The New York City Marathon is this Sunday, November 1. The marathon has had so many amazing runners. Athletes like Bill Rodgers, Grete Waitz, Alberto Salazar, Paula Radcliffe, Martin Lel, and Paul Tergat have produced some of the most incredible performances that the world has ever seen. However, one of the most infamous runners in the history of the New York City Marathon was Rosie Ruiz.
Most remember Ruiz for her “win” at the 1980 Boston Marathon in which she jumped into the race during the last mile and was crossed the line before the legitimate winner Jacqueline Gareau. Thanks to Ruiz’s cheating, her time was 25 minutes faster than the Marathon she ran a few months earlier, the New York City Marathon. It was this race in New York that became one of the key pieces of circumstantial evidence that led officials to believe that she had cheated.
After officials began an investigation into Ruiz’s Boston Boston race, a freelance photographer named Susan Morrow, came forward and alleged that Ruiz had also cheated in the New York City Marathon. Morrow stated that she saw Ruiz on the subway during the New York race. Morrow claimed that, after exiting the subway, Ruiz went to the finishing area and identified herself as an runner who had just finished the race. Her statements convinced the medics to mark her down as having completed the race in a Boston Marathon qualifying time.
Thanks to Morrow’s testimony, officials became convinced that Ruiz was a serial cheater and formerly disqualified her first place finish. As a result of Ruiz’s performances at Boston and New York, major marathons became to use video surveillance, chip timing, and checkpoints to ensure that all runners run the entire course.
