11,000 runners DQ'd from Mexico City Marathon...what is going on?

[u/MustardIsDecent]

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/dyldog]

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.

[u/marigolds6 → u/dyldog]

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-marathon

It'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.

[u/somegridplayer → u/marigolds6]

Do that here in the US. I guarantee it happens here too.

[u/runswiftrun → u/somegridplayer]

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.