Course cutter at CIM? ... UPDATE: RD Says Likely Timing Error

Annnnnd here we go again.

I should have made it more clear...there is no 20 mile split [he either "skipped" it or the mat "didn't work for him" but "did" for the thousands of other runners.

Fix your link.

Well, it IS a downhill course. 58 minute second half is pretty steady....for a Go-Kart!

He's a witch! Burn him!!!111

Send an email to the RD. If no answer, post it on their FB page with the name of the person. That will get their attention.

Oh no . . . Rick . . .

https://www.gofundme.com/rickcota

"My name is Rick Cota I'm 28years old, I joined the American Red Cross team to participate in the 2016 Chicago Marathon. One of the requirements is to fund raise $1,500.

For those of you who know of or had the privilege of hearing Louis Zamperini in person, you may have heard this quote. "A moment of pain is worth a lifetime of glory"

I hope to be the Zamperini of marathons in the 2020 olympics. I'm a single father with a full time job, so finding time for training is tough & money gets tight. I recently finished 85 in the SF marathon, which isn't bad but still I got a long way to go. That was only my 2nd full marathon but already I shaved off 30min since my first. I'm making leaps & bounds with hopes I'll be an inspiration to local runners, my coworkers, my friends, my family, & most importantly my son. They all see the hard work I put in, they know the sacrifices I make & they know I have the mind the body & the heart to make this happen. I would love to be an example, living proof that commitment is limitless, going through this life one step at a time you CAN reach your goals, & most importantly to never give up, it's not an option!

Many of you can relate to many of these:

This life is tough, I've experienced both tragic & heart breaking loss recently.

It has its hard times to where quitting will cross your mind, "courage isn't having the strength to go on, it's going on when you don't have the strength".

You'll experience many forms of pain, mental emotional & most definitely physical in all parts of the body.

Sometimes weather is hot cold light dark rainy windy foggy stormy or any combination of them, not to include owls, Hawks bees coyotes & dogs chasing you. Thank god no mountain lions yet.... EEEEK!!

& last

People will tear you down, yell at you, show you you're #1 with a specific finger & even throw things at you, seriously makes you ask yourself WWJD?

What I'm asking is help financially, if you don't mind helping my dreams come true by donating anything you can. I know I've got what it takes, the potential if given the opportunity is capable breaking records. Anything & everything helps & im appreciative for all who have even taken the time to read this far. If you personally are unable to donate, if you wouldn't mind simply mentioning my gofundme add the link is

http://www.gofundme.com/rickcota

& passing it along to others to help me reach my goal, that would be incredibly awesome too & im already extremely thankful to you.

One last thing I'd like to share is a scripture I find passing through my mind pretty often during my races when things are getting tough, & that's having a purpose in every single step

1 Corinthians 9:25-26

All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step.

Help spread the word!"

The results are still unofficial, meaning they may well contain mistakes, not verified, etc. If you are worried about this runner, just email the race (director). However, my understanding is that when they do review the unofficial results they look for things exactly like this - missed mats. It's likely he's been flagged or will be flagged. Not to wreck anybody's fun, but I'm sure this will sort itself out without 20,000 posts being needed.

Nice work OP. Here is the direct link:

https://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-23616?entryID=25878460

off base wrote:

Nice work OP. Here is the direct link:

https://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-23616?entryID=25878460

Thank you.

Sorry...first time poster [though long time follower] trying to figure out this relatively uncomplicated system.

The bib number is 2555.

Here's the link again...hopefully it works this time...

https://results.chronotrack.com/event/results/event/event-23616

Maybe those that know the course better can comment, but it appears impossible to cut without transportation?

This bothers me a lot because he would have been right in front of me. I never seem to get too worked up about the cheaters who finish over 3:00, but this bothers me. Obviously I should care about all of them, but this one really chaps my hide. Poor guy obviously dealt with some kind of tragedy and I wish him the best, but cheating in marathons is not going to make anything better.

Not a loop or anything easy to cut off.

Cue the "I only crossed the finish line because that was the only way to get my stuff"

FWIW, it looks like his PR in the half is 1:17:59 from August of this year, per Athlinks. Assuming it's the same guy, he ran a 2:53 at Chicago.

I'm not really sure how you cut the course at CIM - it's point to point, with no place where it doubles back on itself. I'm guessing if he cheated, it was by hitching a ride.

I ran it on Sunday - I did note extra unannounced timing mats and at least two sections where they were filming/photographing the race. I also saw some guy with a clipboard checking out my bib # at one point on the course.

My hunch is that they're taking potential cheating very seriously.

That takes some major audacity to finish 23rd overall in a competitive race like that. It's a point to point course right? He didn't bust out 5:20 miles after averaging 6:45 the first half.

This appears so blatant that I'm sure it's just a quick DQ with a reasonable explanation as someone else mentioned of getting his bag. No need to get too worked up at this point.

Does anyone know if he's claimed anywhere that he finished? Or seen any pictures with him and his medal?

It could simply be that he went out too fast, dropped out after halfway, then hitched a ride to the finish. When he got there, he walked too close to the finish line on the other side of the barriers and got picked up by the finish mat. I can see that one happening.

Finish line pictures will tell the story.