legends · 4 min read ·
Chip Times
A marathon runner's chip times show five kilometres no camera saw and a finisher who crossed before the gun.
**Kerrow City Marathon — Timing Report (chip data)**
**Runner:** Bib 4471 · **Name:** Luke Aldous · **Category:** M40 · **Start:** 09:30:00 (gun)
- **Checkpoint · Distance · Split · Clock time**
- Start mat · 0 km · — · 09:30:04
- 5 km · 5 km · 24:12 · 09:54:16
- 10 km · 10 km · 24:30 · 10:18:46
- 15 km · 15 km · 24:21 · 10:43:07
- Half · 21.1 km · 31:40 · 11:14:47
· · ·
**Timing report (continued)**
- **Checkpoint · Distance · Split · Clock time**
- 25 km · 25 km · 22:09 · 11:36:56
- 30 km · 30 km · 20:44 · 11:57:40
- 35 km · 35 km · 17:02 · 12:14:42
- 40 km · 40 km · 9:30 · 12:24:12
- Finish · 42.2 km · 3:11 · 12:27:23
**Net time: 2:57:19.**
*Race director's note: splits accelerate sharply after halfway. The runner covered 5 km (30 to 35) in 17:02, and (35 to 40) in 9:30. The world record for 5 km on the road is 12:51. Equipment fault suspected.*
· · ·
**Email: Race Director (J. Pryce) to Mr. Aldous, 14 October**
Dear Mr. Aldous,
Congratulations on your finish. Your net time of 2:57:19 is a personal best for you by 21 minutes.
I have to raise a query with the timing company. Your chip registered at the 35 km and 40 km mats within a period shorter than any runner in history could cover that distance. Please confirm you ran the whole course.
· · ·
**Email: Mr. Aldous to Race Director, 15 October**
Dear Mr. Pryce,
I ran every step. I'm not a fast runner, as you know. I run for charity. I trained eleven miles a week. I did not expect to finish under four hours.
I should tell you what happened at 30 km. I felt a hand in the small of my back. It was warm and quite steady. I thought a runner had put a palm there to help me up the hill. The hand didn't push. It guided. I found my feet falling faster and more easily. I was not tired. I felt that I was being carried a little, along the road, by something invisible and strong.
I looked round. Nobody was near.
· · ·
**Email: Race Director to Mr. Aldous, 17 October**
Dear Mr. Aldous,
The timing company has checked its equipment. All mats registered correctly. Your chip passes the 35 km mat at 12:14:42 and the 40 km mat at 12:24:12. There is no error. We have also compared against the course video. The race cameras show you at 35 km and again at 40 km.
They do not show you between. For nearly five kilometres, you do not appear on any camera. There were 14 marshals in that section. None of them saw you.
Could you tell me where you were?
· · ·
**Email: Mr. Aldous to Race Director, 18 October**
Dear Mr. Pryce,
I was on the road. It was the strangest part. I remember it, I think, but I cannot say it clearly. The road was empty. The crowds had gone. The barriers, the tape, the water stations, all gone. The sun was low. The air was cold and sweet. I was running through a long avenue of beech trees with the leaves coming down, and I had never run so easily. I could have gone on for ever.
I was not alone. There were others in the avenue, running with me. They were silent. They were not tired. They ran in a loose line, a hundred, two hundred, all in the same easy stride, and all of them wore a number pinned to their chests, and the numbers were not on any list I know.
· · ·
**Email: Race Director to Mr. Aldous, 21 October**
Dear Mr. Aldous,
I have looked at the results sheet. In your split between 35 and 40 km, a second runner's chip was read on your mat. Bib 000. It is not in our entry list. It crossed your mat 3 seconds before you did, and it crossed the finish line at 12:27:20. Three seconds ahead.
We don't know who it was. We don't know who the others were, if there were others. But we have checked the timing system for bib 000 and found 214 reads, over the length of the course, in the same period.
· · ·
**Race results (Kerrow City Marathon, final, 28 October)**
- **Pos · Bib · Name · Net time**
- 1 · 0001 · A. Keitany · 2:08:11
- 2 · 0002 · P. Rono · 2:08:40
- ... · ... · ... · ...
- 214 · 000 · (unregistered) · **−0:00:03**
- 215 · 4471 · L. Aldous · 2:57:19
*Note from the race director: the net time of the unregistered runner is negative. The finish line was crossed before the start gun was fired. Mr. Aldous is the 215th finisher. The race has been declared closed. There was no 214th place until the results were published. It was filled in by the system, overnight, with a time that began in the future.*