Marathon efforts are increasingly normalised so cheats are trying to keep up | Simon Burnton
No wonder the demands of going the distance in this toughest of races still compels many to try to cut cornersAt the 1908 London Olympics entrants for the marathon had to agree that “a competitor must at once retire from the race if ordered to do so by a member of the medical staff appointed by the British Olympic Council to patrol the course”, there being a genuine concern for the wellbeing of anyone foolish enough to volunteer for such a test of endurance. In the 1906 Athens Olympics (since relegated to the status of “Intercalated Games”) worried organisers stationed an ambulance every kilometre along the route (at its conclusion Billy Sherring, the Canadian winner, was presented with a small...