When I saw the website reporting people cheating at the Honolulu Marathon I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. So I did a little bit of both.
It’s funny because it’s so ludicrous. Here’s an example:
A guy named Danny Philpott does his first 15 kilometers in 1 hour, 42 minutes and 26 seconds. Then he goes off the grid the rest of the race, and crosses the finish line in 2:57:08. It places him at the top of the men’s 55-59 age group and 42nd among all men.
If that were true, we missed a story much bigger than Lawrence Cherono winning and breaking the course record with his 2:09:39. According to when Philpott crossed the finish line and his time for the first 15K, he crushed all kinds of land speed records by covering the last 151⁄2 miles in 58:28 … a pace of 3:46 per mile. The world record for one mile is 3:43.13.
It’s sad because it hurts the event and the sport — and the competitors who really did run, walk or crawl the entire 26.2 miles.
I wonder what’s wrong with people who cut the course and cheat so blatantly in a sport that is mostly about, discipline, self-satisfaction and honor.
It’s funny AND sad because it’s really not very smart. If you try it so that you can finish with a high place, either overall or in your age group, or a qualifying time for Boston, you’re probably going to get caught. That’s because the Honolulu Marathon has eight timing mats throughout the course — one roughly every five kilometers.
The Marathon Investigation website (marathoninvestigation.com) outs obvious cheaters who manage to get times that would qualify them for the Boston Marathon. But Marathon Investigation didn’t tell Honolulu Marathon officials anything they didn’t already know.
“This happens every year. It’s routine because on our course it’s easy to pull a U-turn,” said Honolulu Marathon president Jim Barahal. “They want to get the medal and the finishers shirt. So they end up in the result database.”
Not for long.
As a matter of procedure after each race, Honolulu Marathon officials check the splits of the top finishers in all categories.
Action was taken so quickly on Philpott that although he appeared in results Sunday as the winner of the age group, he’d already been excised from the overall men’s top finishers list. (Akihiro Nakamura, with a legit 2:59:49, is the actual first-place finisher in the men’s 55-59 division.)
“Basically anyone who finishes high in their age group we look at (the splits),” Barahal said. “In this case he was automatically disqualified. If anyone wants, we will review it. We’re careful, because it’s branding people as cheaters.”
Marathon Investigation outed Philpott and seven other entrants that missed the last three or four mats after middle or back-of-the-pack splits for the first 10K or 15K. They then crossed the finish with times that would have been impossible for the total 26.2 miles, even by world-class runners.
The Marathon Investigation website has pictures of most of them at the finish, smiling with medals. One entrant who doesn’t look to be in shape to do even a half marathon in 3:30:01 crossed the finish line Sunday in that time. This was after hitting the 10K mat in 1:57:33 and reappearing at the 40K mat in 2:47:57. This entrant would’ve had to have covered the missing 30 kilometers at a pace of 2:36 per mile for the finish time to be legit.
It’s pretty disgusting for anyone who knows first-hand how much effort and pain it takes to train for and complete a marathon. Barahal is a lot more forgiving than I would be; though people who get caught course cutting are disqualified they are not banned from future Honolulu Marathons.
“We don’t ban anyone, unless it’s a safety issue, putting people at risk somehow. The main goal is safety and to have a fun event,” he said. “We did more timing mats in the last couple years, so it’s almost impossible to cheat and finish high up. If you want to cheat do it in six hours, we probably won’t notice.”
He was joking and obviously does not encourage cheating. As a three-time Boston Marathon finisher himself, Barahal understands the importance of qualifying times and attaining them honestly.
“I get it,” he said. “I’m not dismissing it at all. It’s a sport of honor and a little like golf as honor is intrinsic to the activity itself. Some people will move their ball, some never would.”
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quickreads.
