London Marathon cheat rumbled after ‘running half of race quicker than Mo Farah’
A London Marathon 'cheat' was caught out after completing the second half of the race quicker than Great Britain legend Sir Mo Farah.
Jason Scotland-Williams stunningly ran the second leg of the marathon in one hour and one minute back in 2014, putting him just three minutes shy of the world record.
The personal trainer’s performance saw him complete the same stretch quicker than four-time Olympic gold medallist Farah, who only registered a time of one hour and five minutes. And suspicions were further raised when it became apparent Scotland-Williams had shaved more than four hours off his time from the previous year.
READ MORE: Sir Mo Farah's body 'can't do it anymore' as Olympics hero prepares for London Marathon
Online forum users on the site Runner’s World immediately began speculating the legitimacy of his run, with the aspiring model landing himself in the top six per-cent of competitors.
Many speculated that he had jumped over a waist-high barrier at the halfway point at Tower Bridge. They alleged he jumped the barrier separating the 13-mile marker from the 22-mile point.
Following that, they claimed he hid in the crowds while runners looped around Canary Wharf before jumping back into the race and joining the leading group.
Do you think Jason Scotland-Williams was really quicker than Sir Mo Farah? Let us know in the comments section.
His electronic timing chip showed he ran the first half in two hours and seven minutes and the second half in one hour and one minute. His progress was logged around the first half of the course with updates given for every five kilometres he completed.
But only estimates were given for his times at the 25km, 30km and 35km markers, meaning his chip had failed to activate or that he avoided those checkpoints entirely.
The chip began working again as he passed the 40km and the finish line.
The man, from Hammersmith, London, rubbished claims he had cheated, saying “I have done nothing wrong. This was my sixth London marathon.
“I'm a personal trainer. I train every day, seven days a week for the past seven years. Nobody thinks maybe I just trained hard.”
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, he added: "Nobody thinks 'maybe he paced himself through the first half and when the second half came he just let himself go'."
Scotland-Williams was among the 500 runners raising money for deaf-blind charity Sense. A spokesman for the charity stated they would be “very disappointed” if the allegations of cheating turned out to be true.
"We are saddened that a runner who was supporting Sense has come to our attention for alleged cheating," Sense’s chief executive said.
"Thousands of people have run for Sense and this is the first time this has ever happened. It does a disservice to our charity, deafblind people and our brilliant marathon runners."
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