Fifty-eight athletes hoping to run this year's Comrades Marathon have had their entries squashed after they were found to have cheated.
In a statement on Monday, the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) said subsequent to the running of the 2023 race, the CMA identified 58 athletes whose entry to the 2024 marathon were rejected after they violated CMA race rules.
"The entries of 16 athletes have been rejected after it was discovered that they had asked another athlete to run their 2023 qualifying marathon on their behalf, while three athletes were found to have ran the qualifying marathon, used by another entrant, to enter the 2023 event and 27 runners lied about their qualifying times when they either didn't run or finish the marathon or ran slower than the qualifying time," the CMA said.
Further more, one athlete ran last year's race wearing another athlete's race number and five athletes allowed others to run the 2023 race wearing personal numbers.
"The entries of two athletes have been rejected after they completed the 2023 race as a relay and the entries of four athletes have been rejected because they took several short cuts on the journey between Pietermaritzburg and Durban in 2023 on Race Day," the CMA added.
CMA Race & Operations manager, Ann Ashworth, warned all entrants to comply with all the rules and regulations.
“Going forward the CMA will be adopting a zero-tolerance policy towards cheating and will seek the strict enforcement of all Race Rules. In particular, we would like to warn all entrants against the submission of inaccurate and/or fraudulent qualifying times, which would include results achieved by a person other than the race entrant. Such behaviour is prohibited in terms of the Race Rules," Ashworth said.
She added that ahead of this year's race, the 97th in the history of the marathon, CMA will be taking strong action against those flouting the rules.
She said participants to start in a seeding back other than the one allocated to them, fail to complete the entire race on foot, does not adhere to race officials' instructions and anyone who damages or destroys CMA property or that of sponsors, suppliers, staff or volunteers, will face disciplinary action.
This year's race will start at the Durban City Hall and end at the HollywoodBets Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg on Sunday, June 9.
IOL