Shoe Slapper wrote:
I have no idea whether, with months and months of time, someone could manually alter every single data point in a Tom Tom watch GPS file in order to fudge a race. Terrie did, apparently, scroll through thousands of pictures taken of the race until she found one of Dave. However, it seems unlikely that the Tom Tom was faked. So we should accept that Dave ran the marathon and completed it in 4:19, until proven otherwise.
Tom Tom watches store GPS data in files on the watch in either KML or GPX format.
There are applications which exist to "clean up" a GPX file without any code wizardry required. See, for example, this search:
https://www.google.com/search?q=edit+gpx+fileGiven that you can also just edit them in a text editor, it doesn't seem that hard to alter.
What if Terrie or Dave:
(1) walked the route of the London Marathon sometime after the race to generate a starting file with appropriate location points.
(2) mapped out the pace/times required to match their claim with London.
(3) modified time data for each location point in order to match the claimed finish.
The only barrier I can see is the time and effort required to revise thousands and thousands of data points. The only upside I see is the ability to deliver "proof" months after the race.
An alternate option would be to ride a bike over the route. That might be an easier way to match the time and only be left with the false cadence data to input.
Speaking of cadence, someone up-thread commented on how unusual it is for the cadence of a runner to remain so consistent even as their pace dropped across the course of a marathon. Could be a marker of faked data points...