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You either finish all 26.2 miles or you don't. If you don't, you don't get a medal and should be ashamed to tell people you finished a marathon when you didn't. I don't understand this group's thinking and I'm glad the MCM disqualified them.
However, I have to say that I've run 3 marathons through charity programs (2 - TNT and 1 St. Jude's) and one was the MCM. I didn't see anyone cheat during any of these marathons and none of my coaches or teammates in any of the groups ever considered it. We were trained to finish the marathon and if the coaches knew that someone couldn't do the full distance, they suggested switching races to one that also had a half marathon. There were people that didn't finish and they weren't carted ahead to the finish line. They were picked up in the sag wagon like everyone else that didn't finish.
So many people out there complain about the charity teams and whine about having to run with them. Don't get me wrong, people that don't understand (or ignore) race etiquette drive me nuts but they're not all charity runners and not all charity runners are rude. If you don't want to be bothered with them, don't run the big marathons where there's a big charity presence. And don't whine about them getting "guaranteed entries". You could get one too if you wanted to raise the funds necessary to get that. You may have to compete in a lottery to get in the race, but you don't have to raise $5,000+ which, on top of marathon training and a full time job, is not a cake walk.
Cheating is cheating whether you run with a charity group or not. Please stop labeling all charity runners as cheaters and don't assume that all TNT chapters cheat because it's not true.
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