Let's Run sleuths needed....Chickamauga Marathon Winner Disqualified

This is also not a case of a runner accidentally making a wrong turn and not suspecting anything was wrong. She knew she cut the course. The course repeats the same big loop in the first and second half of the race. She would've run the first loop to get to the halfway point, and she would know that she didn't run the same loop in the second half. Also, she has run this race in the past. She should know the course. You don't accidentally miss 10 or 12 miles of a marathon and not know it. This isn't a big misunderstanding as she claims. She cut the course, but accidentally cut too much of it and accidentally won the race, and didn't expect to get exposed in this kind of way so she keeps lying thinking it will cover it all up and it all will go away.

It's all out there wrote:

Old Woman wrote:

OMG, now I know why Gemkow's name is so familiar to me. .. this was before Twitter was a thing and I had no idea letsrun existed back then.

You need to check out this link:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/f...35&page=14

and Google her name, plenty of info.

Anne Gemkow profile on Athlinks:

First of all, thanks for getting the thread back on track. I was nervous this was going to turn into the basement trolls having a pissing war over who was the biggest Star Trek fan and who saw a girl's boob first.

That said, Gemkow is the female Kip Litton, isn't she? Yikes, how can she justify any of those times? How is she not banned from "racing"?

Oh! And to keep this thread on track, I really hope some of the guys listed a few posts ago are questioned about Hamilton's claims. Although, my guess is that without any prize money being on the line, the disqualification will probably stand without further action.

Old Woman wrote:

Oh! And to keep this thread on track, I really hope some of the guys listed a few posts ago are questioned about Hamilton's claims. Although, my guess is that without any prize money being on the line, the disqualification will probably stand without further action.

There was a 3 minute clip that the local NBC station aired here. They asked a fellow runner who pretty much took the stance "I won't say anything negative about anybody" It was disappointing. I know her pretty well. I've run with her and she was good friends with a girl I used to date. She's very opinionated and didn't offer any opinion which was weird. I expected more from her.

Later in that clip they said Tabatha (The Cheater) would not appear on camera but had some words to say. I don't get it. If you truly didn't cheat then go on camera and prove it. By not appearing she made herself look bad.

The local ABC station contacted me twice for my input but I declined to comment.

Old Woman wrote:

First of all, thanks for getting the thread back on track. I was nervous this was going to turn into the basement trolls having a pissing war over who was the biggest Star Trek fan and who saw a girl's boob first.

That said, Gemkow is the female Kip Litton, isn't she? Yikes, how can she justify any of those times? How is she not banned from "racing"?

Gemkow never finishes in a place eligible for claiming prize money. She has never raced at Boston either even though she has "obtained" qualifying times on numerous occasions.

TAA wrote:

Yes, I'm a former Eagle Scout as well. Why'd you move from CT to TN?

Cool to know I'm not one of few! Also, don't say 'former' Eagles Scout. It's not like we've lost it because we got older.

In any case, TO those that tried to click on the link on marathonfoto, just go marathonfoto.com and plug in the last name 'Hamilton' and the race 'Baltimore Running Festival 2013' and Tabatha will be at the bottom.

This girl is DEFINITELY not a great runner.

a Dvck wrote:

She made it onto Keith Olberman's Worst Persons in the Sports World as #2 (worser).

Links? Can't seem to find it.

Here Tabatha is power walking, potato chips in hand en route to her stunning six plus hour finish at the 2013 Baltimore Marathon.

http://i58.tinypic.com/2bv91s.jpg

This whole cheating story is about as obvious as a diagnosis/observation on an episode of Dr. Phil.

For anyone to run a 1:18 half after a 1:36 half, he or she would have to be in probably sub 2:40 shape. A fit 1:18 half marathoner should be able to handily break 2:50, but to do it pre-fatigued after 13 miles at 7:15 ish pace requires even more fitness and ability and talent.

Sleuthing.... wrote:

This whole cheating story is about as obvious as a diagnosis/observation on an episode of Dr. Phil.

For anyone to run a 1:18 half after a 1:36 half, he or she would have to be in probably sub 2:40 shape. A fit 1:18 half marathoner should be able to handily break 2:50, but to do it pre-fatigued after 13 miles at 7:15 ish pace requires even more fitness and ability and talent.

I find it interesting how these cheaters (Kip, etc) keep denying after they are caught red handed. What I wonder is how do they explain this to their friends as I'm sure her phone was blowing up after her "marathon win".

Switek wrote:

Here Tabatha is power walking, potato chips in hand en route to her stunning six plus hour finish at the 2013 Baltimore Marathon.

http://i58.tinypic.com/2bv91s.jpg

Ha! This picture is awesome.

Maybe she did a 6 hour plus finish at Baltimore because she was running 2x per day...Once in the morning, Once in the afternoon. Since she OBVIOUSLY is super fast, she started the marathon at 8am, ran a 1:30 half and sat down at the 13.1 marker and rested from 9:30 until 12:30. She then started running again at 12:30 to finish at 2. Total running time was really only 3 hours, but because she did it in a race, it was 6 hours. Yeah, that's it. Yeah.

