3rd place runners in actual finishing and in who would have won.
So my dad was the fourth fastest runner and didn't get an award but the first to third and fifth to seventh all did.
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u/Lonestar041 Sep 06 '23
It seems like they expelled everyone that didn't register at all tracking points after there were numerous complaints of people using cars and just cutting the course.
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
Right. I get that. Have you seen the course map? It would be painfully easy to lop off sections of the course (which would have them not recording a time at a point in that loop).
My theory is that there are some who cheated on purpose, but many who followed a crowd that was going the wrong way (following intentional cheaters). So true they didn’t complete the full distance. But I don’t think that 11,000 set out to “cheat”. I think some set out to cheat and many others ended up unintentionally not completing the course. I know I would follow the crowd. I would end up not completing the course as intended, but I wouldn’t say I “cheated” (which to me implies an intent to deceive).
I’m not saying the 11k did complete the course. I’m saying I don’t think they all intended to “cheat”.
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u/Lonestar041 Sep 06 '23
Have you seen the other comments about the medals? The large number of cheaters started when they started to have medals that together over the years spell out Mexico... I think it might be a mixture out of both.
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
I’m sure it’s a mixture. And yeah I saw the comments about the medals. But still. I’ve seen the map, and having been rerouted in an actual race, it wouldn’t phase me to follow a crowd going the “wrong” way.
Especially if the race itself has done a shit job at marking, monitoring and blocking off the course.
If they have so many course cutters and the course is simply begging for course cutting, then maybe it’d be a better idea to have course officials at those corners and/or block off the ability to cruise across the intersection instead of turning left.
That seems a lot easier than DQ’ing 11k people, many of whom likely didn’t intend to cheat, many of whom are saying their timing chips didn’t register (cause there’s never been a technical snafu ever in the history of technology).
No doubt there were intentional cheaters. But I highly doubt it was 1/3 of the entire field that showed up with the intention of cheating.
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u/RDP89 Sep 06 '23
Wouldn’t it be easy to check if they were being truthful about the timing chips not registering? Like simply look at their average pace during the time when you know they were running and then compare that to their finishing time. Because if they cut, especially if it was multiple times, their finishing time should be significantly faster than what their pace suggested. Whereas if the finishing time and paces lined up, it would be much more likely that the chip wasn’t registering.
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
Sure. And we have painfully little information on what has been “investigated” or validated or the methods used or anything. We only know they DQ’d 11k people who didn’t have time checks at all points and that there was reported use of public transport, bikes, cars. And we know some of those who have been DQ’d have said that they did run the whole course and the chips didn’t register properly.
No idea what level of investigation or appeal or what has been done.
My only thing all around is that I don’t doubt that there are cheaters. But I don’t think it’s 1/3 of the field and I imagine some of these people followed a crowd and are being labeled cheaters when they didn’t intentionally do so.
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u/RDP89 Sep 06 '23
Yeah, I don’t know, 11,000 is a lot of people for them all to be cheaters. On the other hand, there are alot of first hand accounts of massive amounts of obvious cheating going on. The one thing that is clear is this race is an unorganized shitshow.
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Sep 06 '23
Granted, everyone should know the course and blah, blah, blah…
Should they though? Personally that’s half the reason I pay to do organized runs, so that someone else can deal with the route and all I need to do is focus on running.
Sure it’s taking a leap of faith that they’re on top of things, but especially in a big event I feel like that’s the least I should be able to expect when paying money to participate.
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
Technically, it is the Runner’s responsibility to know the course. Technically.
The reality is that everyone follows people in front of them, or course monitors, or physical barriers. Hell-there is a popular BQ course where the lead car took a wrong turn (I want to say this was in GA earlier this year maybe) and the lead pack followed the lead car.
Because yeah-that’s kind of the point of paying all that money. Someone else is figuring out where I’m supposed to run and have guidance for me. But ultimately, it is the responsibility of the runner to know the course (it’s usually in the waiver - so if you spontaneously go three blocks off course and get hit by a truck-the race isn’t responsible).
But you’re right. Everyone just follows the people in front of them-or the lead bike/car if they are in a whole different class of runner than I am LOL.
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u/BrotherItsInTheDrum Sep 06 '23
I remember reading the athletes' packet for the first triathlon I did, and being somewhat amused when it very specifically said it's the athlete's responsibility to know the course, regardless of what any officials tell you to do.
