Wenatchee Marathon Volunteer Disputes J.D. Greening’s Claim of Accidentally Cutting The Course

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I received the below email regarding J.D. Greening’s explanation that he mistakenly and unknowingly missed a 10-mile loop at the Wenatchee Marathon.

JD Greening keeps piling on the lies about his Wenatchee Marathon win.  I read your latest post where he admitted to “accidentally” missing a loop.  That is a lie, because I was there. He was trying to cheat.  I was working the course at the point where the loop split off to the finish.   

It was my job to direct the marathon runners around the loop a second time.  JD came running up to me when some of the slower runners were starting their second loop but considerably ahead of the fastest marathoners.  I don’t remember seeing him prior to that, and neither did any of the other volunteers in our group.  

I stopped him as he headed for the finish line and told him he had another loop to go.  He insisted I just hadn’t seen him go by the first time.  At first I was worried that he had gotten off course and was asking him questions about where he’d run.  He was running a faster pace than the other participants that were at mile 16 at that time, but there was absolutely no way he was running a pace that put him sub 3 hour!  

As I was trying to figure out what may have happened he got short with me and insisted again that he had run 26 miles.  I told him he was at least 20-30 minutes ahead of the previous leader, and besides that, the leader had a bicycle escort. He told me he left the lead runner and the bicycle escort in the dust a few miles back and insisted he had run all 26 miles and turned to the finish line.  I don’t think he had any fanfare at the finish line because the lead bicycle was in radio contact with the organizers at the finish.   This guy just appeared out of thin air and ran across the finish.  As soon as I could, I reported what happened to the race organizers.

He claimed he left the lead bicyclist and the leader in the dust. Let that sink in.

In his ‘admission’ he threw blame at the marathon and even offered to help them make their map better. I’ve written lots of stories, and I am rarely surprised at the attempts to cover up and lie. But this takes things to a whole new level.

I have confirmed with Wenatchee Marathon officials that the statement provided me by the course marshall was truthful and accurate.

I would like to commend the volunteers and the race for taking swift action so that J.D. never was listed as a marathon finisher. He should have been DQ’d instead of dropped to the half. But I am happy that he didn’t take any attention from the winner on race day.

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23 COMMENTS

  1. Wow,

    The last update with all the excuses was amazing enough. He had thrown in every standard cheater excuse – – my watch broke, I was in a zone, the course was bad (he does realize he is from Wenatchee, right?), I cheated by accident… on and on… kept digging the hole deeper…. now is buried in it.

    The problem with trying to get a BQ in this marathon is several fold. It may seem easy to cheat there – no mats, loops…. But the problems are that his BQ time is 3:05 and the field there is too thin to blend in. A BQ for a 25 yr old would have won the race by a wide margin. In a strange sense he is too young to pull a Rossi and cheat in this era where there is less depth at the front of small to medium size races. Gotta be much older 🙂

    • YES! Small, small race. There is no confusion w/ this race or it’s route. Well marked, mile markers, and course marshalls to keep everyone on the straight-and-straight.

  2. Listen – this guy has been an acquaintance of mine for many years. If I read these articles without knowing the name, I’d assume it was about him. Honestly probably not even the most outlandish lie to come out of his mouth.

    • It’s comforting to know people are finally seeing him for who he really is. I was worried for the state of WA when he started trying to get into politics

      • I never cared for him. It was clear there was something off. I tolerated him because of mutual friends, but I’d never go out of my way to actually speak with him in any way. This single interaction with the race official literally sums him up as a person.

    • That’s what I suspected.

      A guy who lies like this has to be pathological about lying. We all know someone like this, don’t we?

      I grew up with a guy who always had to win and would cheat at everything. He would lie about anything. This is the type of person JD Greening is and I don’t know how he reconciles things when he puts his head down on his pillow each night.

  3. Just donated! This story has been endlessly entertaining. The comments from the awesome running community on Facebook were more than worth the price of admission. Keep up the great work, Derek!

  4. Left the bike escort in the dust…..(said no marathoner ever).

    I believe Eliud Kipchoge left his escort in the dust at Berlin last weekend. /s

  5. I spoke out against this site a while ago Derek in the Pathetics group on Fartbook because i hated the naming and shaming.
    I see now I was wrong. Dear god, this man is a turd. Keep up the good work.

  6. Just like a typical politician around your block, isn’t it?

    Besides talking faster and more than his own pace, his profile can only be portrayed as just another Twitter/FB personality. Many of such jogging personalities just want to get a touch of Boston fame, if not buying a Boston shirt or jacket just to flash themselves silly.

    Why doesn’t Derek check out on Eric O’ Grey, the ultimate indecent exposurer who planned an ultimate Boston Qualification through course cutting in the Biz Johnson all downhill Marathon. He questionably lost hundreds of pounds through Vegan practice. But years later conned media of losing his own from his dog.

    A man who cheats and lies will continue to do so. Keep up the good job make aware of such frauds, Derek

  7. You need to compile a bunch of these and then wrote a book about your experience interactions and conflicts.

    These cheaters need to fall on their sword when caught. So many try to defend themselves as of photos, gps, volunteers, etc don’t exist. Admit take all blame and that’s the end of the news cycle. Now he’s all over social media and other forums.

    • Christian, I was thinking the same thing. JD, Maude, Anita, Patty, all are intriguing and captivating stories; the JD saga has been particularly entertaining. And now, it is quite satisfying to see the race directors’ statement. In the end, though, I think perhaps that would be a step too far. These folks have suffered in their respective communities (losing face, sponsorships, ambassadorships, elite group memberships, etc.), and the castigation in the readership of Facebook, Twitter, Slowtwitch, and Letsrun (not to mention in their physical communities) is probably more than enough of a spotlight. I’ll still relish the outing, crash and burn of cheaters, but let Deeek decide how to continue.

  8. “HE TOLD ME HE LEFT THE LEAD RUNNER AND THE BICYCLE ESCORT IN THE DUST A FEW MILES BACK”

    AHAHAHAHA!!!!

    I’ve been a bike escort for the lead marathon runner before and spent half the race coasting. It was slightly annoying to try to ride that slow. He’d have to run 15mph AT A MINIMUM (for a slow rider) to lose the bike lead.

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