Man Arrested After Cheating to 2nd Place at Nairobi Marathon
The man was in line to win $7,000 in prize money.
Julius Njogu, a 28-year-old Kenyan runner who apparently finished second at the Nairobi Marathon on Sunday, is in some hot water now. Turns out, he allegedly didn’t even run a mile.
The Associated Press reports that Njogu was arrested and will face fraud charges for his attempt, which would’ve netted him $7,000 in prize money.
TV cameras caught him arguing with event officials at the end of the race. He even took off his shoes in an apparent attempt to show organizers he had blisters from running the race.
“Officials said they became suspicious because Njogu showed no signs of fatigue and was not sweating when he had supposedly just run 42 kilometers (26 miles). They discovered that he’d run barely one kilometer after emerging from a bunch of onlookers and joining the leading group of runners just outside the stadium,” the AP reports.
Joshua Kipkorir won the race in 2:13:25, and Shadrack Kiptoo was in line to finish second before Njogu dashed past him close to the finish line.
“I followed the leading team from start to finish and I didn’t see him,” race director and Kenyan running legend Ibrahim Hussein, a three-time winner of the Boston Marathon, told the AP. “He will not be recognized and I’m so disappointed that one can cheat in this modern age. He didn’t finish second.”
Of course, cheating in marathons is nothing new. Rosie Ruiz famously claimed to have won the 1980 Boston Marathon before she was exposed, and back in the 1990s, twin brothers were disqualified from the Comrades Marathon after it was revealed that they were switching off.
MORE: The Associated Press