Do you pause your Strava when you walk up a hill? Have you ever given your race entry to a friend when you’ve got injured and are unable to take part? Like it or lump it, both are forms of cheating and when you look closer, there’s a whole lot of it going on in the running world

Words: Rachel Ifans

Humans have always cheated at sports; in fact, you could say that as soon as we started measuring, we started cheating. The ancient Olympic Games was a hotbed of bribery, trickery and doping, even though the perpetrators risked a public flogging as punishment, and the temptation to cheat has continued through the centuries although motive, reward and risk may have changed.

Running, like any other sport at the highest level, has seen cheating scandals over the decades. Who doesn’t remember the doping scandals of the 1980s? As of 2022, Russia has been stripped of 51 Olympic medals, while Ukraine and Belarus have lost 11 each. Those of us of a certain age will never forget the infamous Ben Johnson scandal, when he won the Gold medal in the 100m final in the 1988 Seoul Olympics (“the dirtiest race in history”), only to have it taken back and given to second-placed Carl Lewis when he tested positive for anabolic steroid.

You’re only cheating yourself

You might think that cheating is reserved for the elites, for those chasing big medals and high-value sponsorships and prizes, but prepared to be surprised. Once you scratch the surface of this friendly and welcoming little running community we call home, you find there’s a lot of cheating going on. Whether it’s in a race or on a specific Strave segment, or skewing your own stats by editing the data, cheating is rife.

“You might think that cheating is reserved for those chasing big medals, sponsorships and prizes, but prepare to be surprised”

And there’s no real reason to be surprised by that. We all know a sports cheat, after all. Whether it’s the guy who is well known in the golf club for being creative with adding up his score for each hole, or the mum at primary school sports day who has the tactic of going early on the basis they never call a false start in the Mums’ race, there are always people who’ll take the chance to cheat when they think they can get away with it. (Have you got your mum’s voice ringing in your ears now? “They’re only cheating themselves, though! An empty victory, that’s what I say!”

Our own school days probably saw a few cheats too. Runner Nia Wyn laughs as she remembers: “In school cross country, we used to run the length of Harlech beach, which was much like running through treacle.

Some of the girls would hide by the last sand dunes and cut in to avoid the beach run altogether. Even in those teenage years of hating running, especially the beach run, I would never have contemplated cheating.”