The organizers of the Mexico Metropolis Marathon mentioned they had been investigating runners of the race final month for “unsportsmanlike” attitudes, after experiences of individuals dishonest emerged on-line.
The Sports activities Institute of Mexico Metropolis, which organized the marathon, mentioned in an announcement final week that it might “proceed to determine these circumstances by which the members” of the fortieth Mexico Metropolis Marathon “would have demonstrated an unsportsmanlike perspective in the course of the occasion and can invalidate their recorded occasions.”
The institute didn’t instantly reply to questions on how many individuals had been disqualified from the race or why they’d been disqualified.
There’s precedent for a lot of disqualifications on the marathon. Organizers mentioned in 2018 that 3,090 runners had been disqualified, principally for course slicing, or crossing the end line with out operating your entire distance. In 2017, they disqualified 5,806 individuals, most of whom had engaged in course slicing.
Accusations of dishonest in Mexican races are additionally documented in Fb pages together with Los CazaTramposos Del Maratón, or “The marathon cheater hunters,” and Ya se cansaron?, “Are you drained but?,” which in latest weeks have posted a number of claims of dishonest by runners within the Mexico Metropolis Marathon.
Marca, a sports activities newspaper based mostly in Spain, reported that hundreds of individuals had been disqualified from the race after utilizing public transportation and automobiles to shorten the space. That estimate was not confirmed by the race organizers.
The Mexico Metropolis Marathon is one among 38 races this 12 months to have a World Athletics Gold Label, a classification that signifies it has met strict necessities in fact design and race administration. The winner of the marathon receives 550,000 pesos, or greater than $31,000. This 12 months’s marathon was on Aug. 27.
The assertion from the Sports activities Institute of Mexico Metropolis mentioned, partially, that the marathon “not solely represents an vital celebration for all of the individuals of the capital, however additionally it is a chance to reaffirm the transcendental values of the game,” which incorporates bolstering “the essence of sports activities competitors and its constructive impression in our society.”
“We thank all of the members, spectators and collaborators for being a part of this occasion that uplifts not solely disciplined bodily exercise, but in addition the values that form an exemplary sporting neighborhood,” the assertion mentioned.
Questions on dishonest at this 12 months’s marathon once more have introduced consideration to probably the greatest identified marathon scandals in Mexico.
Roberto Madrazo, a former presidential candidate, was disqualified from the Berlin Marathon in 2007 for dishonest. He had used his marathon-running as a metaphor for dedication and steadiness in marketing campaign commercials. A sports activities photographer raised questions on Madrazo’s run after he was seen on the end line sporting a jacket, a cap and lengthy tights whereas most runners had been sporting sweat-soaked T-shirts and shorts.
Madrazo mentioned final week in a publish on X, the social media platform previously often called Twitter, that he had stopped operating the 2007 marathon early due to an damage and went to the finisher’s line to gather his participant’s medal as a result of it was given to all runners.
He additionally responded to this 12 months’s Mexico Metropolis marathon debacle, saying that the 33 p.c of people that solely partially accomplished the race weren’t dishonest.