Olympics
ESPN 6y

3,090 runners disqualified from Mexico City Marathon

Olympic Sports

The sports director for the Mexico City mayor's office, Horacio de la Vega, revealed on Tuesday that more than 3,000 runners were disqualified from the Mexico City Marathon held Sunday.

Out of 38,336 people who signed up for the race, 29,555 started it, and 32,645 finished it. 

The difference of 3,090 runners represents those disqualified from the race due to inconsistencies on their starts. Besides, 2,011 did not complete the marathon.

"It is unfair to say that all of those who did not end up the race are cheaters," de la Vega said during a news conference.

De la Vega also said there were 925 runners who completed the word "México," which means they ran each one of the Marathon's past six editions. In every race, medals with a different letter were handed out until the country's name was complete.

Mexico City Marathon director Javier Ceballos said that among the 2,011 runners who did not finish the race, "there are some who are preparing themselves for the Denver Marathon or some injured ones."

Ceballos also said, "Cheaters will know that they cheated, once they got a medal that they did not really deserve, because they must know what means to cross the finish line and the efforts many people made in order to complete the course. We've got names, phone numbers, addresses of those who committed irregularities."

De la Vega said he is hoping that the local race keeps rising on the world's marathon rankings.

"We have some [marathons] above us, and it will be practically impossible for us to reach them. However, as it stands, given the current climate and the figures we have just presented, the Mexico City Marathon will put itself up a notch, and it will become the eighth-largest marathon worldwide," De La Vega said.

Despite the number of disqualified runners (3,090), de la Vega said during the news conference that the trend is down 46.8 percent.

The competition's group of 27,544 finalists means that the Mexico race is now ahead of the famed Boston Marathon, in which more than 25,000 athletes crossed the finish line. However, for the race in Massachusetts, there is a qualifying phase. In the case of the New York Marathon, 50,766 runners crossed the finish line last year.

With this, Mexico City will be in eighth place next year, hoping to get the Gold Label from the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

^ Back to Top ^