‘FASTEST OAP’ TOOK 10 MILE SHORTCUT!
Updated: 2010-06-01
From Eurosport World of Sport
‘Fastest OAP’ took 10-mile short cut
Anthony Gaskell finished this year’s London Marathon in the fastest time ever recorded by anyone over 65, but it has since been revealed that he took a 10-mile short cut.
Gaskell, a 69-year-old from the Wirral in Merseyside, completed the marathon in a mere three hours and five minutes to find himself in the record books.
The OAP was due to receive a plaque marking his achievement but, six weeks after the event, it was uncovered that he took 10 miles off the course.
Observers questioned how a previously unknown veteran could have performed with such distinction, and an enquiry revealed he completed the second half in under an hour – a time which would have obliterated that of the world record holder, Haile Gebrselassie.
Gaskell was shown to have cut the course just after Tower Bridge, where he subsequently claimed he was injured after falling over a runner ahead of him who had tripped on a safety barrier.
He has insisted he never claimed to have run the last part of the course and that he did not try to pass off the winning time as his own.