Kip Litton: Marathon Fraud?

[Omaha 680]

I didn't know whether to put this in the Gym or the water cooler or if it had been posted. Pretty long read, but I found it fascinating. I really wonder how he did it. And I wonder what drives someone to create an alternate universe like this and then defend it even when it comes crashing down.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2...urrentPage=all

[scottie]

I enjoyed reading that, well, until the end.

Spoiler for Article Spoiler:

There's no freaking pay-off -- the author never discovered how Kip Litton cheated.

[Lost Student]

Wow, that guy is nuts. I liked the article.

I enjoyed reading that, well, until the end.

Spoiler for Article Spoiler:

There's no freaking pay-off -- the author never discovered how Kip Litton cheated.

Spoiler for spoiler:

Yeah, I was thinking as I read that the journalist or maybe the first guy who noticed something fishy should have tried to follow and film Litton at a race and them out him as a cheater.

[Surfah]

Someone posted that article in another thread. I really enjoyed it. Kip though is something else. I don't get his motivation.

[DU Ute]

Kip sounds like he should be fielding questions from the media down at BYU.

[Art Vandelay]

thanks for posting this. A very interesting read.

[SteelBlue]

What a fascinating read. If you haven't taken the time, it's worth your while.

[UteStar]

That was a terrifically strange read. Seriously, I can't figure out why this guy would do all that he has done. His excuses are so bad, but he tries to be so convincing. It is always something different - got lost on the course, misplaced my regular shoes, etc. I love the part of creating his own marathon with a race director, no spectators (there were supposed to be a lot of volunteers, but not one showed up). Strange stuff and a great read.

[wuapinmon]

That was a very unsatisfying read because I want to know how he did it.

[lambdacoug]

That was a very unsatisfying read because I want to know how he did it.

Starting up your own quest to run a marathon in all 50 states, huh?

[wuapinmon]

Starting up your own quest to run a marathon in all 50 states, huh?

Dude, I haven't run since the 90's. But I have run a marathon on Bootleg, Foundation, Resistance, Lockdown, Hardhat, and Terminal. The game told me so.

[Katy Lied]

Read that Kip was suspended for one semester in dental school for cheating.

No matter how much he looks guilty, and is castigated and flayed by the running community, how come they can't explain how he did it? He's not an electronic genius. How did he keep hitting those chip mats? Are they thinking he rode his bicycle along the path? How could he do this and not have anyone notice?

I'd like Uncle Ted to speculate.

[smokymountainrain]

Fascinating.

[Coach McGuirk]

When I read this in the other thread, the only thing I kept coming back to is he put in way more effort not running marathons than if he had just decided to run them.

[CardiacCoug]

Interesting read.

I bet he had accomplices and found shortcuts. That wouldn't be possible for a lot of races (isn't Boston pretty much a straight line?) but it sounds like he usually just hid his tag and blended in with the crowd and then left the race course and took shorter routes, probably got rides or jumped on a bike. But yeah it would take a lot of scouting and homework to hit all the chip mats. Crazy.