On Sunday, thousands of runners will be hitting the streets of the capital to take part in the London Marathon, one of the most well-known athletic endeavours in the world – but the respected event is not without its controversies.
After completing the mammoth 26.2 mile slog, runners earn not only a prestigious medal, but also precious bragging rights – so it’s not surprising that some people are tempted to take a shortcut, and earn the glory – without putting in the hard work.
Among the controversies are people who cut out parts of the route, used a fake number to compete, or even stole an entrance number from the ground.
It’s not just cheats who have infamously competed in the event – a notable controversy was stoked in 2005, when that year’s winner Paula Radcliffe was seen squatting by the road when she needed to take a bathroom break. And event organisers themselves were subject to scrutiny after marathon workers were said to have fat shamed slower runners at the back of the back.
Here, FEMAIL rounds up some of the greatest controversies in London Marathon history…
Paula Radcliffe takes an inopportune toilet break
Paula Radcliffe pauses at the side of the course during the 25th London Marathon in April 2005. She went on to win the event
Despite her undisputed position as one of the world’s greatest distance runners of all time, Paula Radcliffe once revealed she is concerned that a controversial moment during the 2005 London Marathon may be the main thing anyone remembers her for.
While en route to the finish line, the athlete surprised onlookers when she squatted on the road, and defecated. She later put her bad stomach down to eating ‘dodgy salmon’ the night before.
Speaking about the incident some 10 years later in 2015, Paula said: ‘It is funny because out of everything I have achieved I don’t think I will ever live it down.
‘It is one of those things you would obviously never do when you are not in that competition zone or environment but I did what I had to do and what was in the rules to win the race.
‘I had bad stomach cramps and put up with it for as long as I could. I was looking and looking and looking for a toilet and I would have had to climb a barrier to go – and I couldn’t envisage being able to climb a barrier at that point. I don’t regret it because I won.’
Married couple use the same number so they can both run
Piotr and Monika Czarnecka both ran in the 2021 event – despite Piotr failing to win a place in the ballot. Eagle eyed viewers spotted that the couple both used the same entry number
Husband and wife Piotr and Monika Czarnecka were forced to apologise after the 2021 marathon, after eagle eyed viewers noticed the couple bore the same entry number on their running vests.
After an investigation, it was discovered that Piotr had failed to gain entry to the race via the ballot, and so in a bid to run with his wife, he copied her number, and they competed together.
Registration numbers are distributed to runners days ahead of the race, which gave Piotr enough time to reproduce the 11250 number that had been issued to his wife.
Monika apologised for the incident, crying as she told MailOnline: ‘I’m truly sorry for what we’ve done and didn’t want to cause any harm. The supporters were amazing, and their cheering and clapping helped me finish the marathon and it hurts to think that I’ve let them down.
‘This was my first marathon and I needed Piotr’s support because I was worried sick that I wouldn’t be able to finish it.’
Piotr, 42 added: ‘It was all my idea and I take full responsibility for it. I know it’s wrong and I’m truly sorry, but I did what I did to support my wife.’
PT runs the second half of the marathon faster than Mo Farah – and denies cheating
Jason Scotland-Williams (pictured) became embroiled in a cheating controversy after completing the second leg of the marathon in a staggeringly quick time
A London Marathon runner denied claims he cheated during the 2014 event, after apparently completing the second half of the race quicker than Olympic champion Mo Farah.
Jason Scotland-Williams was accused of duping race officials after it emerged he completed the second leg of the marathon in just one hour, one minute – three minutes shy of the world record.
This led to accusations that he may have jumped over a waist-high barrier at the halfway point at Tower Bridge, which separates the 13-mile marker from the 22-mile point, then hidden in the crowds while runners looped round Canary Wharf and doubled back.
It is claimed he then jumped back into the race, joining a leading group of runners, and sprinted his way to the finish.
Additionally, critics noted that his progress around the first half of the course was logged by the race’s website, with updates for every 5kms he completed.
However, there were only estimates for the 25km, 30km and 35km markers, leading critics to speculate that he either cheated his way to the finish by dodging those checkpoints or that his chip failed to activate at those points.
His chip was working as he passed the 40km point and the finish line – which reveals he completed the last 13 miles in just one hour and one minute.
The personal trainer defended the result, telling the Sunday Telegraph: ‘I have done nothing wrong. This was my sixth London marathon.
‘I’m a personal trainer. I train every day, seven days a week for the past seven years. Nobody thinks maybe I just trained hard.’
He added: ‘Nobody thinks “maybe he paced himself through the first half and when the second half came he just let himself go.”‘
Jason’s time for the race was three hours eight minutes – knocking more than four hours off his last time of seven hours 24 minutes.
Homeless man jailed after picking race number from ground and running
Stanley Skupien (pictured) was jailed for fraud after picking an entry number off the ground, and running some of the route before collecting a medal
Following the 2018 marathon, a homeless man was handed a 13-week jail sentence for fraud after picking up a race number from the ground and taking part.
Stanley Skupien said he chanced upon the race number yards from the finish line, which belonged to runner Jake Halliday, 28, of Edinburgh, who was disqualified for losing the marathon sticker, despite raising £48,000 for the charity Bloodwise.
He crossed the line four hours after he joined the race – and was given a finisher’s medal and T-shirt.
Skupien later told The Sun: ‘I saw the number face-up in the middle of the road. I knew if I had one I would get a medal – my heart leaped, it was a dream come true. I had no thoughts of the person whose number it was.’