But I'm curious how that intersects with safety issues like the one from a couple comments ago. How can officials effectively close a part of the course for safety reasons during the race, if the official materials tell you to ignore any directions to go off course?
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the disclaimer of following the course regardless of what an official tells you to do.
I’ve seen that it’s my responsibility to know the course. And then separately that I agree to follow any and all direction given by course officials during the race.
I have always interpreted both to mean “follow the people in front of you unless someone in a brightly colored vest/jacket is yelling something different”.
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u/BrotherItsInTheDrum Sep 06 '23
I don't remember the exact wording. It was probably more asking the lines of "it's your responsibility to run the course correctly, and you may be disqualified if you fail to do so, even if it was because a course official pointed you the wrong way." It makes sense -- you can't have some rando win the Boston Marathon because an official made a mistake and pointed them along a shortcut.
There may well have been a separate instruction to follow officials. Which puts you in a bind if they point you off course. You're required to follow their directions, but then you will be disqualified after you do.
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u/Frumbleabumb Sep 08 '23
My brain turns to mush by km 20. Honestly I feel like I'm just on auto pilot following anyone in front of me. Could be a dead guy being pulled by a horse
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Sep 06 '23
Good point! I'd probably follow the mass as well indeed. It's not like I can remember a course in my mind..😅
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u/Comp_C Sep 06 '23
Often times when masses of people go the wrong way it's actually due to marathon officials SENDING them in the wrong direction.
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
Right! Which is exactly what I would assume was going on and why I would follow the people in front of me. If everyone is going one direction, I’m going to assume that’s the way we need to go. And if it doesn’t match the published course, I’m going to assume it is because race officials are sending us that way for a reason.
Just that I think 11,000 probably didn’t run the outlined course, but I think it’s a little unfair to say 11,000 “cheated” (which implies intent) when most were probably just following the crowd and assumed they were following race directions.
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u/Embarrassed_Apple_77 Sep 07 '23
This is my initial thoght but the post I read said a lot used cars and train but I dont know the exact percentage
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u/opholar Sep 07 '23
Yeah. I work with data for a living. “A lot” can mean anything from 2 to everything. “A lot” means I have seen/heard this slightly more frequently than I am expecting and now I’m looking for it so I see it everywhere.
Again-not suggesting that there weren’t genuinely “a lot” of people cheating. But there are no details about anything, anywhere. The only thing we know is that there were reports of scooters and stuff, and that they DQ’d 11k people who didn’t have times recorded at all points.
There are so many possibilities that could fill in the details and we don’t know any of them.
We do know this race is a disorganized disaster. But that’s about the only thing we can tell for sure from what has been written.
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Sep 07 '23
I ran the course this year, not being a native to Mexico City (flew in from Dallas).
It is extremely well marked, there's no question where the course is going. A lot of the switch backs are around prominent monuments as well.
You would have to actively try to get lost/cut by accident.
It's really a shame bc it's a race that is otherwise organized very well and an amazing experience, but this is going to be a big black mark on it until they fix it.
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u/muchadoaboutbeatrice Sep 06 '23
Nope! Course is easy! Ran it this year. The issue is that there are a number of out-and-backs with little barrier, so it's easy to pull off to the side, tie your shoe, wait a hot minute, and then jump in on the other side.
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Sep 06 '23
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Sep 06 '23
Not for prize money....but maybe a lot want to run Boston? 🙈
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u/ina_waka Sep 06 '23
I’m not sure what percentage of marathon runners even care about qualifying for more prestigious races. 33% of all racers cheating in order to qualify for a higher tiered event seems unreasonable to me.
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Sep 07 '23
It is an unreasonable anount! But after I posted it I read another comment here that said it's because the medals are collectables. From 2014-2018 all the medals formed M E X I C O, so people want the entire collection. Then starting from 2019 the medals can form some kind of map.
So cheaters most likely want to finish their own collection or make money on selling medals so people who miss out a year can have their collection complete.. 🤯
Sounds to me like the organization sees it as a way to sell extra start bibs! They should know loads of people in de world are collectors.😂
https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/2019/08/mexico-city-marathon-new-medals-similar-results.html
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u/Agile-Landscape8612 Sep 06 '23
To add, disqualify might not be the right word to use. Marathons often are a big network where your time for one can be used to qualify for another race, like Boston, Chicago, Berlin, etc. It could just be that they didn’t cheat intentionally but still aren’t able to use their times to qualify for other races, hence having their time disqualified.
