Unlike other marathons, Boston requires nearly all runners to meet a certain standard for their age group to gain entry. That makes cheating for a Boston entry especially egregious, Murphy said, because “when someone cheats to get into Boston, they are keeping out a deserving runner.”Murphy is not worried about losing his own spot to cheaters. When he started his investigations, he called himself a “hobby jogger” who had run one marathon — the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati in 2009, which he completed in 6 hours 3 minutes 5 seconds. Last year, he ran the New York City Marathon and the Flying Pig Marathon, though his finishing times were still above six hours. For that, he turns to photos taken by the race, which he can usually search for using a runner’s bib number.

Source: International New York Times April 11, 2019 19:41 UTC