Leadville 100 Race Director Pursues Criminal Charges Against Alleged Cheater

guest — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:18:12 GMT

It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote a two-part story on Liars, Cheater and Thieves in your sports. In Part II of the column, I investigated why people do these dishonorable acts and potential options for event directors to pursue offending athletes. I inquired if some of these actions were illegal?

Ken Chlouber, long-time race director for the Leadville Trail 100 series of events, thinks so.

Veteran racer Wendy Lyall used Katie Brazelton’s entry number in the 2009 race. This kind of behavior often goes unnoticed; however Lyall (age 36) happened to place second in the 40-49 age group.

Though details are unclear at this time, somehow Lydall made it past the photo-ID check at registration. This could be done by Brazelton simply picking up all of the registration materials or by Lyall bypassing the registration table or by claiming she left her ID elsewhere and a kind check-in person didn’t push the issue.

The Denver Post reported that a local bike shop pleaded to get Brazelton an entry, when she didn’t get entry via the lottery system. Accommodating the local shop, Chlouber gave Brazelton an entry. According to the Post, Brazelton was injured and didn’t want to be out the $250 entry fee. (Apparently selling the entry to Lyall?)

Tipped off by an anonymous caller, Chlouber is the first race director I’m aware of that has taken a strong stand to protect his asset - the race. He has filed criminal impersonation charges against both Lyall and Brazelton. This is a Class 6 felony.

Chlouber is drawing a hard line in the sand. The race will not tolerate liars, cheaters and thieves. Certainly others will think twice about pulling shenanigans with this race series.

Will other event directors follow this lead? Is it possible that Chlouber has drawn a hard line in the sand not only for his event, but for others as well?

The outcome of the case, and the future of cheaters in endurance sports, will be very interesting.

Blog Posts From Active Expert: Gale Bernhardt Tagged With lyall

Leadville 100 Race Director Pursues Criminal Charges Against Alleged Cheater