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Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon

marathoninvestigation.com

11–20 of 197 posts

Re: Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon

#12
post #8

Why? What drives people to do it? Is there money on the line? sponsorships for products. It obviously wasn't just a momentary weakness it was an elaborate plan and for what to brag about it at work or on Instagram? But wouldn't she know she cheated every time she thought or talked about it. That would be hard thing to live with it seems Edit: wonder how I'd feel if a friend or co-worker did this. I could see it creat…

> Is there money on the line? sponsorships for products.

Author speculated it may have something to do with some runners club and...

>> She wrote a blog post that read like a tourism commercial for Fort Lauderdale. I have confirmed that her trip was sponsored and that at least a portion of her trip and activities were comped.

Re: Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon

#13
post #8

Why? What drives people to do it? Is there money on the line? sponsorships for products. It obviously wasn't just a momentary weakness it was an elaborate plan and for what to brag about it at work or on Instagram? But wouldn't she know she cheated every time she thought or talked about it. That would be hard thing to live with it seems Edit: wonder how I'd feel if a friend or co-worker did this. I could see it creat…

The article mentions sponsorships.

Yap saw it and it says it was comped (by work?) as well. How much is that worth in that event vs living with knowing she cheated.

Re: Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon

#14
post #9

The Garmin 235 image...is that an E Ink display?

It's a 215x180 color LCD, not e-ink.

Thanks for point that out. Edge crispness, lack of glare, and broad daylight contrast of the display was really throwing me off.

Re: Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon

#15
post #4
post #2

Reserving a domain to publish this "investigation" seems unnecessary and somewhat troubling -- as does the extent of the investigation itself. EDIT: I was mistaken -- this site is dedicated to ratting out cheating runners. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

This post from the comments does a pretty good job of describing why outing fraudsters is a noble cause: "Lastly, and why I donated, is that this is a nod to the spirit that every serious, non-professional athlete carries with them. Each race we run is one more (or probably one less) opportunity to be as competitive as we can possibly be. We love to be measured. Most know we'll never be getting prize money, or making…

This is just the flip side of the coin of the cheater: people inflating their egos about something that really doesn't matter. Have fun with it. It doesn't matter if you win and it doesn't matter if someone cheats.

Re: Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon

#17
post #2

Reserving a domain to publish this "investigation" seems unnecessary and somewhat troubling -- as does the extent of the investigation itself. EDIT: I was mistaken -- this site is dedicated to ratting out cheating runners. Whatever floats your boat, I suppose.

There's value in the blog above and beyond outing the occasional cheater. It makes people think twice. It prevents cheating from being normalized, like what happened in professional cycling.

It also reminds society that a great number of us still value honesty and integrity, and believe that hard work should be rewarded justly. Too many people today say/do something bad and think a "heartfelt" apology will wash it all away.

I'm not in favor of mass internet shaming for kicks. But in cases like this where it's clear it was premeditated and the individual tried to scam their way out of trouble, and there was financial/other gain involved that robbed a more deserving recipient, I'm not bothered.

Re: Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon

#18
post #8

Why? What drives people to do it? Is there money on the line? sponsorships for products. It obviously wasn't just a momentary weakness it was an elaborate plan and for what to brag about it at work or on Instagram? But wouldn't she know she cheated every time she thought or talked about it. That would be hard thing to live with it seems Edit: wonder how I'd feel if a friend or co-worker did this. I could see it creat…

> Is there money on the line? sponsorships for products. Author speculated it may have something to do with some runners club and... >> She wrote a blog post that read like a tourism commercial for Fort Lauderdale. I have confirmed that her trip was sponsored and that at least a portion of her trip and activities were comped.

Well that might explain the motivation then. I imagine she could have made a great blog even finishing last.

Re: Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon

#19
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article mentions sponsorships.

Yap saw it and it says it was comped (by work?) as well. How much is that worth in that event vs living with knowing she cheated.

Living with knowing you cheated is nothing (0 effect) to some people.

Re: Runner Disqualified After Claiming 2nd Place in Fort Lauderdale Half Marathon

#20
Regardless of the cheating, this type of post doesn't fully sit right with me. Given the permanence of record on the internet, this does bring up the issue of how we police bad behavior, and how we incorporate forgiveness into that.

That said, the poster was pretty fair, and generally refer to her as "the runner". It definitely reads as an obsessive sleuthing, no doubt in part because there were follow-on discoveries made. As the saying goes, "one is a fluke, two is a coincidence, three is a trend", and it seems there's a trend here.

What's interesting is someone in the comments mentioned this:

> The majority of those "30K" instagram followers are fake accounts - many of the likes on her recent photos are spam bots. She 100 percent buys followers/likes.

My guess is a lot of people probably do this to bump up their social status a bit. It's relatively innocent (if a bit narcissistic), though if its true in her case, it fits a clear pattern. Can't verify though, given it seems she's shut down her social media presence.

This is one of those cases where sympathy and revulsion are equally valid emotions. I wouldn't want to be on the other end of the hive-mind, but it is a self-inflicted wound.

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