Marathon cheek of impostor who won medal with man’s lost number
HE HAD endured a gruelling threeand-a-half hour run and was barely a mile from the finish line, within earshot of the roar of the crowds on the Mall.
But Jake Halliday, 28, who was running the London Marathon for a dear friend diagnosed with cancer, was plucked from the throng by a steward and asked to leave the course. His number had fallen off and competitors cannot carry on without one.
A short time later, however, a shaven-headed and bare-chested participant jubilantly crossed the finish line wearing Mr Halliday’s number, later posing for photographs and triumphantly kissing his medal.
He was also pictured drinking champagne and blowing kisses to the crowd.
The unidentified impostor is thought to be a spectator who picked up the trampled bib and took it upon himself to complete the last part of the course in Mr Halliday’s name.
London Marathon organisers confirmed they had launched a “full investigation” into the incident, which includes checking CCTV images of the relevant section of the route and interviewing several people, including Mr Halliday, who works for an asset management and investment company.
Peter Mowbray, 51, from Blackpool, Lancs, described the debacle on Facebook after hearing rumours at the finish line that a runner had been removed from the course because he was not wearing a number.
He then chatted to other runners, who identified Mr Halliday as the unfortunate person. Mr Mowbray, an operating assistant at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, said: “I couldn’t believe this so we went on the Virgin London Marathon website and you can clearly see Jake’s number and you can clearly see the pictures of Jake are completely different to the guy with his number at the end.
“For this man to take all the glory and credit for someone else’s hard work and endeavour really makes me question human life at the moment, it really does.
“To see this man smiling and posturing with someone else’s medal made me personally very very angry. I felt very sick at first.”
Mr Mowbray said he wanted to share his observations on social media because he felt people should be aware of what had happened.
Mr Halliday was running for blood cancer charity Bloodwise and was pictured at several points along the route running alongside Andrew Keiller, also 28, a friend from Edinburgh.
The pair, and a third friend, Chris Chisholm, 28, who is taking part in the Stirling marathon this weekend, have raised almost £50,000 for Bloodwise, smashing their £20,000 target. The trio were fundraising on behalf of Emma Reid, Mr Keiller’s girlfriend, who was diagnosed with non-hodgkin lymphoma in 2016.
On their fundraising page, Mr Keiller said: “Emma has dealt with it all with courage, grace and bravery, in a way that words won’t do justice …
“In recent months the condition has improved and earlier this month, 15 months on, we got the amazing news that there is no evidence of any active lymphoma left.
“The team at the Western General in Edinburgh, from the lead consultant to the domestic staff, have been nothing short of unbelievable. We are extremely lucky in this country to have the NHS and shouldn’t forget it!”
The trio said Bloodwise was a “wonderful charity” whose incredible work had saved Miss Reid and thousands of others.
Matt Lawley, head of sports at Bloodwise, said: “We are really grateful to the team for all the money they have raised, and we know that the London Marathon are fully investigating this.”
Mr Halliday declined to comment.