There are many reasons participants cheat at races. Most of the time it is unintentional, occasionally it’s about ego or proving prowess or trying to obtain an entry into a prestigious event like the Boston Marathon. In 2015, Runner’s World discussed this phenomenon in an article called “How Common Is Cheating at Marathons?” and analysts like Derek Murphy of Marathon Investigation report on those who cheat.
As the medical lead for the Marine Corps Marathon, I review the data after our events to look for injury trends, heat stroke body temperatures, and other relevant information to improve our support. We often receive runners in the medical tents who are not registered as participants. These are not large numbers; in the last three years we have averaged fifteen medical “bandits.” However, if we were to extrapolate those numbers to the full field, we would be looking at almost 400 bandit participants. Nevertheless, let us focus on the effects these runners can have on medical services.
These bandit athletes may have purchased a bib or swapped with someone. If a runner receives a bib through swapping, once he/she enters the aid station, there is a delay in identifying the athlete because there is no match in the database. If the athlete is conscious, we work to get their demographics with emphasis on age and date of birth and any past medical history. If the athlete is unresponsive, however, trying to obtain personal information or next of kin data is impossible. When this unidentified athlete is transported to a hospital for further care, they must then be listed as a Jane or John Doe. We have no way of contacting family members nor obtaining pertinent past medical history. Additionally, for events like the Marine Corps Marathon which uses a live tracker database, we cannot find the registered runner because we are looking for a person not in the event.
We had a case where a runner was picked up off the course and transported directly to one of our hospitals. There were several runners at this emergency room and we were providing updates to our liaison and the medical team about the participants. The information we sent for one athlete was based on the information in the database but, unfortunately, it was incorrect. She was listed as a 42-year-old female. The medical staff thought they were taking care the female shown in our database, and we reached out to her next of kin. But it was not her; instead, it was her 36-year-old friend. It then took additional time to get in contact with the bandit’s family.
What if bib swapping involves a minor? Most registrations require parental consent for a minor. What if we need to obtain consent from that parent for care? Other considerations might include winning an age group or award—protecting the participant’s own race history and records and insurance claims could be complicated if the runner is using someone else’s bib.
We do not want to discourage athletes from receiving care; the medical team, as always, will care for those in need regardless of who they are. But these types of cases certainly make it more difficult for us to do our job. We all need to work to educate our participants about the risks of bib swapping and running as bandits.
