Good try because you never know, but as I said earlier, it's most likely the old stepping off the course trick or faking like one has to use the bathroom and going AWOL for a while.
How did Oscar Miranda do it in the 1981 Boston Marathon? He jumped in near the end, pre-chip and mat days, and 2 guys recalled seeing him enter the course through the crowds. He couldn't run a 2:17 marathon but he could run that pace near the end and the guys behind him were still catching him. I don't think he planned to well to believe that he didn't have a 10k pr at that pace and had just set the world record for his age group. Meaning people are going to ask questions as in what races did you run leading up to this. How do you train? How fast did you run last year? He forgot about those things and couldn't face the music (questions) after he finished.
I ran in NY and dozens of males were lined up "taking a leak" on the sides of buildings all over the course. One could have easily taken a quicker route to Central Park and blended in without any big deal. I have seen guys bolt back onto a course in past years and they were probably legit. Now with mats and cameras, it's a different ballgame. RD's will contact you for an explanation. If it's not good, off the official results sheet you go.
In Traverse City, it would be easy to exit off and enter on when things are clear, super easy actually. 99.9999% of us wouldn't do it and the only reason this guy is standing out is the times that he has claimed, the world record website, running for a charity, his body size, and winning divisions that he allegedly didn't really win...and then taking home prize money to boot. He got greedy.
Look at the NYC Marathon course map below. To get the 5 or 6 blocks from 16 miles across to the park would be easy. Having a sweatshirt pulled up till that point and then pulling it down while walking across to the park would be quite easy. Then pull it back up and blend in or take it off completely. You will miss mats or at least one for sure, but honestly, it wouldn't be that hard. I could pull it off easily by missing only one mat, but I'd never do it.
I am certainly NOT saying that I've got the answer, but most likely that's what he did for the races that actually exist. He's basically gambling that he isn't caught with someone seeing him in a different running outfits or catching him off the course and then seeing him finish. But when he doesn't show up in video or cameras at let's say the half way point, he gets DQ'ed. Then he just moves onto the next race hoping to stay under the radar.
Making up races is just beyond sociopathic. I would be very, very surprised if no one in his family knew. Sure it can be pulled off, but it wouldn't be easy.
I doubt he'd have a bike stashed (logistics) and although he may have an accomplice, that could be a mistake as well. Without a car or a bike, being on foot and shortening things is pretty much it if he actually started the race.
As I said about 10 pages ago:):), I am fairly certain RW or another source is going to do a piece on this. It's too intriguing based off his claims, his age, and his profession.
Long-winded, I know, but I seriously don't think there's any trick to what he's doing. He's had some luck for sure and he seems to have no conscious.
http://www.ingnycmarathon.org/documents/INGNYCM10_Course_Map_For_Media-4.pdf