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You would think the turnaround point would be a natural place for the race organisers to put a timing mat. They would capture an extra split time and be able t

by jomar 10y ago

You would think the turnaround point would be a natural place for the race organisers to put a timing mat. They would capture an extra split time and be able to automatically identify runners succumbing to this temptation.

massysett 10y ago
Some of them do this. The Marine Corps Marathon places mats at the end of long turnaround points and they say they routinely disqualify people.
gk1 10y ago
Timing mats are usually placed at the same distance in every race: 5k, 10k, 13.1mi, etc. Adding extra mats probably means more cost. That didn't prevent the 2016 Philadelphia Marathon organizers from placing an unannounced mat at a turnaround point 22 miles into the race. It helped them catch hundreds of cheaters. And even if you can afford the extra mats, another challenge is where to place them. It's obvious with an out-and-back course, but there are many shortcut opportunities on every loop path, and you can't place a mat at every apex.
- Humdeee 10y ago
  Many of the bigger city marathons are simply placing them at every 5k interval (20k will be 21.1k). I try and run 1-2 marathons a year and the results are posted minutes after I cross the line. It's always fun to see how many places I creep up as the days go by afterwards from people getting DQ'ed. It's too easy to match pictures to a bib number and then simply look at the splits and wonder why someone ran a record breaking 10 minute 5k near the end after cruising along at a series of 25 minute 5k's. An 8 year old kid can investigate this stuff.
- gjem97 10y ago
  Hundreds of cheaters?! Now I'm starting to understand why marathon sleuthing is the cottage industry that it is.
  - gk1 10y ago
    I think the number was unusually high for this particular race because the out-and-back is at the tail end of the race, is very long (4 miles out, 4 miles back), is only separated by traffic cones (making it easy to cut to the other side), and the weather was unusually brutal (very windy, near-freezing). It never occurred to me to cut to the other side, but I can understand why it did to many others.
- rsync 10y ago
  "That didn't prevent the 2016 Philadelphia Marathon organizers from placing an unannounced mat at a turnaround point 22 miles into the race. It helped them catch hundreds of cheaters." That sounds like a nice and easy way to weed out a lot of cheaters - every race has one or two randomly placed timing mats.
Jenya_ 10y ago
One comment in the link says there actually was a timing mat at the turnaround point: "Fantastic investigative work. HOWEVER. Not sure why you had to do this. You see, I ran the race. And you wouldn't know this because you didn't, but there are four timing mats - start, finish, 10K and turnaround (about 9 miles)." the answer from Derek is: "I am aware of the timing mat at the turnaround. The timer did notice this, and she was initially DQ'd but was added back in until they went through everything. In every race there are missed mats - sometimes they malfunction, or they aren't placed across the entire course and are missed by an honest runner."

by jomar 10y ago

massysett 10y ago

Some of them do this. The Marine Corps Marathon places mats at the end of long turnaround points and they say they routinely disqualify people.

gk1 10y ago

Timing mats are usually placed at the same distance in every race: 5k, 10k, 13.1mi, etc. Adding extra mats probably means more cost. That didn't prevent the 2016 Philadelphia Marathon organizers from placing an unannounced mat at a turnaround point 22 miles into the race. It helped them catch hundreds of cheaters. And even if you can afford the extra mats, another challenge is where to place them. It's obvious with an out-and-back course, but there are many shortcut opportunities on every loop path, and you can't place a mat at every apex.

Humdeee 10y ago
Many of the bigger city marathons are simply placing them at every 5k interval (20k will be 21.1k). I try and run 1-2 marathons a year and the results are posted minutes after I cross the line. It's always fun to see how many places I creep up as the days go by afterwards from people getting DQ'ed. It's too easy to match pictures to a bib number and then simply look at the splits and wonder why someone ran a record breaking 10 minute 5k near the end after cruising along at a series of 25 minute 5k's. An 8 year old kid can investigate this stuff.
gjem97 10y ago
Hundreds of cheaters?! Now I'm starting to understand why marathon sleuthing is the cottage industry that it is.
- gk1 10y ago
  I think the number was unusually high for this particular race because the out-and-back is at the tail end of the race, is very long (4 miles out, 4 miles back), is only separated by traffic cones (making it easy to cut to the other side), and the weather was unusually brutal (very windy, near-freezing). It never occurred to me to cut to the other side, but I can understand why it did to many others.
rsync 10y ago
"That didn't prevent the 2016 Philadelphia Marathon organizers from placing an unannounced mat at a turnaround point 22 miles into the race. It helped them catch hundreds of cheaters." That sounds like a nice and easy way to weed out a lot of cheaters - every race has one or two randomly placed timing mats.

Jenya_ 10y ago

One comment in the link says there actually was a timing mat at the turnaround point: "Fantastic investigative work. HOWEVER. Not sure why you had to do this. You see, I ran the race. And you wouldn't know this because you didn't, but there are four timing mats - start, finish, 10K and turnaround (about 9 miles)." the answer from Derek is: "I am aware of the timing mat at the turnaround. The timer did notice this, and she was initially DQ'd but was added back in until they went through everything. In every race there are missed mats - sometimes they malfunction, or they aren't placed across the entire course and are missed by an honest runner."