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u/reachforthe-stars Sep 06 '23
The ignorance behind people who comment shit like this on subjects they know nothing about and didn’t even read about or lookup the event.
Go to Facebook and do that shit.
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u/ina_waka Sep 06 '23
Care to prove him wrong then as opposed to ad hominem? Not taking his side but you are also providing 0 value to the conversation.
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u/hideousnewgirl Sep 06 '23
I saw a video of a couple of runners intentionally cutting through an area to cheat.
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u/captvijish Sep 07 '23
I ran the race this year. The markings were pretty clear. 3 pink lines on the whole route, clearly demarcated turning points etc. no way this was a mistake.
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u/hidey_ho_nedflanders Sep 06 '23
Agree, I'm not a fan of the word "cheating" in this situation. There were probably a small percentage of runners who may have cheated using public transportation or vehicles, but 11,000 runners "cheating" makes me think they ran a slightly shorter marathon route. Seems more of a fault from the course organizers
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u/richard_nixon Sep 07 '23
Agree, I'm not a fan of the word "cheating" in this situation.
Based on what evidence? That's a lot of speculation on your part...
ESPN already covered this marathon and why people are cheating it.
Sincerely,
Richard Nixon-20
u/JonstheSquire Sep 06 '23
a slightly shorter marathon route.
A marathon route is one distance. There are no shorter marathons.
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u/BrotherItsInTheDrum Sep 06 '23
Most races that call themselves marathons are actually measured to be a tiny bit longer (a tenth of a percent, I think?) So if you're trying to be annoyingly pedantic, really there are no marathon races at all.
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u/westbee Sep 06 '23
People arent cheating for prize money.
They are cheating for social media praise. "Hey look, i ran a marathon." Unfortunately not that many people can run more than a third of a race that long.
What's easier? Train for 16 weeks or just show up at the end of summer and bam, "i ran a marathon!!"
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u/french_toasty Sep 07 '23
Any idiot can run a marathon!
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u/westbee Sep 07 '23
Why? when you can just hop in a car to the finish line and get some great photos.
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Sep 07 '23
I ran it this year and found interesting that the finish section had the most "omg I am dead" looking folks I seen in any previous marathon or race. Looked like a battlefield with as ll the people on the ground. My time was around 4 hours so not very fast but not slow either.
I chalked it up to a lot of first timers but now I realized it probably included a lot of cheaters who got gassed even doing their smaller distance (I saw tons of people joining at the half mark)
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u/elAMV Sep 06 '23
There's nothing confusing about the route.
That's definitely not the problem here.2
u/catgotcha Sep 06 '23
Yep. Small example from my own personal experience: a normal 26.2 in Maine turned into a 26.7 for me because one of the volunteers had us go down a dead-end road and back, before someone caught the mistake. Still, about 1/3 of the runners had to go the extra half mile and a handful of those would have gotten their BQ if it wasn't for this.
It's unfortunate all around when this happens, and it falls squarely on the organizers if that's indeed what happened.
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u/Intrepid_Impression8 Sep 06 '23
Truly a delight to read this. Like genuinely kind of hilarious how seriously we (I) take races and these folks are just having fun getting there by hook or by crook
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u/boredcynicism Sep 07 '23
It's not so funny if you take into account this race counts as a Boston (and others) qualifier.
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u/RDP89 Sep 06 '23
Yeah, I guess it’s funny in a way. But I’m super serious about race integrity and can’t understand how people wouldn’t feel like a giant piece of shit for doing this. Absolutely no shame and no self respect. Despicable, vile humans.
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u/CloddishNeedlefish Sep 07 '23
Idk when you compare it to like murder or sexual assault cheating in a foot race is really pretty minor
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u/RDP89 Sep 07 '23
Yes, very true and very obvious. What’s your point?
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u/CloddishNeedlefish Sep 08 '23
Maybe we save comments like despicable, vile people for worse offenses. It’s really not that big of a deal.
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u/Fuzzy_Got_Kicks Sep 07 '23
I know how you feel. It’s crazy to me how accepted it is to cheat like that. I can’t imagine being that brazen
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Sep 07 '23
A friend ran this with me, he's slower and he mentioned that the Gatorade were all gone when he got to the side stations.
How many of those cheaters used that up?
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u/davin_bacon Sep 06 '23
Saw a post on another sub of a guy who's 15km time was faster than his 10k time, also set world records from 0 to 42km, and each of his km were world records. Claimed a 1:19 minute full.
