Mexican politician can't outrun suspicions of fraud

Last update: October 4, 2007 - 8:21 PM

MEXICO CITY - Former Mexican presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo disappeared midway through the Berlin Marathon on Sunday before reappearing 9 miles later, winning first in his age group and shaving an hour off his personal record.

Race organizers brag the course is fast -- a new world record was set Sunday -- but rather than applaud Madrazo's victory in the "men's 55-and-over" category with a time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 57 seconds, Mexico City's Reforma newspaper has dredged up suspicions that have dogged Madrazo his entire career: Could he have cheated?

Madrazo finished third in the 2006 presidential election, largely because voters questioned his wealth accumulated during a lifetime of elected offices with the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

Maybe he just hit his stride Sunday, but many Mexicans are questioning how Madrazo, a veteran marathoner, could have cut his best time on the 26.2-mile race by about an hour.

It's going to be difficult for Madrazo to defuse the suspicions, thanks to the Germans' obsession with accuracy. Runners carried a microchip that recorded their times every five kilometers along the course.

Madrazo ran the first half at a respectable 1:42:42. Then he slipped into a Berlin Triangle: There's no record of him passing the 25- or 30-kilometer marks.

"The System Fell, Madrazo Wins," blared Reforma's headline, echoing a 1988 election riddled with fraud allegations.

A Madrazo spokeswoman denied any mischief, saying, "It's absurd to think you can manipulate a marathon race as important as the Berlin Marathon."

LOS ANGELES TIMES

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