Marathon running has soared in popularity in China. With the increase in runners and marathons, there has been also been an increase in reports of cheating, prompting new security measures.
Marathon race participation has grown along with the rise of China’s middle class, as more Chinese aspire to a healthy lifestyle. The Chinese Athletic Association (CAA) registered a total of 328 marathon events in 2016, which is double that of the previous year.
One motive for the increase in cheating is the prizes awarded at many of the marathons. Another reason is more subtle – the pressure to have great results to post on social media.
A bold form of cheating is bib switching with unregistered participants or ringers. In a race in Shenzhen last December, two female participants had their results cancelled when it was discovered that male ringers had run in their places.
China is starting to use facial recognition scanning to crack down on the cheating. For the Beijing half marathon that just ran, 20,000 people will have been required to have their biometrics captured before the race. As of this post, there are no updates on the biometric security program, but it’s likely biometric security is a trend that will grow along with the popularity of this sport.
Beijing marathon to use facial recognition in cheating crackdown
Neil Connor, April 13, 2017 , article for The Telepgraph, UK
(additional reporting by Christine Wei)
Runners from around the world are flocking to marathons hosted by China’s most toxic cities
Echo Huang, April 12, 2017, article on Quartz website
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