Hi there,
I am glad to say that I am now officially a marathon runner having completed the Flora London. Prior to the training the furthest I'd run was 4 miles. It was a great day and I met some great people. Thank you all.

Unfortunately the day has been darkened slightly by my fear that someone I know may have cheated.

When I heard the time they did it in I thought they had done exceptionally well, but alarm bells started ringing in the back of my mind, and when I checked their split times things didn't look any better as their first 7 split times are missing. It also seems too much of a conicidence that the average time up until their first split that is shown (35k) is 8:30 per mile but after it drops to 13:45 for the times that are shown. I don't know if I'm being paranoid or not but I don't like cheaters.

If anyone has any thoughts, one way or the other, I would appreciate them.

Thank you

H.

Hi Heckler

Welcome to RF.

Congratulations on your first Marathon how did you get on?

It does sound iffy, but the chip may have not recorded properly or it could have fallen off so splits won't be recorded properly, I would think it would be difficult to cheat on such a course.

TT

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Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09

Thanks for the welcome TT.

My target time was under 5 hours, I did 4:36. I'm very happy with that and think I'm now hooked, not just by the running but the atmosphere and people as well.

The chip must have been on because the last three times (35, 40 and finish) are there but the first seven are not. Any idea how the system works i.e what would happen if you somehow missed the start timing beam but crossed all the others. Would the time be the time from the start gun or would there be no time recorded at all?

I know I should just be happy with my result but I really suspect people have been conned out of sponsor money.

H.

That is a tremendous result well done.

From chipped races I have done, you run over mats which pick up the chip timing, and they are at the start and finish and sometimes in the middle, like the flm.

It really dosen't make sense does it, if they have cheated they have only cheated themselves, as for the sponsorship money at least it is going to charity.

What sort of training had your friend done prior to the marathon, were they a runner before hand, what sort of time had they had in mind for the day? What time did they do?

The FLM is chaotic to get around as a spectator I really don't know how a runner would be able to cheat but I am sure it could be done, after all nothing is impossilbe.

Sorry for so many questions.

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A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09

TT

The training he had done was minimal at best. He has done a bit of running in the past 10-15 years ago but nothing serious. He was carrying a lot of excess weight when he said he was going to run the FLM and is still carrying that weight but managed 8:45 miles for the first 35k and finished at with a time of 4:09.

H

I wouldn't worry about it... it's done now and like Twinks said, if they did cheat then they only cheated themselves. As you know, when you complete the marathon, after all the training, blood, sweat and tears, you feel a deep sense of achievement that nothing else can be compared to... if this person cheated, they will simply not have that feeling no matter how much they talk about it.

Whatever happened in the marathon, hopefully the charity will at least benefit

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Although I never took part in the FLM, nor do I have any intention too! Trin & TT are spot on. Your friend has only cheated himself where as you haven't and you should be proud of what YOU have achieved. I wish I had enough time and determination to train & run a marathon, but for now I'll do with the odd half marathon.

If this person was prepared to cheat during the run; Is he the sort of person who's maybe going to cheat when it comes time for the sponsorship money to reach it's supposed destination?
Obtaining money by deception?
Sorry, but I'm cynical and suspicious by nature!

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GONE RUNNING

8:45/mi doesn't sound too unbelieveable at all to me... if you can run a marathon in 4:36 having never ran more than 4 miles, why couldn't this person manage a fairly normal pace? quite common that he could've slowed down at the end - I think a fair few people do.

I wouldn't even think about the splits - I mean you don't get split times in most races - just a finish time. if that's all you had for FLM then you probably wouldn't be questioning the result at all!

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I didn't want to mention that and depress the poor man even more, but I do hope that if he had cheated, he does the honourable thing and donate the money raised.

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A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09

Does sound a bit iffy, but unless you're going to approach the guy and actually ask him you're never going to know... just be paranoid about it, so as has been said - so long as he actually donates the money then it's nothing for anyone to really be bothered about - he's a loser if he's cheated. People should pay for cheating... but as has also been said - he can't at all feel the sense of achievement that "proper" marathon finishers have. That being said though, I find it hard to think HOW he would have cheated... stranger things have happened whilst at sea.

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Well to measure the time he would've had to have crossed the start line... it seems stupid to me that he would've gone to the effort of leaving the course and rejoined further down the line. But then I guess who knows what goes through the mind of someone willing to cheat in any walk of life??

Karma will come around and bite him in the ass if he has cheated though

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I believe there was quite a lot of cheating in the past. Back in 1995 it was several weeks before Alan Storey sent my winner's medal - for being 1st in the MV60 category - because he'd seen the picture of my somewhat bloated image crossing the finish line and didn't believe it was the same person that won in 1993. Rugby players can't do that time, he intimated. I was also led to believe the reason they'd stopped giving prize money to category winners was because of cheating in the past. At that time they didn't have chips, but had cameras at strategic intervals throughout the course, possibly at every mile marker. He wouldn't release my medal until he'd checked me through every one.
I'm not convinced Heckler's acquaintance cheated. If he'd run in the past and knew the ropes, so to speak, 8.45 pace is quite achievable. One of the reasons I started running was because I was overweight. OK, I'd lost a bit in the fifteen months before running my first marathon, but still managed 8.00 min/mile pace - in spite of 2,000ft of ascent and me being 55 years old at the time.
Cheers!

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Give me the hills!

I'm sad to say I've just got the last of the evidence I needed to show this person cheated.

I watched one of the dvds of the finish line which show him crossing the line with a clock time identical to his official time which shows you do not have to cross the start line to get an official time, you just a time from the start gun to when you cross the line.

I asked him a lot of questions about the start which he could not answer, I also "invented" a few facts about the start and first few miles. He happily joined in the conversation about these made up things and when I said I had just created them in my head he then told me I was wrong because they were all there.

I now feel I can put this to bed as I have exposed him as the cheat he is.

cheats never prosper

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