Running influencer Matt Choi (Image: Instagram)
On Sunday, running influencer Matt Choi was banned for life from the New York City Marathon after he had two cameramen follow him on electric bikes throughout the duration of the race.
The New York City Marathon is an annual event where runners make their way across a 26-mile track that weaves throughout the five boroughs.
The non-profit that runs the marathon released a statement, “After a review and due to violations of World Athletics rules, and New York Road Runners’ Code of Conduct and Rules of Competition, NYRR has disqualified Matt Choi from the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon and removed him from the results.”
Choi’s time of 2:57:15 was vacated in response.
Choi did not contest the disqualification but rather used his mistake to highlight his inexcusable behavior, writing on Instagram, “E-bikes don’t belong in races. No excuses.”
He continued, “I was selfish & take full accountability of my actions. I apologize to all the runners impacted. I accept my DQ & lifetime ban from @nyrr. Never again.”
In a video accompanying this statement, Choi expanded on the incident, admitting to his followers, “I was selfish on Sunday to have my brother and videographer follow me around the course on e-bikes, and it had serious consequences.”
“We endangered other runners; we impacted people… we blocked people getting water… with the New York City Marathon being about everyone else and the community, I made it about myself. And for anyone I impacted, I’m sorry,” He said.
Choi, a Division I football player at Monmouth University in New Jersey, gained attention as a personal trainer on Instagram during the pandemic, which attracted him several sponsors.
In his video, Choi made clear that none of his sponsors condoned his behavior in the race and that it was very much his own doing. However, one of Choi’s sponsors, the training app Runna, announced it had severed ties with Choi due to the incident.
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