Mexican Politician's Lie Catches Up

The organizers of last month's Berlin marathon said they would remove a former Mexican presidential candidate from the list of race winners because he cheated.

Roberto Madrazo, who has run dozens of marathons before, arrived at the finish line arms raised in triumph. His time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 57 seconds was the fasted for men aged 55 and over.

Mr Madrazo stood for the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) in Mexico's presidential elections last year. The PRI ruled Mexico between 1929 and 2000, staying in power with the aid of an uncanny ability to win elections whatever its popularity. Mr Madrazo came a disappointing third, unable to shake off a reputation for being a particularly brazen trickster.

The Mexican's public shaming in Berlin follows days of campaigning by the local newspaper Reforma. Immediately suspicious of the politician's miraculous time, that shaved over an hour off his previous personal best, the newspaper investigated the race details recorded from the microchips all runners carry with them. Each runner's time is automatically clocked as they go past stations placed along the course five minutes apart.

Mr Madrazo completed the first 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the race at his usual pace. Then he disappears from the computer for 15 kilometers before reappearing to finish in grand style.

Doing the sums, the 55-year-old would have had to run the missing section significantly quicker than Haile Gebrselassie, the 34-year-old Ethiopian who set a new world marathon record in the race.

"The system fell, Madrazo wins," ran the headline in Reforma, drawing a direct comparison with the 1988 presidential election, which the PRI won after the computers at the vote-counting center crashed.