In long races like this there will ALWAYS be cheating. There was a great book about the history of cheating in cycling, there has never been a clean time in the sport.
Same with ultras, someone probably cheats every race. The people draw to these events are some extreme personalities.
About twenty years ago I won an ultra national championship. Impressive? Hardly. Literally only five people competing even cared about the actual race other than completing it.
My next ultra I was in the lead with another guy until three guys behind us cut the course. I turned to the guy next to me to complain and he didn’t care at all. I dropped out and never went back to the world of ultra running.
About twenty years ago I won an ultra national championship. Impressive? Hardly. Literally only five people competing even cared about the actual race other than completing it.
My next ultra I was in the lead with another guy until three guys behind us cut the course. I turned to the guy next to me to complain and he didn’t care at all. I dropped out and never went back to the world of ultra running.
So, she goes in the race, feels sick, says she's done, gets in a car for a while, finishes the race then using 'poor judgement' accepts the award? Maybe she could have shared at the end huh?
I'm always skeptical of course-cutters, and tend to assume they've made a career out of it, but is there a chance that this actually was a one-time misjudgment? She only skipped 2.5 miles of a 50 mile race, naively posted the run to Strava, and she has quite a few accomplishments in races where it would be difficult to cheat, including running the marathon for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, and medaling at the 100km world champs.
It doesn't seem like this could have been a true accident, but maybe it really was as she says: a momentary lapse in an non-target race that wasn't going to plan. Certainly worthy of a DQ and some amount of shame, but perhaps not the permanent label of fraud that we usually give to course-cutters.
I'm always skeptical of course-cutters, and tend to assume they've made a career out of it, but is there a chance that this actually was a one-time misjudgment? She only skipped 2.5 miles of a 50 mile race, naively posted the run to Strava, and she has quite a few accomplishments in races where it would be difficult to cheat, including running the marathon for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, and medaling at the 100km world champs.
It doesn't seem like this could have been a true accident, but maybe it really was as she says: a momentary lapse in an non-target race that wasn't going to plan. Certainly worthy of a DQ and some amount of shame, but perhaps not the permanent label of fraud that we usually give to course-cutters.
Am I being too naive here?
Yes. Climbing into a car into during a race to be driven over part of the course is quite a bit more than a "misjudgement."
I'm always skeptical of course-cutters, and tend to assume they've made a career out of it, but is there a chance that this actually was a one-time misjudgment? She only skipped 2.5 miles of a 50 mile race, naively posted the run to Strava, and she has quite a few accomplishments in races where it would be difficult to cheat, including running the marathon for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, and medaling at the 100km world champs.
It doesn't seem like this could have been a true accident, but maybe it really was as she says: a momentary lapse in an non-target race that wasn't going to plan. Certainly worthy of a DQ and some amount of shame, but perhaps not the permanent label of fraud that we usually give to course-cutters.
Am I being too naive here?
I'd say so. I don't care how "out of it" you are, accepting a medal is pretty intentional.
Back in the day, course cutters used to at least take the effort and time to stash bikes and pedal around surrepticiously to get their medals, what has become of the old work ethic?
Back in the day, course cutters used to at least take the effort and time to stash bikes and pedal around surrepticiously to get their medals, what has become of the old work ethic?
Since that golden age, America has gotten even fatter and created electric scooters, "hoverboards", and bikes. You don't even need to spend much energy to cheat these days, the motors do all the work.