In June that year, he was sentenced to 13 weeks for the fraud at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court.
Reality star’s sister takes small detour following ‘panic attack’
Natasha Argent was accused of cheating following London Marathon after she cut some of the course. She says she got lost after going off course following a panic attack
The sister of TOWIE star James ‘Arg’ Argent was at the centre of a cheating controversy after taking part in the 2016 London Marathon.
Natasha Argent was investigated by officials after she finished the 26.2mile run in under four hours, with race data showing she ran through the final 20km in 48 minutes – and missed 11 of the 24 checkpoints along the route.
To complete the final 20km so quickly, so would have had to have averaged sub four-minute miles – an incredible pace that is quicker than even Mo Farah’s.
The discrepancies were pointed out by a handful of eagle-eyed social media users and soon took hold online, with dozens of users making accusations of cheating.
Other runners also spoke out, claiming they had witnessed Miss Argent ‘ducking’ under a barrier and running in the wrong direction.
According to Natasha, she suffered a panic attack during the event, and went off the course. She says she accidentally cut part of the route after getting lost and rejoining in the wrong place.
She told OK! magazine: ‘I kept running for probably a mile and then went over to a marshall.
‘I told him I had gone wrong and asked him to get me back to the place I should be, as I knew I hadn’t seen my parents who were waiting at Canary Wharf. I was genuinely lost.’
Event organisers confirmed Natasha had returned her finisher’s medal and would be banned from taking part in any future London Marathon events.
‘Fastest’ OAP runner stripped of title after admitting he took a short cut
Anthony Gaskell (pictured) said he ‘never claimed to have run the last part of the course and that he did not try to pass off the winning time as his own’
While course cutting appears to be rare thanks to the safeguards in place to prevent cheating, it does happen – even if by accident.
In 2010, then-69-year-old Anthony Gaskell crossed the London Marathon finishing line in just three hours and five minutes – the fastest time ever recorded by anyone over 65.
However, while some were impressed by the performance (with Anthony set to receive a plaque to mark the achievement), some questioned how a previously unknown veteran could have performed so well.
When the race was analysed, it was found that he would have had to have completed the second half in way under an hour – a pace that even the world record holder could not match.
And six weeks after the race, after admitting that he took a short cut, Anthony was stripped of his ‘fastest pensioner’ title.
It seems the runner cut from the outward leg to the home leg just after Tower Bridge – where the marathon doubles back on itself – cutting some 10 miles off the route.
Anthony described the situation as a mix-up, saying: ‘I have been called a cheat and disqualified from a race I never claimed to have won.’
According to the runner, he was injured during the event, so dropped out, saying he ‘couldn’t possibly continue’.
He claimed he was injured after falling over a runner ahead of him who had tripped on a safety barrier. ‘I couldn’t possibly continue.’
Anthony added: ‘I simply walked through a short cut to the end of the course where my belongings were waiting for me. I had no idea that anyone thought I’d won.
‘I didn’t bother to check the website for the final standings because I knew I had dropped out.’
He said he never claimed to have run the last part of the course and that he did not try to pass off the winning time as his own.
Slower runners are subjected to demeaning treatment
Jack and Joe Glenny (pictured while taking part in Big Brother in 2013) said they were fat shamed while taking part in the 2019 marathon
The event itself came in for controversy in 2019, when slower runners revealed they’d had poor experiences while taking part.
One woman, Kerrie Aldridge, from Cardiff, who was raising money for the Miscarriage Association, broke down in tears when event staff started ripping up timing mats and clearing the course when she was just half way through.
She recorded an emotional video live on Tower Bridge where she sobbed that ‘they’re already packing up’ but vowed to continue to the finish.
Writing later on Facebook, she said: ‘Next came Tower Bridge now I had always been told this would be the moment…crowds everywhere and a wall of sound there would hit you.’
She added: ‘Well Tower Bridge was there I welled up I knew this was roughly half way but there were no crowds there were just clean up trucks and lorries both sides of the roads and people going over the bridge going about there daily lives.
‘It was heartbreaking I had worked so hard. My tracker was no longer working as they had taken the timing mats up.’
And Big Brother’s Jack Glenny, who ran the race with his twin brother Joe, said he was fat shamed by workers.
He told MailOnline: ‘We felt extremely let down by the organisation, we were forced to move out of the way for a marshal van, workers were taking down barriers and posters the whole time.
‘We were berated and told “run, fat boy run” and then when we crossed the line, after having to move for some workers taking down the scaffolding, I overheard an official saying “these lot should have left at 6am, the f****** amount of time it’s taken them to run this!”
Love Island star denies cheating accusations after solid run
Georgia Harrison (pictured) was accused of cheating after her good run – prompting her spokesperson to point out that her entire run could be tracked on the Virgin app
Love Island’s Georgia Harrison denied cheating accusations after she completed the 2019 London Marathon in four hours.
Additionally, the reality star admitted that she hadn’t done enough training for the event, and has spent much of the preceding month drinking.
Because of her impressive time, and the lack of effort she said she had put in, some people said she must have cheated. But her spokesperson denied the claims – pointing out that it was possible to track Georgia’s run on the Virgin app, which showed the route she took.
Speaking to OK!, the spokesperson added: ‘To say that Georgia cheated is absolutely ridiculous. She did do bits of training when she could find the time, but she’s just a very strong-willed young woman.
‘If she’d had more time and less commitments she would have put in an even faster time, but to complete the London Marathon with such little training and to finish in four hours is pretty amazing.’
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