Harrisburg Marathon - Female 2nd Place "runs" 3:11

My first thought is this woman sold/gave her bib to someone else. Why does everyone assume she cheated? She may not even know this happened.

"Third female on course"

"Not at the finish/awards"

They didn't know because they weren't looking for her - they were looking for some dude. Pics can prove that when they come out.

And it took this long? wrote:

My first thought is this woman sold/gave her bib to someone else. Why does everyone assume she cheated? She may not even know this happened.

.

This happens ALL the time in the female 40+ age groups. A woman who is NOT competitive as a masters female gives her bib to a guy in his 20s, who is not competitive in his age group or gender. They both assume no harm, no foul, since neither one is a contender for any award.

Of course, 20-something guy's times, though not at all competitive for his gender and age, can be VERY competitive for a 40+ female. So then the awards get screwed. It's happened to me several times - in fact, I suspect it happened to me yesterday in a 10K, though I can't confirm until the pictures come out.

It's frustrating, but I don't know what can be done about it other than to keep scrutinizing the results and pointing out obvious instances to the race management.

They already changed the results. He/She must have cheated.

Another one bites the dust.

USA

Run don't cry wrote:

Rule out the possibility she just goofed or another fast woman ran with her bib first before everyone cries and accuses.

Yeah, she probably "goofed" on the course. Giving your bib to another person is usually not allowed.

This is just loser talk trying to get the fast mystery woman banned so they can do better in the future.

A quote from the OP:

"I was not at the race, but hopefully an investigation is launched and Ms. Dempsey will be disqualified or, in the alternative, have to prove she legitimately ran the race."

So the OP wants to see if the runner ran, or didn't. I don't see how this is loser talk.

And it took this long? wrote:

My first thought is this woman sold/gave her bib to someone else. Why does everyone assume she cheated? She may not even know this happened.

Even if you don't consider it to be cheating by some mental gymnastics, you certainly know you're screwing with the results by providing someone with a bib that identifies them as a member of a different gender and/or age group.

I believe it has been mentioned that registration remained open until the event. A simple option existed for anyone who decided they wanted to run: register and get their own bib.

Took Letsrun about 90 minutes to get the lady DQ'd whether it was intentional or unintentional on her part. Why didn't the race director go through at least the folks that won awards to make sure the results were accurate.

Really don't understand the backlash against outting cheaters.

Our sport has gone through a tremendous change in demographics over the past 12-15 years. The people that are showing up to races don't come from a competitive running back ground. They either have no scruples, are clueless, crave glory, or just flat out don't care how they get an award as long as they can post it on FB.

Regardless of why, they are bringing a bad element to the road race scene and should be outted, if for no other reason than to discourage others from attempting such stunts.

Factual Evidence wrote:

http://www.parunners.com/2015%20RESULTS/Harrisburg%20Marathon%20AG.htm

Took Letsrun about 90 minutes to get the lady DQ'd whether it was intentional or unintentional on her part. Why didn't the race director go through at least the folks that won awards to make sure the results were accurate.

You can't seriously expect that race directors should take race results from a timing company and then conduct a post-race analysis of runners checking their athlinks accounts with their times, then going to photo analysis and interviews , for every runner from now on?

Probably gave/sold her bib to someone else. I've done it few times. Entry fee has already been paid for so no harm, no foul.

darkwave wrote:

This happens ALL the time in the female 40+ age groups. A woman who is NOT competitive as a masters female gives her bib to a guy in his 20s, who is not competitive in his age group or gender. They both assume no harm, no foul, since neither one is a contender for any award.

Of course, 20-something guy's times, though not at all competitive for his gender and age, can be VERY competitive for a 40+ female. So then the awards get screwed. It's happened to me several times - in fact, I suspect it happened to me yesterday in a 10K, though I can't confirm until the pictures come out.

It's frustrating, but I don't know what can be done about it other than to keep scrutinizing the results and pointing out obvious instances to the race management.

Different color bibs for the ladies, bright pink would work. Automatic DQ for any male with a pink bib on. Detroit has 'green' bibs so everyone knows a first time marathon runner.

Runner Mom wrote:

Probably gave/sold her bib to someone else. I've done it few times. Entry fee has already been paid for so no harm, no foul.

Unfortunately, there is a harm/foul if it changes the award results (like top 5 within a given age group), especially in events where there is a cash award for those who do place. This may not apply to 95% of the switches out there, and I'm sure most of the switchers/switchees don't even realize it. But there is a problem with it, and not just an entry fee issue.

Dept. of Homejogger Security wrote:

You can't seriously expect that race directors should take race results from a timing company and then conduct a post-race analysis of runners checking their athlinks accounts with their times, then going to photo analysis and interviews , for every runner from now on?

I wouldn't. Way too much burden for people that are underpaid or volunteers.

But I wouldn't mind if races made a practice of checking finish line photos for age group or masters winners - especially the really big races - that's not that hard. And there are some results that are just glaringly obvious. There are very few women over 40 who can break 60 minutes for a 10 miler, for example - if you see that result and you don't recognize the name, it doesn't hurt to take two seconds to pull up the finish photo.

Whining about whiners is sort of fun but it isn't really whining here as much as questioning. In a sport like road racing where much of the event cannot be seen by officials and competitors these are legitimate questions which need to be asked to protect the legitimacy of the sport. And I'll bet you'd do even more whining if you turned up at the finish line and found you weren't in the place you had been in for miles and miles even though no one had passed you.

Brilliant idea - different coloured bibs! Of course having a woman's name on his bib did not prevent the problem in the Sweet case but its a start.

What the heck is wrong with people? Not just the cheaters or those who make a stupid mistake but all those people who stick up for them and dump on the people who report them?

Keep our sport legit. Report the cheaters!

This thread shows how easy it is for a RD to check a cheating claim and verify its validity.

Hey Leigh Valley Marathon you watching and taking notes!!!!

Loofa Dog wrote:

This thread shows how easy it is for a RD to check a cheating claim and verify its validity.

Hey Leigh Valley Marathon you watching and taking notes!!!!

Barb McKeever and Bart Yasso can't be bothered with things such as truth and integrity. Keep cashing those checks, Barb.

I just looked up the results and she is not listed in them. I take it this was resolved?

http://www.parunners.com/2015%20RESULTS/Harrisburg%20Marathon%20Overall.htm

HardLoper wrote:

I just looked up the results and she is not listed in them. I take it this was resolved?

http://www.parunners.com/2015%20RESULTS/Harrisburg%20Marathon%20Overall.htm

looks resolved. except for the eternal nature of this page of accusations against this poor lady

No Fun League wrote:

HardLoper wrote:

I just looked up the results and she is not listed in them. I take it this was resolved?

http://www.parunners.com/2015%20RESULTS/Harrisburg%20Marathon%20Overall.htm

looks resolved. except for the eternal nature of this page of accusations against this poor lady

Well someone knows what happened, so I'm guessing will too soon enough, so don't get yourself too upset for the "poor lady".