Kielder Half Marathon: Two front-runners disqualified

The Kielder course is reputed to be among the world's most picturesque marathons

Two half-marathon runners, including the apparent winner, were disqualified for wearing other people's bib numbers.

The men took part in the Kielder Half Marathon on Sunday despite being unregistered for the event.

Organisers said the person who crossed the line first committed a "serious breach of the rules" and "deprived" the actual winner of a "moment of glory".

The second runner, who had led the race at one point, used a female runner's number.

Despite being warned twice, he took part in the run before being persuaded to stop before the finish.

Around 3,500 people took part in running events over the weekend

Organisers said the actual winner - a third man called John Butters - lost out on the day amid confusion while the two runners who should have been presented with the second and third-place prizes were not.

"[The actual winners] missed out on celebrating their achievements in front of family, friends and other spectators," the organisers said.

'Bib-swapping'

Race director and former athlete Allison Curbishley said a man had contacted them asking to use a specific number and was told it was not allowed.

Nonetheless he ran with that number and name, which belonged to a woman, and led the half marathon, before agreeing to step off the course, she said.

"Unfortunately bib-swapping does happen in races and spoils [them] for other participants," she said.

Race director and former athlete Allison Curbishley criticised bib-swapping

A man running behind him in the same race had also used someone else's number and was also not registered, organisers said.

This man did not turn up to collect the winner's prize.

Chris Lines, a spokesperson for the event, said: "We couldn't be sure even then but we had some doubts."

He said that it had taken some time to work out what had happened, despite the use of digital technology to time athletes at this event. "As well as chip timing, we also have officials recording manual results and looking out for anything that might not be right," he said.

"These guys are from the grassroots athletics community and have a deep knowledge of runners, their clubs and their relative abilities. We had already established that something might be amiss but we weren't able to verify everything until later, once we'd examined images from the day and looked at times recorded by the registered runner in previous events.

"At the time of the [winners'] presentation, we made announcements in good faith and based on the information available then."

'Honesty and integrity'

About 3,500 runners attended races at the Active Northumberland Kielder Marathon on Saturday and Sunday, held at at Northumbrian Water's Kielder Waterside Park.

Runners preparing for the event around northern Europe's largest man-made lake

Mr Lines told the BBC he believed that the fact the first two runners in the race were running illicitly was "a coincidence" and that he could only "speculate" about why the two men had used other people's numbers.

"It's indefensible because they knew they were running on someone else's numbers," he said.

Explaining why wearing the right bib matters he said: "This is about the honesty and integrity of the individuals and the events."

He explained that the results of the race go on a database and that if the deception had not been discovered, this could potentially have led to cheating.

(Left to right) Kieran Ingram, of Northumbrian Water, eventual half-marathon winner John Butters, eventual-second-placed runner Sam Green and Northumberland councillor Jeffrey Watson

The actual winner, Mr Butters, crossed the line of the 13-mile-plus course with a time of one hour and 19 minutes, 38 seconds. The two disqualified men were both ahead of him, though it is unclear by how much.

"The results of the race go on an official database," said Mr Lines "And these would have been official [but] untrue stats."

He also said that wearing the right bib number is important if a competitor is taken ill. "[We] would check the bib number and call the emergency contact," he said.

"If it were not the right person and, for example, if they had a condition we didn't know about, it could be very serious."

The half-marathon course is almost entirely off-road

The event's organisers said they would be "taking appropriate action" over the incident and that England Athletics had been told.

"We condemn the actions of both of the runners [who were wearing the wrong numbers] and those who were complicit," the organiser said.

"They did not ruin the Kielder Marathon weekend but they did taint it - particularly for those other runners who were directly affected by what they did."

England Athletics has been approached by the BBC for a comment.

Running at Kielder has seen controversy before - in 2011 a competitor was accused of travelling part of the way by bus.