Tabitha Manning ran the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon setting a personal best record time of 2:54:21. But it looks like she pulled a Rosie Ruiz.
For those of you not familiar with the history of the Boston Marathon, Rosie Ruiz was declared the winner of the 1980 Boston Marathon with a time of 2:31:56. At that time, it was one of the fastest female marathon runs. Currently, the female elite runners leave before the men. In 1980, women were back in the pack and harder to track.
Ms. Ruiz raised some red flags during her post-win interviews. She didn’t seem as fatigued or covered in sweat as the other competitors. A few people came forward and stated that they saw Ms. Ruiz burst from the crowd on Commonwealth Avenue in the last mile of the marathon. Race officials took away her olive wreath crown and title.
As a result of Ms. Ruiz’s hijinks marathons began using RFID chips to track a runner’s progress on the course. That makes it easier to see if a competitor has jumped on the train to reach the finish instead of running.
That chip marks when you cross the start line and the finish line. For most races it will mark your time at other places along the course.
Going back to Ms. Manning, she seems to have exploited the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon’s use of only a mid-race split in addition to the start and finish. In looking at the course, it runs two laps around the battlefield park. But there is a road right down the middle.
The chip show Ms. Manning running a 2:54 marathon, but 2:06:51 for the first half and 47:30 for the second half.
That’s a big burst of speed.
Or a quick car ride.
Race officials could also check Ms. Manning’s previous running times and see that the first half time was closer to her previous races.
Ms. Manning was disqualified and Lillian Gilmer was crowned the winner.
When people wonder how design a control, that marathon chip is an excellent example. It marks your progress around the course to make sure that you are not taking shortcuts. The Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon organizers went cheap on the controls. As a result there was only one place (maybe two places) where the chip was scanned. That allowed Ms. Manning to use a shortcut.
Sources:
- Chickamauga Marathon Winner Disqualified for Impossible Splits by Alison Wade in Runners World
- Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon Course
- If You Cheat In A Marathon, Try Not To Set A World Record by Jon Gugala in Fittish
- Tabitha Manning running times on Athlinks