A spectator picked up his missing bib – 35179 – and ran the last few miles before making off with his silverware. (Picture: Marathonfoto)

London Marathon bosses are investigating after an imposter picked up a runner’s fallen race number less than two miles from the end – and then stole his medal.

Exhausted Jake Halliday is said to have lost his competitor number around 15 minutes from the end of last Sunday’s event.

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Because runners are not allowed to take part without official numbers, gutted Jake was apparently taken off the course just after he hit 24 miles.

But a spectator picked up his missing bib – 35179 – and ran the last few miles before making off with his silverware.


The hoaxer – who appears to be naked from the waist up – can even be seen at the end in official marathon photos with Jake’s race number clearly visible kissing the stolen medal.

The hoaxer – who appears to be naked from the waist up – can even be seen at the end in official marathon photos with Jake’s race number clearly visible kissing the stolen medal. (Picture: Marathonfoto)

Exhausted Jake Halliday is said to have lost his competitor number around 15 minutes from the end of last Sunday’s event. (Picture: Marathonfoto)

Jake was running for blood cancer charity Bloodwise and was last tracked with 1.4 miles to go.



He was estimated to finish the marathon in under three and three quarter hours.

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But because his number fell off, Jake could not complete the course.

Peter Mowbray, 51, from Blackpool, Lancashire, wrote a Facebook post about the debacle.

He and his wife Louise, 45, were running their first marathon on Sunday for Sense raising £3,000 between them.

Mr Mowbray said there were rumours at the finish line that somebody had been removed from the course and didn’t get his medal because he wasn’t wearing a number.

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He then chatted to other runners, who identified Mr Halliday as the medal theft victim.

Mr Mowbray said: ‘I couldn’t believe this so we went on the Virgin London Marathon website and you can clearly see Jake’s number and you can clearly see the pictures of Jake are completely different to the guy with his number at the end.

‘Running a marathon takes over your life, you think about training, nutrition, avoiding injury, a huge amount dedication, and that’s before you think about raising money for your charity.

Jake Halliday with fellow fundraisers Andrew Keiller and Chris Chisholm (Picture: Triangle News)

‘For this man to take all the glory and credit for someone else’s hard work and endeavour really makes me question human life at the moment, it really does.

‘To see this man smiling and postulating with someone else’s medal made me personally very very angry. I felt very sick at first.

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‘I wanted to share it on social media, because the power of social media is incredible and I want to make people aware.’

Jake, 28, was running with friend Andrew Keiller, also 28.

They were part of an Edinburgh trio fund-raising for Andrew’s girlfriend Emma, who was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in October 2016.

Chris Chisholm, 28, will take part in the Stirling marathon this weekend, taking their fund-raising total to £48,546, smashing their initial £20,000 target.

On their fundraising page it says: ‘Bloodwise is a wonderful charity that funds research into life saving blood cancer treatments, as well as providing support to patients and their loved ones.

‘Their incredible work has saved Emma and thousands of others.’

The London Marathon Events team said: ‘We are aware of this and a full investigation is in progress.’

A spokeswoman for Bloodwise said they were also investigating.