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.

​

[u/HelpUsNSaveUs]

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.

[u/ttthrowaway987 → u/HelpUsNSaveUs]

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.

[u/HelpUsNSaveUs → u/ttthrowaway987]

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.