RUNNING WILD

11,000 Runners Booted From Mexico City Marathon for Cheating: Report

Some runners allegedly used vehicles, bikes, and public transport to cut across the 26.2-mile course.

The Mexico City Marathon has disqualified almost a third of its runners for allegedly cutting across the 26.2-mile course last month, according to Marca. The Spanish newspaper reported this week that around 11,000 of 30,000 athletes were accused of cheating, with many of them having missed checkpoints placed every five kilometers along the course. Some runners were accused of employing even more absurd methods, allegedly using vehicles, bicycles, and public transport to get across the course faster on Aug. 27. Marathon organizers did not confirm that 11,000 people had cheated, but told the outlet in a statement that the Mexico City Sports Institute was working to “identify those cases” where participants had demonstrated “an unsportsmanlike attitude during the event and will invalidate their registration times.” It isn’t the first time the race, one of the most popular in North America, has struggled with issues of cheating. In 2017, nearly 6,000 runners were disqualified for course cutting. The next year, more than 3,000 had their race times nullified for similar reasons.