2:34 the Easy Way...Not in China

There are always certain challenges in life that goad people into doing foolish things. Triathlons come to mind, especially those "Ironman" things in which one spends a mile or so in open water followed by 100 miles on a bicycle and 26.5 miles running...mostly for the thrill of finishing and being able to live to tell about it. Since my best swimming stroke is called the "sinker", I was not challenged at all by such foolishness. Nor would I try to climb Mt. Everest, especially after getting altitude sick walking up a "fourteener" in Colorado. But what if I absolutely HAD to? I once ran marathons for the challenges of succeeding at a certain level, but I never HAD to do it...I wanted to. Good thing I didn't live in China when I was younger.
The story has emerged from the Xiamen International Marathon that 30 male competitors were recently disqualified for cheating. This, in itself, is nothing new. Heck, we even had Rosie Ruiz "win" the Boston Marathon during the early days of women's marathoning...only to be disqualified when it became apparent that she had motorized help in the form of a city bus!
Anyway, at this particular event, some of the shamed runners were eliminated after it was discovered that they, too, had not run the entire distance; some carried more than one timing chip (enabling the second runner to potentially sit on the couch with chips and an adult beverage and be credited for a good time. Some of the dastardly villains even HIRED someone else to run the race for them!
"Where's the challenge? What's the point? " I hear you scream. Here's the skinny, according to the Jiefang Daily newspaper: It seemed that all the discredited runners were timed at less than 2 hours and 34 minutes...faster than I've ever run by a minute or so. Why such an odd time? It seems that a young man who can accomplish this feat in China is awarded bonus points on his college application! Seriously! College entrance is SO competitive in China that even something as seemingly innocuous as a fast marathon time can grease the skids to gain acceptance into a university. Study? apparently, there's plenty of that being done as well.
Who could have time to train? Marathons are not easy...thus the cheating gene taking over.
Wow!
And folks think we should be MORE like these people?