A running influencer from Texas has been disqualified from the New York City Marathon and banned from future New York City running events after he ran part of the course with people on e-bikes filming him.
Matthew Choi, of Austin, was disqualified from the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday and removed from the results, New York Road Runners said in a statement.
He was further banned from any future NYRR races.
The move came after “a review and due to violations of World Athletic rules, and New York Road Runners’ Code of Conduct and Rules of Competition.”
The organization said that Choi had ran with the assistance of two unauthorized people riding the course on electric bicycles, which obstructed runners.
Choi offered an apology in a video shared Tuesday afternoon on social media. On Instagram he boasts 404,000 followers and over 465,000 on Tik Tok.
“I f—ed up. This wasn’t a video I was planning on making. But I have no excuses, full stop. I was selfish on Sunday to have my brother and my videographer follow me around on the course on e-bikes and it had serious consequences,” he said.
“We endangered other runners, we impacted people going for PB’s (personal bests), we blocked people from getting water. And with the New York City Marathon being about everyone else, and about the community, I made it about myself. And for anyone I impacted, I’m sorry,” he continued.
He said the incident was “100% on me.”
“It wasn’t my brother trying to get a shot. It wasn’t my partners asking me to get content. I just got really excited about the thought of hitting Sub 3 New York and I got overzealous about getting all the shots,” he explained.
He said he got an email from New York Road Runners on Monday night about his disqualification and lifetime ban.
“Although there’s an opportunity to appeal it, I’m not going to. I made my bed so I’m gonna lay in it. This isn’t the first time being called out for using e-bikes to shoot content but that stops here. It won’t happen again. My word is my bond,” Choi promised.
On Monday he had shared an Instagram reel showing himself running along the NYC marathon path. He said he finished the race with a time of 2:57:15 at a pace of 6.44/mile.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
