http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deut%2025:16&version=NLT
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Prov%2016:8&version=NLT
The Salomon Keilder Marathon is regarded as one of Britain’s most beautiful and there is little doubt as to why. It is run around the shores of Keilder Resevoir, the largest man-made lake in all of Europe and has breathtaking views. Of course, running a marathon can also be breath-taking as well. If you know what I mean. Rob Sloan does.
On Sunday, October 9, 2011 the annual Salomon Keilder Marathon was run. Rob Sloan was one of 1,109 runners who finished the race. And therein lies the problem. Sloan finished in 3rd place. With a personal best time. That, in and of itself, is not something to arouse suspicion. Some runners are clutch and run their best times during competition. What was suspicious, however, is that in a race where personal bests are measured in seconds, Sloan knocked a full 12 minutes of his previous best time! OK, start an investigation! Something’s wrong here! Then there was the fact that Sloan was the only runner (out of 1,109) to run a faster second half of the race than first half. On top of that there was the fact that the 4th place finisher, Steven Cairns, never saw Sloan pass him. Never. It turns out that Sloan didn’t. Well, he did and he didn’t. Let me explain.
It seems that Sloan had run the 10k race the previous day (and won) so at about the 20 mile mark in the marathon, he became fatigued. So Sloan flagged down a passing spectator bus and got on board. People noticed. (Somehow they recognized a sweaty marathon runner with a large number plastered across his chest riding the bus during the race! Hmmm, figure that one out.) While on the bus, Sloan passed Cairns, getting off the bus near the finish line. Hiding behind a tree for a few seconds, Sloan then re-entered the marathon and sprinted the last little distance to the finish line. Once across the line, Sloan proceeded to accept the 3rd place award and even gave a local TV interview boasting that he’d run an ‘unbelievably tough’ marathon. Yeah, right.
Well it didn’t take race organizers too long to figure the deception out. Unfortunately, when people began questioning Sloan about his race he called the accusations ‘laughable’. “I’m upset and angry that someone wants to cast these aspersions”, he said. Later, faced with numerous eyewitnesses who saw him on the bus, the 31-year-old former army mechanic admitted that he had cheated. Even that didn’t come easy. One of the marathon’s organizers said afterwards that Sloan was distraught over having to come clean. Wow. This guy doesn’t get it. Justice was served in that Sloan was stripped of his medal (I hope that they gave it a big yank while it was still around his neck!) and there is the possibility that he could be banned from running any future marathons. (Unless he enters under an assumed name. Wearing a costume. I wouldn’t put it past him at this point!)
The part that I don’t understand is how Sloan thought he could get away with such a public display of cheating? He actually thought that a bus full of people couldn’t put 2 + 2 together? Or the race organizers? Or his competitors? Talk about living in a fantasy world. Then I don’t know how Sloan could live with himself knowing he cheated. As a competitor myself, I want to win fair-and-square. I want to see what I can do. Not what I can get away with. That’s why I, and millions of others, compete.
Unfortunately, the competitive drive in some people causes them to be willing to do anything to win. Or to get rich. Or to be famous. And while not every cheater is caught, cheating is always wrong. Cheaters will never prosper. Because even if they manage to get away with it in this life, they won’t in the life to come. And if they think it’s hard coming clean now, just wait until they face the Judge. That makes me want to be honest right there!
Lord, there are times when I am tempted to cheat. To cut corners. To work the ‘system’. Help me always to take the high road. To be honest. To maintain my integrity. To act as Your child. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
On Sunday, October 9, 2011 the annual Salomon Keilder Marathon was run. Rob Sloan was one of 1,109 runners who finished the race. And therein lies the problem. Sloan finished in 3rd place. With a personal best time. That, in and of itself, is not something to arouse suspicion. Some runners are clutch and run their best times during competition. What was suspicious, however, is that in a race where personal bests are measured in seconds, Sloan knocked a full 12 minutes of his previous best time! OK, start an investigation! Something’s wrong here! Then there was the fact that Sloan was the only runner (out of 1,109) to run a faster second half of the race than first half. On top of that there was the fact that the 4th place finisher, Steven Cairns, never saw Sloan pass him. Never. It turns out that Sloan didn’t. Well, he did and he didn’t. Let me explain.
It seems that Sloan had run the 10k race the previous day (and won) so at about the 20 mile mark in the marathon, he became fatigued. So Sloan flagged down a passing spectator bus and got on board. People noticed. (Somehow they recognized a sweaty marathon runner with a large number plastered across his chest riding the bus during the race! Hmmm, figure that one out.) While on the bus, Sloan passed Cairns, getting off the bus near the finish line. Hiding behind a tree for a few seconds, Sloan then re-entered the marathon and sprinted the last little distance to the finish line. Once across the line, Sloan proceeded to accept the 3rd place award and even gave a local TV interview boasting that he’d run an ‘unbelievably tough’ marathon. Yeah, right.
Well it didn’t take race organizers too long to figure the deception out. Unfortunately, when people began questioning Sloan about his race he called the accusations ‘laughable’. “I’m upset and angry that someone wants to cast these aspersions”, he said. Later, faced with numerous eyewitnesses who saw him on the bus, the 31-year-old former army mechanic admitted that he had cheated. Even that didn’t come easy. One of the marathon’s organizers said afterwards that Sloan was distraught over having to come clean. Wow. This guy doesn’t get it. Justice was served in that Sloan was stripped of his medal (I hope that they gave it a big yank while it was still around his neck!) and there is the possibility that he could be banned from running any future marathons. (Unless he enters under an assumed name. Wearing a costume. I wouldn’t put it past him at this point!)
The part that I don’t understand is how Sloan thought he could get away with such a public display of cheating? He actually thought that a bus full of people couldn’t put 2 + 2 together? Or the race organizers? Or his competitors? Talk about living in a fantasy world. Then I don’t know how Sloan could live with himself knowing he cheated. As a competitor myself, I want to win fair-and-square. I want to see what I can do. Not what I can get away with. That’s why I, and millions of others, compete.
Unfortunately, the competitive drive in some people causes them to be willing to do anything to win. Or to get rich. Or to be famous. And while not every cheater is caught, cheating is always wrong. Cheaters will never prosper. Because even if they manage to get away with it in this life, they won’t in the life to come. And if they think it’s hard coming clean now, just wait until they face the Judge. That makes me want to be honest right there!
Lord, there are times when I am tempted to cheat. To cut corners. To work the ‘system’. Help me always to take the high road. To be honest. To maintain my integrity. To act as Your child. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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