The long history of runners taking shortcuts in the marathon

Of all the guarantees that come with running any big city marathon – tortuous muscle cramps, vicious blistering, hitting the wall, etc – there is no escaping the sense of deep satisfaction when crossing the finish line.

Assuming it’s all been achieved by entirely scrupulous and unassisted means. It may or may not yet have even entered the minds of the 22,500 runners who have signed up for this Sunday’s Irish Life Dublin Marathon, but there is a long history of men and women somehow cheating their way to the finish line, and most commonly by way of a simple short cut.