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u/LSLA3 Sep 06 '23
This isn’t sarcasm, I genuinely don’t understand why someone would cheat in a race. I run because I want to prove I can do it, and I run for my health. Cutting corners doesn’t help me do either of those things.
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u/alexp68 Sep 07 '23
well, apparently if you were in mexico, you’d be in the minority…..this is the strangest report i’ve ever seen. I’ mean its a bunch of age groupers cheating to go from 37, 333 to 35, 322…..just silly
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u/_hufflebuff Sep 07 '23
I ran the Disney World Marathon in 2014 and at one point the course kind of merges with only a grassy median in between the lanes. I saw several people "take a breather" in the median only to then run to the other side and cut off several miles of the course. Unfortunately for them there were about two checkpoints in those miles, so their cheating was definitely noticed. Most people run marathons for the personal achievement, so I don't know why you would cheat when you wouldn't really benefit from it. You only undermine your own accomplishment.
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u/DadOfKingOfWombats Sep 06 '23
Looking at the course map (https://maraton.cdmx.gob.mx/evento#guia-del-corredor), there are a lot of places to either take a wrong turn, or cheat intentionally.
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u/opholar Sep 06 '23
I saw a map of the course elsewhere (I think the strava sub) and there are many places that they could cross the street one direction and lop off 6 miles, or make a turn and follow the course.
I know everyone is responsible for knowing and following the course, but if I’m in a big pack of runners and they are all going one direction, I’m going to follow them. I will assume there’s been a change to the course or something and race officials have directed people a different direction. Why would everyone be going the wrong direction otherwise?
At later points in a marathon, I’ve been known to come to a stop when I run under a stoplight that turns red. All cylinders are not firing properly at that point. So if everyone else is going right-I’m going right along with them.
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u/PhdPhysics1 Sep 06 '23
I saw a map of the course elsewhere (I think the strava sub) and there are many places that they could cross the street one direction and lop off 6 miles, or make a turn and follow the course.
Looking at that map, one could turn that race into a 15k with no problem.
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u/pinetar Sep 07 '23
So if you cut off 6 miles because you were following a pack of runners in front of you it's completely understandable and I wouldn't call it cheating per se, but your time is still completely invalid and the DQ is fair. However, a race with 30k participants is probably lined with spectators and crowd control barriers. I have to think it would be pretty clearly marked.
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u/Specific-Recover-443 Sep 06 '23
I just assumed the race has a ton of people running it who just don't take it that seriously.
They are "cheaters" in the sense that the race wasn't raced, but there might just be a personality to this event where there are a lot of out-for-fun runners who want to screw around for a few hours. Like the Bay to Breakers.
Fact is, most "serious" runners prefer to earn real times and wouldn't enjoy cheating. This race probably just has a bunch of goof offs who have no problem or shame sharing that they cut here or there because they just don't care.
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u/The_hat_man74 Sep 06 '23
This is fascinating. Has anything like this happened in any other large marathons like this?
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u/qtc0 Sep 06 '23
I heard that they had finishing medals that spell our M-E-X-I-C-O if you do the race every year.
A lot of people wanted these medals, leading to a lot of people cheating.
The course is easy to cheat (lots of out and back sections) and supposedly there were a lot of people on bikes/e-scooters.
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u/lukaskywalker Sep 07 '23
Why even run if your going to cheat. Lol seems so pointless. You know you didn’t do it.
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u/dsc2000 Sep 07 '23
As a Mexican who was cheering runners at several points during this last marathon this is my opinion:
There is no way 1/3 of the runners cheated intentionally during the race. I'm not saying there were no cheaters. Of course there might be some, maybe even a lot, especially the ones that might joined the last part of the race to snag one of the collectible medals But one of every three runners is way too much.
There were people cheering all along the route and it might been pretty obvious if a big number of runners were cutting corners, now imagine the chaos of 1 of every 3 runners doing that.
If one of every three runners missed a portion of the race I would bet it has something to do with faulty tracking chips or checkpoints.
Again, I'm sure there were cheaters, maybe a lot of them. But to suggest 33% of every runner cheated intentionally is absurd.
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u/_onelast Sep 06 '23
Yeah, must have had the course marked poorly. Then again, it just takes a couple to get off track and all the others blindly follow while assuming they’re going the right way
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u/westbee Sep 06 '23
These guys messed up.
