Sigh. File this under
“People Who Think They Can Get Away With Anything." Earlier this week,
organizers of the GO! St. Louis Marathon discovered that supposed female champion Kendall Schler did not actually win the race at
all. In fact, she didn’t even run the entire race. Instead, the
bold-in-a-bad-way 26
year-old allegedly snuck onto the race route after the final checkpoint,
temporarily fooling officials into believing that she was the fastest female
competing in the event, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Schler was all set to collect $1500
in prize money, got her picture taken with former Olympian Jackie
Joyner-Kersee, and qualified for a spot in the upcoming Boston Marathon as a
result … that is, before a review by race officials revealed that Schler did
not register any times on the race route, nor did she appear in any photos
throughout the course. She has since (rightfully) lost her spot in Monday’s
marathon, and Nancy Lieberman, president of GO! St. Louis, has said “It’s a
difficult situation for everybody, including the people who run a fair race and
don’t get the recognition they should receive.”
The real
winner was Andrea Karl, who ran the marathon in 2 hours, 54 minutes and 28
seconds, and to her we offer congratulations and many high-fives.
Though
the whole situation may seem downright unbelievable (in this day of cell-phone
cameras, wearable technology and non-stop social media coverage, did Scher really think she could get away with
it?), this isn’t, as BostInno points out,
the first time someone has tried to shanghai a marathon. Back in 1980, the now
infamous Rosie Ruiz fraudulently won the Boston Marathon, momentarily claiming victory before it
was discovered that she had only run part of the course. And it’s not just women falling victim to the cheating temptation: Dentist Kip Litton made a rather unbecoming habit out of cheating in order to clock an under three
hour marathon time in every state.
The only thing we can say here is, come on, people. From
us to you, here’s a bit of free advice: Try a lot of training. Not a little
cheating. You will get caught.
And
congratulations again to the real GO! St. Louis Marathon female winner, Andrea Karl!