Race officials were aware of Agnew’s suspicious performances, so they made a special effort to track him this year. What they found was that Agnew was not clocking in at a remote checkpoint at the halfway point of the mile-long lap. He was instead sitting in the bathroom for seven minutes and then jumping out to cross the mat at the start/finish at the right time to keep his “mile pace†consistent. He was disqualified from the event, and then had his results stripped from him after a review showed he was a repeat offender.
I really wish I could say I am surprised, but I guess I am at a point where I just assume there are people willing to literally do anything to be able to pump their tires at the water cooler Monday morning.
He couldn’t win any other way so he figured out a way to win certain races for a few years. Sad to say but some people are just that way, both in school and in athletics.
Confused… What was he doing, riding in the car, and then taking a break to make sure his mile times were consistent? Or just cutting the course every few laps?
Confused… What was he doing, riding in the car, and then taking a break to make sure his mile times were consistent? Or just cutting the course every few laps?
As I understand it, he was crossing the timing mat, then walking to the porta potty, staying in there for 7 minutes, then walking back around and crossing the mat again, thus getting credit for another lap. It was some 1-mile multi-lap type of race.
There was an account given at another race though where he was apparently seen by other racers riding in the truck with his wife during the race.
Anybody that sits in a port- a- pot for 7 min several times in an hour deserves the over all win trophy. That guy is some kind of tough. How can anyone hold their breath for 7 min more than once a week?
For us old timer Ultra Runners, we remember the whole Garside round the world record scam. Then there was Stan Cotrell and bogus claims of the Trans Continental record. Both having been debunked, mostly thanks to Nick Marshall’s exhaustive research of the matter(s).
Some folks just need some time on the couch.
PS: Whatever became of Julie Miller? I heard she’s now taken to Ultras.
Thomas, I happen to agree and believe that people who engage in cheating to this degree and intricacy have some sort of mental illness.Seriously though, WTF.
There is a lot of mental illness in endurance sports. Very sad.
Wow. I had not heard that about Stan Cottrell, nor had I heard his name since he spoke to and ran with me and my high school cross country team in S Korea back in the 80’s. That is really sad to hear. He was very inspirational and I remember his advice of dropping your inside arm in a tight turn rather than keeping it chugging along by your waist.
I’ll have to read up on this in between watching videos of dogs that can’t catch food on the interwebs…
It is easy to come to this conclusion that someone who would cheat must have some sort of mental illness when logically no one in their right mind would do such a thing, but I also tend to think some people are just dishonest or cheaters.
With cheater after cheater being discovered, it would be fantastic if credentialed psychologists, research institutions, or whatever the appropriate professional is needed to analyze the mindset of cheaters in order to provide more insight as to why these cheaters cheat. There certainly are so many factors that would go into this research and the likelihood of cheaters assisting in the research would probably be slim (most cheaters don’t believe he or she cheated), but maybe one day more info will be available. (Or maybe someone on here knows of such research and can post the link.)
Candidly, every time I do see stories like these I appreciate my own abilities even more, as mediocre as I am in triathlon.
Thomas, I happen to agree and believe that people who engage in cheating to this degree and intricacy have some sort of mental illness.Seriously though, WTF.
There is a lot of mental illness in endurance sports. Very sad.