How a Beijing half marathon is cracking down on cheaters
Facial recognition system to be used in upcoming race to deter runners from employing ringers to run on their behalf, state media reports
Organisers of a Beijing half marathon are cracking down on people who try to cheat their way into getting a medal, state media reported.
About 20,000 runners are expected to take part in the race this Sunday and they will have to scan their biometric data into a facial-recognition system before they can run, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported, citing the General Administration of Sport.
The aim is to stop competitors from getting other people to run the race for them using their running shirt number. Other forms of cheating include people carrying more than one race-tracking chip while running, the report said.
“Once I saw a man running with a woman’s number bib,” one runner told Xinhua after last year’s event. “The bib colours for male and female runners are different. Anyone who wasn’t colour blind could easily spot it, but all the referees along the route just turned a blind eye.”
Running has gained popularity in China in recent years, with the number of marathons rising from 134 in 2015 to 328 last year.