London Man Forfeits Marathon Medal After Officials Discover He Took Bus for Five Miles

When runners cramp up, they generally will either take a minute to stretch out or fight through the pain until the bitter end. Or they’ll just hop on a bus to get to the finish line.

Rob Sloan, a 31-year-old former Army mechanic, competed in the Kielder Marathon in Northumberland, England. Not only did he take a five-mile bus ride during the race, but he took a few shortcuts through the woods before rejoining the course to finish in third place with a time of two hours and 51 minutes, The Huffington Post reports.

Race officials described Sloan’s cheating as “as bad as drug-taking.” He even had the audacity to reportedly take a goody bag and a T-shirt. The true third-place finisher, Steven Cairns, had this to say about Sloan’s antics.

“I was third the whole way but somehow I crossed the line and was given fourth! I started to doubt myself as he was adamant he had gone past me,” he said. “I could understand him taking the goody bag and the T-shirt but to do the press interview claiming he was third?”