{"id":10758,"date":"2017-04-02T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-04-02T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/04\/02\/meet-two-race-sleuths-trying-to-keep-marathoners-honest\/"},"modified":"2017-04-02T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-04-02T11:00:00","slug":"meet-two-race-sleuths-trying-to-keep-marathoners-honest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/meet-two-race-sleuths-trying-to-keep-marathoners-honest\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Two Race Sleuths Trying to Keep Marathoners Honest"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Heidi Glenn<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Race sleuths root out cheaters of road races using publicly available race data and photos taken along the course.<\/p>\n

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ZamoraA\/Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n

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ZamoraA\/Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/p>\n

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For runners of road races,<\/strong><\/strong>spring is a busy season. As temperatures rise, weekend racing ramps up \u2014 especially for those training for this month’s Boston Marathon.<\/p>\n

It’s also crunch time for the sleuths sniffing out runners who cheat to get to that crown jewel of races.<\/p>\n

Derek Murphy is one of these self-appointed race detectives. He’s a business analyst in suburban Cincinnati and recreational runner who pores over race data to catch cheaters across the country. It’s been his pastime for about two years, and he pays special attention to the Boston Marathon. This year, race day is April 17, so he’s now in the home stretch.<\/p>\n

“It’s a good thing I’m not a tax accountant, too, because I wouldn’t get anything done,” Murphy says.<\/p>\n

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\n Derek Murphy competes in the Northcoast 24 Endurance Run in Cleveland in September 2011.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Derek Murphy<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Derek Murphy<\/p>\n

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He \u2014 and other sleuths like him \u2014 use publicly available race results and photographs taken on the course to root out suspicious finishers. This kind of detective work has been happening \u2014 sometimes obsessively<\/a> \u2014 for years in online running forums, but Murphy’s methods often go a step beyond. He also uses spreadsheets, algorithms and analysis to put the pieces together.<\/p>\n

“I enjoy solving things using data,” he says. “I’ve run 10 marathons \u2014 I was never fast \u2014 so I can appreciate the work that goes into it.”<\/p>\n

The cases unfold like little mysteries that start with a tip or clues found in race results \u2014 which are essentially logs of time data collected as runners cross mats placed at intervals along the course. The mats read an RFID tag embedded on each runner’s number bib.<\/p>\n