A case of a railway quota employee running for another railway doctor’s wife in the final half of the New Delhi Marathon 2025, last month, has come to the fore.
The runner in question changed bib numbers to allegedly participate for the wife of a railway doctor and another participant.
In a communication, accessed by The Indian Express, NEB Sports said, “running for someone else amounts to cheating” and the “race management team has taken strict action against them,” banning them for two years. It said that they would make this decision public by “posting on social media, to bring down such cases in the future”.
Nagaraj Adiga, CMD of NEB Sports and the race director, told The Indian Express, “There were incidents of cheating during the Apollo New Delhi Marathon (in the non-elite categories). We have suspended the three athletes involved. We will be submitting our report to the Athletics Federation of India on Monday. The Federation can take further action as they wish.”
Some in the know of the proceedings alleged that the impersonation took place due to the break-up of timings. A noticeable data collected shows the runner was slow close to three-fourth of the race but the speed increased after that.
Photographic evidence found out that the railway quota employee was wearing her bib during the final phase where the timing was slowest.
The doctor’s husband said, No action has been taken. I am part of the management. I can tell you that she fell unconscious after 34 km. He (the sports quota employee) ran with her bib mistakenly. We have clarified this and she has not been banned. We have asked, and the NEB has removed the data of her performance from their website”.