zachsccr said:

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I'm a fan of randomly placed mats on course. Have some of the normals (half way, quarter of the way, every 5k, or what ever), but also include 1-2, depending on race distance, that are unannounced. Would it solve things? No. But it might help dissuade some cheaters or make it harder.

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is it reasonable to say cheaters look for u sections in course and just cut them off. So placement at the more curvy sections would make sense?

While geography and layout matter, people cheat even on point to point courses.

I know the last time I ran BCS two easy options for course cutting had timing mats at the furthest point of and out and back (10k & 13.1) on the marathon course. I'm sure some races try to anticipate this, but it's hard because 99% of runners are there running honorably. Races have to try and keep things fair while not jacking up prices or impeding the event to stop cheaters.

You can put mats wherever you want, but most RDs are not going to comb through results to see who might have cheated. It takes someone reporting it for the RD to potentially look at it. Many don't care either way.

Not to mention this guy wasn't just cutting out & backs. He was committed to cheating. The only way to combat that would be with timing mats every mile (which I'd assume is expensive and tedious) or with GPS chips (which is too expensive). It seems the easy solutions are either having vigilantes going after these guys or more expensive entry fees.