ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 31 March) — In the Mindanao running community, all the marites ears and mouths are hearing and talking about the Camiguin 360 64k Ultramarathon held over the weekend. The reason: claims of cheating, of runners riding vans, just to get that elusive finisher’s medal and a photo at the finish line. Ahhh … everyone’s envy on social media.

This has been the complaint since the first edition of this race. I know, because I was there for my very first ultra. At that time, a fellow member of the Iligan Trail Runners vouched that he passed a loudmouth, and was surprised why he had to overtake the same runner twice. And was a loudmouth at the finish line.

It’s sad, because I love this race. It’s my first ultra, and the only ultra that I keep coming back, now on my fourth. It’s a beautiful place, thus I bring my family during this race, for a tour before the race, for the dining experience. Although the race is held at night (and a little daytime for us slow runners), the route along the island’s circumferential road is still beautiful, yet torturous with its uphills.

This race is also different because it is not a commercial event, the organizers — the sports division of the local government unit of the municipality of Mambajao (LGU Mambajao Sports on Facebook) — are not profiting anything. They may not even break-even. In my previous three Camiguin 360 races, I wasn’t charged a registration fee; only a ₱1,000 bond, refunded once you cross the finish line. This time around, they charged ₱1,500, not refundable anymore. I’m fine with that, because that’s very cheap compared to what organizers charge these days. You get an event singlet, a finisher’s medal and shirt, all the food and drinks at all the aid stations, and a finisher’s meal. That amount Camiguin is charging is only a 10k race in most races elsewhere.

I can see that the LGU just wants to promote tourism in this beautiful island. They may not profit from the registration fees, but the local businesses get the benefits. Many of the runners bring their family along, they’d book hotels, they’d dine, go on a tour. Very commendable indeed.

In this year’s race, the issue of cheating became so loud that the organizers issued an “Official statement on the alleged reports circulating online that there were runners who rode a van.”

LGU Mambajao Sports claims: “We do not condone, tolerate, or support any form of cheating.”

Yet they acknowledge that they “do not have full control over every participant at all times throughout the course.”

That is understandable, because that route is 64 kilometers of a stretch, with the race happening mostly at night and many portions in remote areas with either no people, or all are asleep in their homes.

The organizers mentioned that the reports are “under review,” and that they have “implemented extensive measures to minimize violations,” deployed “monitoring patrol teams” in “dark or less visible” areas.

But still, the issue of cheating keeps repeating year after year.

There were suggestions, from the doable, to the impossible.

One far-out idea is to use drones to monitor the runners. As a drone hobbyist myself, I know that’s impossible. Unless maybe you have a thousand drones that can last 12 hours per flight (most commercial drones can only fly from 12 minutes to an hour for the expensive ones) so you can monitor all the runners at various paces. Still, you have to deal with the limitations of the drone’s obstacle sensing feature, which could not function well at night.

There was also suggestion to show proof in the form of pictures or videos. But if you’re an ultra-runner so focused on having a strong finish, you won’t have time to take pictures. All that’s in your mind would be survival, that you can reach the finish line. Everything else is distraction.

As a runner for 14 years and having run seven ultras from 50k to 103k, with little tech knowledge (that may already be outdated), I have a few suggestions.

GPS tracker

First, require every runner to have a tracker, and submit their “GPS evidence” in the form of TCX or GPX file. I mean Garmin or Coros or Suunto and similar GPS watches. These watches will reveal all the data you need to see if a runner cheated or not. The watch will track the distance you covered, the route you passed through, the time you passed certain points (be it every km or every mile), the elevation of the road (and thus the incline), even your heart rate.

In runner’s lingo we call that “Strava reveal,” Strava being among the most popular apps used to share running data.

That’s a lot of data, and thus easy to spot who cheated.

Say, being a slow runner, my usual pace on flattish roads in the early part of this race is around 8:30 (8 min and 30 sec per km) with heart rate of 130bpm. But when I climb the incline that rose up to 50 meters from kilometer 18 to 20, my pace would surely go slower, in the 10:00ish range. Had it gone faster, say, at 4:00 and my heart rate drops to 110bpm, then anybody looking at my stats would say, “It’s a miracle! Cheater!”

On flat roads or on inclines, it’s easy to spot miracles happening, with the help of all those data.

This suggestion entails no expense on the part of the organizer; maybe just extra work. They can even outsource the investigation to us runners.

Once the runners submit their GPS evidence, maybe in a central repository for everyone to access, or maybe the municipality’s IT team can do it better, so the evidence is clickable on the runner’s name once the results are published.

Us runners have our suspects — anybody whom we passed on the road, and never saw again, yet finding their names (or bib numbers) ahead of us in the results. We will get to know their identities once the pictures of the race are posted online, thanks to the bib numbers.

Trust us: we will scrutinize their GPS evidence, their Strava details. We will check their pace at this kilometer, at that elevation, and verify if their heart rates match their effort.

