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Boston Marathoner DNFs, then grabs finisher’s medal

The accusation comes in a year when a shortage left some finishers without a medal

Boston marathon cheater Photo by: Tim Hepler/Facebook

A runner in the men’s 60-64 division allegedly picked up a finisher’s medal at this year’s Boston Marathon despite not finishing the race, according to a new report by marathoninvestigation.com.

According to the report, Tim Hepler of Mount Holly, N.C., who opened the first 5 km of the race in a 5:00-km pace, slowed to a 5:36-km pace at around the 25 km mark and appears to have dropped out of the race at some point before the 30 km mark.

An archived social media post apparently written by Hepler after the marathon states: “Dropped out at Mile 18.5 with hypothermia and nausea. Sorry I didn’t prepare for the pouring wind rain and cold. Medical tents were full that day.”

However, Hepler appears to have received transportation to the finish line by unknown means after dropping out. He can be seen in photos near the finish line wearing a finisher’s medal, which some legitimate finishers of this year’s marathon did not receive on race day due to supplies being limited.

Photo: Tim Hepler/Facebook

Hepler has been the subject of a previous marathoninvestigation.com report that casts doubt on whether he should even have been allowed to race at this year’s Boston Marathon. That report shows that at the Boston Bound Marathon, a 1.6-km looped course Hepler ran last September to qualify for the Boston Marathon, he recorded several suspicious splits, including one sub-six-minute loop. Hepler finished the qualifier with a time of 3:23:29, breaking his previous marathon PB by nearly 90 minutes, and giving rise to allegations of course cutting.

That race result qualified Hepler for both this year’s Boston Marathon and the 2024 event. In its new report on the alleged medal theft, marathoninvestigation.com notes that organizers of the Boston Bound Marathon have said that they would not disqualify Hepler’s Boston Marathon qualifying time unless a witness stepped forward to corroborate the accusations of course cutting. As such, Hepler remains eligible to run next year’s Boston Marathon.

The recent accusations that Hepler claimed a medal he didn’t earn are in stark contrast to Canadian Running’s recent story on Kevin Curnock, a Toronto runner who gifted the finisher’s medal he earned in this year’s race to first-time marathoner Tayla Savage, who completed the Boston Marathon course following an epic eight-hour effort.

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