The anti-corruption Garda who was banned from the Dublin marathon after being suspected of taking the Luas during the race has told pals he was just trying to pick up his gear.
The man handed back his medal and t-shirt after questions were raised over his time - but it's believed he only ever intended to run half of it.
Marathon chiefs said the man had apologised and “will be disqualified from future Dublin Marathon or Dublin Race Series events” as a result.
However, the Mirror has learned that the Garda is now claiming the incident was a misunderstanding and that he had only ever planned to complete 13 of the 26.2 miles which make up the course.
READ MORE: Garda who used Luas to compete in Dublin Marathon gets lifetime ban as he apologises
A source said: “He has been telling friends that after he had gone that far, he was knackered and decided to call it a day.
“So he says he got on public transport to pick up his gear, but the only way he could do that was to walk across the finishing line.
“According to him, when he did that, he was automatically given the medal. He says he wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.”
Race organisers began their own investigation after the man’s average times seemed to dramatically improve during the second half of the marathon.
The garda had an average running pace of nearly 10 minutes per mile during the first half of the race but this fell to nearly six minutes per mile after that.
The marathon is always heavily stewarded with individual competitors’ times checked at different stages to prevent cheating.
Garda bosses have launched their own probe into the matter, which is being viewed as a hugely embarrassing incident within the force.
A Garda spokesman said: “An Garda Síochána is aware of a matter at the recent Dublin City Marathon involving an off-duty Garda.
“An Garda Síochána is currently conducting an internal fact-finding review of the matter.”
Last month’s Dublin Marathon was the first one since 2019 after the ones in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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