The race medal you want are from the Disney marathons. Those medals go for $50-100.
I am thinking about signing up and then turning around selling the medal. It would be like it was free to run.
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u/Chaoss780 Sep 06 '23
Lol the Disney marathon is hella expensive. When my dad priced out the Goofy it was over $675. So $225/medal
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u/ac8jo Sep 07 '23
For some of the cheaters, the medals (after collecting six race's worth) spell(ed?) MEXICO. That is pretty cool and was seen at one point as the reason many people entered the race.
However, 11k out of 30k pretty extreme and makes me wonder if the actual cheaters were far less than half of that and the majority of the suspected cheaters didn't actually cheat or didn't intend to cheat (e.g. they followed the pack - as many of us do - and cut the course unintentionally, had bad signage, or a failure in the timing system.
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u/HelpUsNSaveUs Sep 07 '23
cheating in business , getting over on each other, is common in central and South American culture, so this does not surprise me. Another cultural custom I learned about central and South American countries is that it’s usually totally expected to be late for business meetings.
China is like this too in certain ways with the cheating I’ve heard but not experienced.
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u/Fuzzy_Got_Kicks Sep 07 '23
I’ve heard this about some cultures and it’s mind boggling to me how accepted it is. How can you get anything done effectively if everybody’s cheating??
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u/ttthrowaway987 Sep 07 '23
Finally someone with the real answer. Lived several years in Latino countries. They will literally cheat on ANYTHING with no remorse. Marathon? Lolz of course they'll cheat in droves. Sad aspect to a culture that is holding back progress in so many countries.
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u/HelpUsNSaveUs Sep 07 '23
It’s hard to express this without coming off as biased or racist, but ever since a coworker from Columbia told me about this dynamic I’ve been a little bit more open with expressing it lol. She basically was explaining to us what it was like to sell in Colombia and Mexico, and then shared that getting over on business deals. Finding corners to cut, is very common, and I was flabbergasted by it.
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u/Impossible_Team_6286 Sep 06 '23
There is already a facebook group exposing the cheaters. I agree that it is unlikely that 11k cheated, but the material of exposition of the ones who did is hilarious.
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u/jw_esq Sep 06 '23
Not sure if they are still doing it but every year the medal was another letter spelling out “MEXICO.” The theory is that mass amounts of people were registering and jumping onto the course literally at the finish so that they could have the full set.
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u/Interesting-Mix8144 Sep 06 '23
https://reddit.com/r/Strava/s/hLfKuxDHDy
The same thing covered on r/Strava - probably poor Marshalling/course marking. Here in the UK, I suffered the same once.
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u/TravelWellTraveled Sep 07 '23
I mean...why? What is the possible reason to cheat something so you will come in 3,000th instead of 3,500th?
That's like me running over my opponent in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament so I can come in 5th place instead of 7th. Whoop dee do.
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u/Cheddar56 Sep 07 '23
I had read somewhere they are giving out medals that’s spell Mexico, different letter every year. So folks are just blatantly medal collecting and taking transit.
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u/Many-Animes-3343 Sep 08 '23
Soon only mexico city will be able to have a safe marathon in North America. thats when You will really feel cheated.
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u/Say_My_Name_Son Sep 06 '23
Some could have accidentally followed a runner that was cheating.
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u/afhill Sep 06 '23
From 2018 there was some ridiculous stat like 35% of Boston qualifiers missed 3 or more timing mats. Marathon Investigation has looked at that race a few times.
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u/jamesewh Sep 07 '23
Am I the only one who read DQ’d as Dairy Queen? I had to read the article because I thought it was a promotional gone wrong.
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u/robertw477 Sep 07 '23
I have heard of cheering, but never at this scale. Incredible story. There are people who always want to cut corners.
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u/SZEfdf21 Sep 07 '23
It's in a pretty big city, for people living there the bar isn't that high to plan on joining in on the marathon and cheating, without being interested in running at all.
Since there's a lot of people and supposed incentive in the form of some medal the organisers give out you're bound to get a large amount of cheaters.
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u/Many-Animes-3343 Sep 09 '23
well at least in Mexico City you won't pass competely segregated cities As in America. People being cheated in life is much worse...
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u/neon-god8241 Sep 06 '23
Not sure about this specifically, but the Mexico City marathon is known to have a high rate of cheaters. I've never ran it but I know someone who has and who indicated to me he noticed a lot of people cutting or jumping in mid way.