Switek wrote:

Here Tabatha is power walking, potato chips in hand en route to her stunning six plus hour finish at the 2013 Baltimore Marathon.

http://i58.tinypic.com/2bv91s.jpg

Haha, good one, hilarious.

Switek wrote:

Here are her times aggregated through Athlinks:

http://www.athlinks.com/athletes/200707116/Profile

Her marathon PR is 4:25 at St Jude in Memphis in 2009.

In the past 3 years, she hasn't run a race of *any* distance at a pace faster than 10:00/mile. You don't suddenly run 6:45/mile for a full marathon.

Sleuthing.... wrote:

This whole cheating story is about as obvious as a diagnosis/observation on an episode of Dr. Phil.

I completely agree. It should be... but... Hamilton keeps publicly insisting that she didn't cheat. Check this interview out:

Hamilton was adamant late Monday that the wrong decision had been made.

"I don't think it's fair as I didn't do anything wrong," she said during a telephone conversation.

"I'm crushed and heartbroken as my name is mud right now. People have been saying horrible things about me today and I don't deserve it. I don't know why my timing chip didn't read right, but I've been blindsided all day by all the phone calls I've gotten.

"Of all the races, why would I cheat in a local race where everyone knows me. I had run Chickamauga in 2011 and was really mad about my time, so I had been training hard since that time with this race in mind," she added.

She had a personal best in the 4:25 range at Baltimore a couple of years ago, but she said that Saturday's race was a PR "by six or seven minutes."

When asked about what her previous best half-marathon time was, she replied by saying, "I can't remember."

Also, notice on the original article in the Chattanooga Free Press that there is a poll there, and as of Thursday, 1118 people (22% of the respondents) have voted that she didn't deserve to be disqualified.

Old Woman wrote:

First of all, thanks for getting the thread back on track. I was nervous this was going to turn into the basement trolls having a pissing war over who was the biggest Star Trek fan and who saw a girl's boob first.

That said, Gemkow is the female Kip Litton, isn't she? Yikes, how can she justify any of those times? How is she not banned from "racing"?

i have a serious social anxiety disorder I am trying to overcome, sorry if I offend anyone without meaning to, hope you and your family never are afflicted and have to come to understand it

stick with eharmony wrote:

TAA wrote:

Yes, I'm a former Eagle Scout as well. Why'd you move from CT to TN?

Cool! What was your project?

I moved to TN to go to school here. I planned on moving back but then I fell in love.

I installed play sets in a local park. It was a lot of fun. You live in Chattanooga, right? I've drove through there a couple times and it was beautiful.

Ok then... really amazing, the steadfast denial. Are there any official race photos from the marathon yet?

I did a very brief search and found the Chatanooga Chase 15K results from April, 2014: (Not exactly a harbinger of a sub 3 marathon or a 1:18 second half, etc). Here's a link to publically available photos. It's hard to hide from the internet.

http://www.coxsportsphotos.com/thumbs.asp?bibnbr=186

1 Jeanette Wilson 33 Chattanooga, TN 1:04:05

2 Suzanne Collins 31 Chattanooga, TN 1:13:51

3 Rebecca Beasley 33 Rossville, GA 1:16:44

4 Erica Verdin 30 Chattanooga, TN 1:19:24

5 Jessica Beard 33 Chattanooga, TN 1:22:05

6 Britt Baker 30 Athens, TN 1:22:23

7 Rebecca Hogan 31 Chattanooga, TN 1:23:03

8 Amanda Morgan 32 Chattanooga, TN 1:23:20

9 Jaclyn Beckler 32 Chattanooga, TN 1:25:09

10 Clarissa Ragsdale 32 Chattanooga, TN 1:25:31

11 Maria Villegas 30 Chattanooga, TN 1:26:20

12 Emily Kryman 32 Chattanooga, TN 1:27:53

13 Amanda Griffey 31 Nashville, TN 1:29:20

14 Danielle Fletcher 32 Ringgold, GA 1:36:23

15 Michelle Krupke 30 Chattanooga, TN 1:36:55

16 Ashlee Partlow 30 Tunnel Hill, GA 1:37:32

17 Stephanie Riethmeier 33 Hixson, TN 1:38:15

18 Erin Carboni 32 Chattanooga, TN 1:41:38

19 Dana Rohloff 31 Knoxville, TN 1:42:14

20 Jamie Morton 32 Chattanooga, TN 1:42:14

21 Tabatha Hamilton 30 Trenton, GA 1:42:18

The second womens' finisher (real winner) often runs in the same races I do. When you cheat a race, you are stealing an irreplacable moment from a runner who worked hard for it. Typical lazy cheater mentality - didn't even bother to concoct a reasonable split. Claims a world record half marathon time by giant margin in the second half of the race and sticks to her story. The gall.