Forums >Racing>Counterfeit Bibs
At the 1999 edition of Boston I bought a ride on one of the local running club's bus to the start. Won't say what club. I had trained my ass off and gotten into the first corral. The guys on the bus asked me what my number was and when I showed them they were 'wow, is that real?'. WTF?! Several of them pulled out fake numbers in the first, second and third corrals! I was blown away that it was so easy to fake a number, and that someone would actually do it. Their legit numbers were in the 15,000 - 20,000 range. Nice, friendly people who thought it was no big deal to start in a corral they didn't qualify for. Never understood that.
Yeah, I'm having a hard time getting particularly worked up over this. Some 20-somethings did something stupid, and now they're busted. My kneejerk reaction is that it was kind of douchey of them to take medals, but otherwise it just doesn't concern me much.
Apparently not just 20-somethings that did something stupid. Rich entitled social media moguls were also doing it:
http://news.yahoo.com/foursquare-founder-sorry-wife-stealing-boston-marathon-bib-213456189--abc-news-topstories.html
1/7 = .142857142857...
Coincidence? I think not.
Seems like you might be missing a couple or three copies of the 14285 bib.
The FBI just called and told me I'm creeping them out and to stop it. I'm a little embarrassed to have wasted time figuring this out and finding more. It was just a puzzle and challenge of sorts to entertain me at the end of the week. I'm suprised we haven't seen more in the press. It wasn't hard to piece together and verify what was going on with the 4 that got the most press. I'd like to think this will serve as a deterrent for next year but know that it probably won't.
The FBI just called and told me I'm creeping them out and to stop it. I'm a little embarrassed to have wasted time figuring this out and finding more. It was just a puzzle and challenge of sorts to entertain me at the end of the week. I'm suprised we haven't seen more in the press. It wasn't hard to piece together and verify what was going on with the 4 that got the most press.
I'd like to think this will serve as a deterrent for next year but know that it probably won't.
1/7 = .142857142857... Coincidence? I think not. Seems like you might be missing a couple or three copies of the 14285 bib.
That was what immediately struck me when I saw the photo. However, it does seem to he coincidence, as they copied it from an Instagram post by the legitimate bib holder.
This whole discussion is a little depressing. These bib-fakers make real bandits look like heroes (hey, at least real bandits are risking...something...if only public embarrassment...by not wearing numbers. I think banditing is dumb, but purposely faking a number is a whole different level of sleazy, in a petty, entitled way. Boston College students? CEO's? Hello, you can probably afford to train for and run a race the usual way.)
At this year's Berlin Half-Marathon, the organizers introduced new security measures that included a printed tyvek bracelet for all the runners. You had to pick up your number in person, at which point you got this bracelet you had to keep on until after the race. If you didn't have the bracelet, they wouldn't let you into the start area/bag drop off or corrals. I guess really motivated counterfeiters could make themselves a fake bracelet, and anyone can jump into the race at any point after the start, so I'm not sure whether this measure was really that helpful...but hey, maybe there was some small benefit for the people who actually paid for the race e.g. lines for the portapotty weren't longer than necessary before the race. I wonder if the Boston organizers will consider doing something like that to at least keep these people out of the start area and corrals.
Pretty much this. I'm not going to waste an iota of blood pressure getting worked up about this, but it tells me something about their personality and if I met them in another setting and knew they had done something like this I'd dismiss them as someone I wanted to associate with pretty quickly.
+1.
Feeling the growl again
Apparently not just 20-somethings that did something stupid. Rich entitled social media moguls were also doing it: http://news.yahoo.com/foursquare-founder-sorry-wife-stealing-boston-marathon-bib-213456189--abc-news-topstories.html
Wa wa wa. It was really, REALLY important to me at one point to run the race this year too. I tried running through a painful injury resulting in two DNFs attempting to get a qualifier. No, qualifier, I didn't run.
Life went on, and the sun came up the next day.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
What struck me most about this article was the link at the bottom to this other important news story:
Middle school teacher provides ‘full-contact’ lap dance in front of class for birthday boy
Selected quote: "It’s not clear if the kid enjoyed the lap dance. However, he admitted that he did slap Smith’s ass a couple times."
Dave
Wa wa wa. It was really, REALLY important to me at one point to run the race this year too. I tried running through a painful injury resulting in two DNFs attempting to get a qualifier. No, qualifier, I didn't run. Life went on, and the sun came up the next day.
That story made me roll my eyes so hard, I nearly caused permanent vision damage. The question is, were these people always such special snowflakes? Or did their special snowflake status increase proportionally with their wealth?
IIRC, Disney did this with their Sat/Sun Half/Full Marathon Challenge. Seems they didn't want a different person running each of the two races and "winning" the extra medal at the end. No money in completing the challenge though. They didn't even do any sort of combined results listing for both races. Just the special medal and the special T-shirt at the special price. Seemed a bit, well, goofy.
the organizers introduced new security measures that included a printed tyvek bracelet for all the runners. You had to pick up your number in person, at which point you got this bracelet you had to keep on until after the race. If you didn't have the bracelet, they wouldn't let you into the start area/bag drop off or corrals.
If you're gonna do something like bracelets, best not to tell participants until bib pickup.
Break on through
What's the significance of 1/7?
"Not to touch the Earth, not to see the Sun, nothing left to do but run, run, run..."
hahahaha.
Done the bandit thing without a bib. Didn't cross the line, nor partake of aid on the course.Not at Boston.
Are you a bandit using a friends bib? Done that in rinky/dinky races but did tell the results folks, so not to screw someone out of their age group award. Did also use a friends bib altering a number so not to impact age group results, when I didn't know the folks timing the race.
Boston. Whole another level. Qualified and ran it. Would I run it as a bandit? Sure, without a bib and not using the aid on the course. One and done with Boston. Would love to go back, but it's an expensive trip.
Counterfit bib no thank you. I also don't always go the speed limit. (you know glass houses and all that shit)
Get off my porch
Jesus you people are sanctimonious.
Do you feel better about yourself now that spent hours coming through marathon photo to "catch" "cheaters" Seriously, is your life that empty?
You realize there are tons of horrible stuff going on in the world. To get upset about this…to spend anytime on it all shows some serious misplaced priorities.