Then let the runners report to the organizers any anomalies they have uncovered.

That would be fun. I’d spend hours to do that myself. Imagine a thousand runners who felt cheated zealously looking at all those data.

Those who won’t submit their Strava reveal, organizers should not include their names in the results; meaning, not an official finisher. And ban them in succeeding races. Too harsh? Rightly so! They can have their medals and their finisher’s shirts, but all of us runners know they didn’t submit their GPS stats, meaning ….. Or if there’s a valid reason, then they can appeal to the organizers.

Can’t afford a GPS watch?

Of course there will be alibis, as usual.

“I can’t afford a GPS watch!” Um … ahhh … how many pairs of expensive, carbon-plated shoes do you have? Can you tell us the prices of your running apparel?

I know the big brands — like Garmin, Suunto, and Coros — are expensive, that’s why I got the entry level Garmin that’s good enough for runners. In the 2024 edition of this race, I used a cheap Mi Amazfit that I bought for maybe ₱2,000 on Marketplace. In the very first Camiguin 360 in 2014, I installed the Endomondo app (now replaced by MapMyRun) on a cheap Lenovo android phone. So if you have a smartphone (who doesn’t?), there’s no excuse really.

In my opinion, the GPS tracker requirement alone will discourage quite a number of cheaters. They wouldn’t want others looking at the details of their running data.

But let’s explore other options …

Stop the use of support vehicles

Second suggestion: for fairness’s sake, please stop the use of support vehicles. Aside from other runners claiming that some took a ride in their support vehicles in some dark segments, it will give undue advantage to the beneficiary.

If you have support vehicle, you almost do not have to carry anything other than your GPS watch and the required “must bring” items: hydration bottle and headlamp.

I had a lot in my pre-race checklist: belt bag, smartphone, blinker, money (5 100 bills, 1 500 bill, piso coins for ATM just in case), anti-asthma and anti-allergy meds, tissue paper and soap (TMI? hehe), Betadine, Band Aid, 500ml bottled water, siopao, five Gatorade powder sachets, action cam in a small bag, etc.

Weigh them all together and, whew! As veteran runners would say, each ounce counts in an ultra.

In the first few kilometers, I felt the bottled water was weighing me down. The strings of my sling bag were hurting my skin. The water bottle was just too heavy. I threw it in the trash bin at Km5, risking dehydration. But I trust the organizers they won’t let that happen. What a relief!

I cursed myself for bringing a 180gm action cam (237gm including its bag). That was one useless piece of trash for this race. I was able to take video clips only at the starting line, when I was still full of energy. The rest of the way, it was all about survival, each step a painful reminder of how foolish of me to join this race at this age. My soles hurt, my butt hurt, my calves were on fire, so were my ankles and my left knee.

I did benefit from a fellow Iliganon who had support vehicle. Thank you very much for the lakatan! (Sorry, I didn’t even get your name.)

A confession: in the TDR 80 ultra in Davao City in 2015, our group rented a support vehicle. Yes, we were more comfortable than the others, which translates to slight advantage. Especially in the last 10k going to Eden Resort, which was all uphill under the noontime sun. We could sit and rest inside the parked airconditioned van. We never again hired a support vehicle.

An ultramarathon is not easy, it will test your endurance with limited resources at your disposal. It is not a road party where you can have all the food and drinks you want in a long run. We are all expected to suffer. Besides, the Camiguin 360 is timed at the start of Holy Week. So, let’s all suffer together! If you can’t stand the torture, you’re welcome to join the fun runs. There are a lot of them in this running era.

Install CCTVs

And lastly: install IP cameras (what others call CCTVs) in strategic, well-lit places. Say, every 10km? And make sure every runner passes in front of the cameras. These are not expensive these days. You can get them from Shopee or Lazada for ₱1,000 or less. You don’t need the expensive hi-tech models with 8K resolution and AI features. Anything that will record at 1080p can see the bib numbers. That’s good enough. If you want, pass on the expense to the runners. We’re fine with that. That’s maybe a hundred pesos more, maybe less, per participant.

To lessen expense, you don’t have to stream it live. Just post the video clips of the CCTVs online for all the runners to scrutinize. Easy to compare the time stamp against Strava data. If they don’t match, there’s your cheater!

But of course, cheaters will always be cheaters, in whatever aspects of their lives. They’ll find creative ways. Just take a look at this article.

Maybe we can do a Derek Murphy with his marathoninvestigation.com website to catch all those cheaters.

You have any other suggestions to catch the cheaters?

(Bobby Timonera enjoys tinkering with gadgets, starting with typewriters, mimeographing machines, film cameras and darkroom equipment since his college days. He’d often DIY his way when it comes to obtaining otherwise expensive technology, not just to save money, but also for the challenge. That includes his running journey. He once ran barefoot, but now wears DIY huaraches [running sandals]. In this column he shares the “inut” ways he has learned along the way. You can reach him at bob at mindanews dot com. He is also editor in chief of MindaNews.)