Title runs away from marathon winner
Sundown Marathon winner Kenyan Willy Kipkemoi Rotich has been stripped of his title after organisers found out that he used another competitor's number tag in the race in Singapore.
Rotich, 20, came in first among 10,000 runners after he finished the 42.195-kilometre men's open race in 2 hours 53 minutes 13 seconds last weekend.
But he had run under the tag E6121 belonging to 24-year-old Richard Habeya of Nigeria, who did not race despite registering for the marathon.
The race directors disqualified the Kenyan after Mr Habeya admitted to them that Rotich had ran in his place. The top prize for the Men's Open category was $500 cash, among other prizes.
Organisers HiVelocity revealed in a statement on Thursday that Rotich was guilty of the same thing in the Philippines last April.
Two weeks after Rotich won the Baguio Marathon, organisers realised that he used fellow Kenyan Daniel Koringo's race tag after attempting to use Koringo's passport to get the prize money.
Last weekend in Singapore, Rotich was discovered when the organisers called the winners post-race to double-check their race timings and their particulars, and the Kenyan could not be contacted.
HiVelocity general manager Benjamin Wee explained that a week before the race, organisers did check on the athlete's details when they collect their race packs.
He told mypaper: "But on the day of the race, we relied on everyone's...integrity. That is a value every sports event must strive to promote."
So far no police report has been made, as Rotich had informed a race volunteer before the event that he was using another runner's number tag.
Runners from second to 11th place have all been informed that they've moved up one place. Morocco's Ahmad Lamchannak, who finished second behind Rotich, has been declared the winner with a timing of 3 hours 9 minutes and 11 seconds.
