Internet sleuths call out fake finish-time tattoos

April 8, 2026

Getting your race time tattooed on your body might seem like a bold move. But what about getting a time tattooed that doesn’t match your official result? A pair of internet sleuths, who call themselves the Official Marathon Time Investigation Unit (OMTIU), compared three runners’ race data, GPS activity and social media claims, and discovered that the finish times the runners got tattooed onto their bodies were a little faster than their actual times.

The sleuths had grown frustrated with what they saw as a growing trend from fitness influencers, posting misleading or inflated race results based on GPS data rather than official chip times, and in 2025, they created the OMTIU Instagram page to call out fraudsters.

Getting your race time tattooed on your body might seem like a bold move. But what about getting a time tattooed that doesn’t match your official result? A pair of internet sleuths, who call themselves the Official Marathon Time Investigation Unit (OMTIU), compared three runners’ race data, GPS activity and social media claims, and discovered that the finish times the runners got tattooed onto their bodies were a little faster than their actual times.

The sleuths had grown frustrated with what they saw as a growing trend from fitness influencers, posting misleading or inflated race results based on GPS data rather than official chip times, and in 2025, they created the OMTIU Instagram page to call out fraudsters.CANADIAN Running Magazine