Another Runner was identified with questionable results at the 2016 Nashville Marathon. In addition to Nashville, this runner has a BQ time at RNR Seattle in 2015. Either of these times could currently be used for entry to the 2017 Boston Marathon.
Beyond these two Boston Qualifying races, I will provide evidence that he has cheated in half marathons as well. The most definitive evidence comes from the runner’s own Strava data.
2014 Chicago Marathon – Verifiable Result 3:49:31
The runner pictured above has a legitimate Chicago marathon time of 3:49:31. He appears in multiple photos, and hit all of the timing mats.
2015 Rock N Roll Seattle Marathon
- He has no splits – occasional technical problems do arise, and a single missed mat by itself is not unusual. But, this runner only registered at the start and the finish. He was not recorded at any of the intermediate mats.
- Chip/Clock differential is over 45 minutes. This is a technique that frequently arises with course cutters. They wait until all the runners are passed, to pass the start line and leave the course unnoticed. Additionally, someone starting this late would have to weave through many runners/walkers that are competing at a much slower pace.
- No Photos of this Runner on MarathonFoto.com
2016 Rock N Roll Nashville Marathon
- He registered only 1 split. He hit the 10 mile mat in 1:16:32. He would have had to have run the remaining 16.2 miles at a 6:39 pace. None of his verifiable races show that he is capable of running that pace.
- Again, we see a large chip/clock differential – over 30 minutes.
- No Photos of this Runner on MarathonFoto.com
Half Marathons
I am presenting just some of the evidence as it is more definitive than the missing data from the marathons.
2015 Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon
He registered a finishing time of 1:38:09 with relatively significant negative splits.
Below is the map of the course. Notice the loop around the lake between miles 7 and 8. Inexplicably there is a 10.8 mile mat, but nothing to ensure that runners do the loop around that lake.
Here is the smoking gun. As I have found many times in my investigations, people like to share their runs on social media. In this case we have Strava data, and their very helpful flyby feature. Click the link below to watch.
Notice when the runner arrives at the lake, and the path he takes as opposed to the other runners. That is the runner that is being investigated.
2015 Rock ‘N Roll Vegas Half Marathon
- No Splits
- Nearly 20 Minute Clock/Gun Differential. For reference, the runner pictured in frame with him, had an approximate 5 minute differential.
I will be forwarding this information to the marathons in an effort to have the runner disqualified so that these times can not be used to enter Boston in 2017.
This runner was initially brought to my attention by a reader of the blog. This is why I feel it is important to continue publicizing these cases. The main goal of the blog is to make people aware that cheating is a problem, and provides an outlet to report suspected cases of cheating. Hopefully the publicity also serves as a deterrent.
Nice job Derek!
Keep up the good work catching cheaters! And I think you're being very professional about it by not pointing out, "Just look at that guy- there is no way he ever ran a sub 3 marathon, or even close to a 3 hour marathon."
Add these halfs to the list:
Humana Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans Half Marathon (2/28/16) – turned back early on an out and back course.
Myrtle Beach Marathon (Dasani Half Marathon) (3/5/16) – cut course between mile 5 and 6
Rock 'n' Roll DC Half Marathon (3/12/16) – turned back early on out and back part at beginning of race
thank you!
This does not surprise me. CPTC is a bloated/over populated club which has never had any checks nor balances. I should know. I ran for them.
I could've said my first name was batman and they would've accepted the name as doing any background research.
Disgusted with this individual.
So for grins I looked at one of his runs https://www.strava.com/activities/568543056 and saw not Ty but another guy cut the course (using the Flyby feature). His 10 mile 'half' is here. https://www.strava.com/activities/568299972
I'm always shocked that this occurs. I mean, the whole BQ thing is just a pride thing, a competition with one's self. I could have cheated my very first marathon and run Boston years ago, but then it loses all meaning. It took me 5 years and heck of work to get there.
My brother and sister in law compete against this guy and they train their bloody arses off to train and qualify for these events. This guy deserves a massive uppercut. What an absolute joke. And to think that him doing these races and possibly qualifying for Boston etc (and a LEGITIMATE runner subsequently missing out because of him cheating) is bull. He deserves to be shamed and disqualified. I hope someone shares this to his Facebook so all his mates can see how much of a cheating prick he is. How pathetic.
Good on you for investigating and working towards getting this guy booted.
Agree 100%. Also, keep up the good work Derek.
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Hmmmm. I wouldn't be so quick to call out that guy. It's possible there was a bit of a GPS malfunction there. Who would run that race and skip running on the Speedway? Maybe he cut the course, but maybe not.
The runner you've mentioned here has been removed from the results of both the 2016 Country Music Marathon and the 2016 Rock 'N Roll Seattle Marathon. Good job Derek!
Looks like his 2015 R&R Vegas result has been pulled too.
Also cut the course at the Staten Island Half in 2015. It's largely an out-and-back course, so it's easy to cut. He missed the 10K mat and the split discrepancy between his first 5K/last 5K and the middle 10K shows (the middle 10K is about 6 minutes faster per 5K, and is inconsistent with what his other race results showed for that year.
You, however, are not being professional at all, by pointing out just that.
Spingoddess, that seems to be the case with a lot of the cheaters. Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.
Minor by comparison, but the Strava flyby also shows that he skipped that little out and back just after mile 6 at the Baltimore half (where he "flew by" the other runners). Those timing mats at 5.8 and 10.8 should be at that turnaround and at the far end of the lake loop.
Disappointing to see how many people have no qualms about cheating, especially, as KEVIN said, in an arena that's just about personal accomplishment.
You can find his results on athlinks. I did some research myself and his race results are all over the board. He ran the NYC Marathon in 2013 in 5:11:37 and than a year later ran Chicago in 3:49:31. I hate cheaters, we all bust our butts trying to put in the time and get faster and people cheat and claim what they did was right. Come on you are only cheating yourself!!
This runner was registered for the 2016 Rock 'n Roll Las Vegas half marathon (bib #3663), but he never started the race.
Orson
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