Rosie Ruiz, Infamous for Cheating 1980 Boston Marathon, Dies at 66 – runnersworld.com

Rosie Ruiz, whose name is notoriously synonymous with marathon cheating, died on July 8, from cancer, according to an obituary posted by her family in Palm Beach, Florida. She was 66 and known as Rosie M. Vivas.

Ruiz infamously jumped into the 1980 Boston Marathon in the final stretch of the race and claimed the women’s win ahead of the true champion, Jacqueline Gareau of Québec. Runners and fans have always resented that Ruiz basked in acclamation for her supposed come-from-behind victory and refused to admit guilt. Gareau had to cross the finish line with no recognition of her course record time of 2:34:28, or her dominant defeat of the prerace favorite, Patti Lyons of Boston, who was second in 2:35:08.

It was also found that Ruiz began her course-cutting career in her first marathon, New York City in 1979, when she either dropped out, or skipped the course completely, and was seen on the subway to Central Park. She crossed the finish line, receiving medical attention for a supposedly injured ankle, and her bar code was recorded as a finisher. That gave her a Boston qualification for 1980. Her employer, thrilled by her result, paid her expenses to go to Boston.

Doubts quickly surfaced after she finished as the women’s winner in Boston. Her fresh appearance and sweat-free T-shirt did not fit with a hard 26 miles on a sunny day in the mid-70s. In one photo, she ill-advisedly raised her arms in jubilation to reveal totally dry armpits.

In a postrace interview, she seemed astoundingly at a loss of how real runners win marathons. “What are intervals?” she responded to television interviewer Kathrine Switzer, when asked about the details of her training. Switzer had commentated on almost the whole women’s race in a golf cart alongside the leaders and was perplexed that she had been calling Gareau as the clear winner over Lyons when she had to leave the course with two miles to go. But in that early development era in women’s marathoning, unexpected new talent was still sometimes emerging, and few wanted to condemn Ruiz outright without due process.

The full story of her New York performance quickly emerged, video evidence was consulted, and Ruiz was disqualified from that race. A disqualification from Boston followed eight days after the race. Gareau was brought back from Canada to enact a true victory ceremony alongside men’s winner Bill Rodgers.

The story gained huge media attention, and Ruiz acquired public notoriety and lasting name recognition. “Doing a Rosie” is still runners’ slang for cheating by cutting the course, which still occurs to this day even with race directors and fans of the sport watchful of such acts. A Kenmore Square bar (one mile from the finish) on Boston Marathon Day annually displays a sign, “Rosie Ruiz started here.” T-shirts emblazoned with a subway token and “Rosie Ruiz Track Club” did good business for some years.

Ruiz persisted in claiming that she had run the whole distance and refused to return the winner’s medal. A few years after the race she was charged with writing bad checks, and in the next two years she was sentenced to probation for grand larceny, forgery, and cocaine dealing. There have been many explanations for her conduct, such as the possibility that she had suffered brain damage during surgery to remove tumors in 1973 and 1978.

She withdrew from public attention and lived a seemingly admired and contented life in Florida. Her obituary makes no reference to her Boston infamy, nor to any of the events of 1979 to 1983, describing her as in continuous employment, and working also in real estate and as a public notary. She lived in a stable domestic relationship and helped raise her partner’s three children. She is survived by her domestic partner and her three sons and their families, and by her own brother and family.

Roger Robinson ran for England and New Zealand at world level, and set masters marathon records at Boston and New York, with a best of 2:18:44, at age 41.