Male runners caught competing in the womens category of prestigious South African marathon

Two male runners who were discovered fraudulently competing on behalf of female colleagues in a top South African marathon have been disqualified and could face two-year bans from the event, along with the two women.The two women runners swapped their bibs with the two men, who both finished within the top 10 in the women’s half-marathon at the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town last Sunday, initially denying those slots to two female runners.But the cheating was discovered by a marathon board member, and the men were disqualified from their 7th and 10th place finishes.Two women were belatedly recognized instead.Larissa Parekh was accused of having Luke Jacobs run on her behalf, and Tegan Garvey was accused of having Nic Bradfield run on her behalf, marathon board member Stuart Mann said.All four runners face disciplinary action that could include two-year bans from the event, Mann said.The annual Two Oceans race is one of South Africa’s iconic marathons and includes a 34.7-mile ultramarathon and a 13.1-mile half-marathon.The event attracts over 16,000 participants and finishing among the top 10 is a significant achievement for most runners.Mann said exchanging bibs has become more common, and can be risky, “Not only is it considered unethical, but it also poses health and medicals risks in case of an emergency, as wrong medication may be administered to a wrong person,” Mann said.Various motivations are at play, Mann explained.Some runners give their bib to a stand-in if they have a last-minute injury or some other unexpected reason why they can’t run in a race they have registered for.Others do so to deceptively earn faster times than they otherwise could achieve, to qualify for future races, he said.Mann was tipped off to one of the swaps after Jacobs posted pictures of himself at the race on social media and people noticed that his bib displayed the name “Larissa.”Jacobs said in a written apology: “I made an error in judgment and did not consider ...