Cheating ...

Anyone hear the controversy about Jean's Marines over the weekend? Here's the article from the Globe & Mail for the full story. But the long & short of it is that the found of a group that trains women to complete marathons encouraged some slower women to cut 4 miles off the course. In short, she encouraged them to cheat.

The organizers of the Marine Marthon (where the cheating occurred) have said they are considering barring the group because of the cheating. One of the race organizers said "The man or woman who ran 26.2 miles, who worked out for six or nine months, they shouldn't have to feel that their medal is cheapened by the fact that somebody got the same medal for running 22."

Personally I would NEVER cheat, never cut mileage off a course just to finish. I'd be cheating MYSELF! I also don't think that you shoudl wear a marathon medal if you didn't complete the whole thing ... the medal is a FINISHER medal for completing not entering.

Apparently they have realized the error of their ways ... http://www.jeansmarines.com/news.asp?nid=14. This post says in future No short-cutting will be encouraged, allowed or tolerated.

The unfortunate part is that the Runner message boards are FULL of this scandal and it adds fodder to the thought of faster runners that anyone who completes a marathon over 5 hours shouldn't be part of it. Some faster runners actually say that anyone who walks ANY PART of a marathon doesn't deserve to be there ... actions like this add fuel to this argument.

Just goes to show that cheating hurts many beyond the individual that does the cheating.

Shirley