Couple say they are “truly sorry” for “cheating” the London Marathon

A married couple has said they are “truly sorry” for “cheating” the London Marathon.

Monika Czarnecka and her husband Piotr have apologised for “cheating” the London Marathon after they were seen running together and wearing the same number (11250).

It was found on October 3 that only Monika was registered for the iconic 26.2 mile course and Piotr had produced a fake race number so that he could run next to her along the route to offer “moral support.”

They were found out after both of them posted their results on Strava and later deleted the entries.

The pair finished in 21,697th place in a time of 4:40:58 with Monika, from Buckinghamshire, saying: “I’m truly sorry for what we’ve done and didn’t want to cause any harm.”

“The supporters were amazing, and their cheering and clapping helped me finish the marathon and it hurts to think that I’ve let them down.”

“This was my first marathon and I needed Piotr’s support because I was worried sick that I wouldn’t be able to finish it.”

Piotr added: “It was all my idea and I take full responsibility for it. I know it’s wrong and I’m truly sorry, but I did what I did to support my wife.”

Around 40,000 runners ran in the marathon and another 40,000 completed it virtually.

The London Marathon is renowned for being tricky to get a place and those who manage to be selected at random are then charged £49 to race.

The London Marathon confirmed that they are investigating how the couple managed to cheat.

A spokesperson said: “We are aware of the images that show two runners wearing identical numbers and we are investigating.”

“We take any incident where a participant cheats or forges numbers extremely seriously.”

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