On Sunday, Kendall Schler was named winner of the 2015 Go! St. Louis Marathon. She finished in third place the year before, so the win seemed plausible—until race officials discovered that there were no recorded splits from her run via an electronic chip and no witnesses of her during the race. Upon further investigation, officials found the same to be true of her race in 2014.
“We assume she entered the course somewhere toward the end of the race, not knowing that she was going to cross the finish line and break the tape,” Nancy Lieberman, president of host organization Go! St. Louis, told ϳԹ. “Once we did our due diligence, we disqualified her.”
Lieberman says that race officials reviewed a three-point checklist before the decision, including checking with the timing company, USATF spotters along the course, and finally speaking with the cyclist who accompanied the lead woman during the entire race. After a phone call with Schler, during which Lieberman says Schler “didn’t give a full explanation” of what had occurred, the race was forced to nullify her results.
According to Lieberman, Schler had registered for the 2015 Boston Marathon on Monday using her 2014 St. Louis result to qualify. Lieberman informed the Boston Athletic Association, which revoked Schler’s entry.
“With respect to Boston and respect to runners throughout the world who want to run the race, we want to maintain its integrity,” Lieberman says.
Schler declined to comment for this article.
Andrea Karl, a graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis, . Lieberman says a special award ceremony will be held for Karl at Busch Stadium on Sunday night.
“I don’t have any hard feelings toward her,” Karl told ϳԹ. “I was just out there to run my race and have a good time. I’m not concerning myself with the other events.”