Switching bibs, Railway athlete ran marathon for doctor’s wife, another; all 3 banned

The organisers of the February 23 event, NEB Sports, in a communication accessed by The Indian Express, said that “running for someone else amounts to cheating” and the “race management team has taken strict action against them,” banning them for two years. It said that they would make this decision public by “posting on social media, to bring down such cases in the future”.

When contacted, Nagaraj Adiga, CMD of NEB Sports and the race director, told The Indian Express, “There were incidents of cheating during the Apollo New Delhi Marathon (in the non-elite categories). We have suspended the three athletes involved. We will be submitting our report to the Athletics Federation of India on Monday. The Federation can take further action as they wish.”

Those in the know say that it was the break-up of the timing of the railway doctor’s wife, who participated in the full marathon, that gave a whiff of wrong-doing. While the runner was slow for close to three-fourth of the race, there was a dramatic spike after that. Photographs shared by the organisers showed the sports quota employee wearing her bib during the stage of the race where the pace was fastest.

In marathons, the timing of the participants gets recorded by a chip, mostly a transponder or RFID tag, tagged to the bib on the runner’s chest. The readings of the scanner at the start and finish determine the time taken by the runner to complete the race.

When contacted, the sports quota employee didn’t wish to be quoted. The doctor’s wife didn’t take a call for comment, but her husband responded. “No action has been taken. I am part of the management. I can tell you that she fell unconscious after 34 km. He (the sports quota employee) ran with her bib mistakenly. We have clarified this and she has not been banned. We have asked, and the NEB has removed the data of her performance from their website,” he said.