Marathon Couple Disqualified

By CHRIS FOSTER

May 2, 1997 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

John and Suzanne Murphy, a married couple from Cypress who were apparent age-group winners in the race, were disqualified from the Boston Marathon, Boston Athletic Assn. spokesman Jack Fleming said Thursday.

Suzanne Murphy disputed the ruling, saying that she and her husband ran the entire race.

The Murphys were informed of the decision Thursday morning.

“The failure to appear on the surveillance video tapes was cause for them to be disqualified,” Fleming said.

Suzanne Murphy said that she and her husband wore computer chips on their shoes, and that she wore a shirt through the early part of the race that might have obscured her number.

“We were wearing chips just like they do in L.A., so I didn’t think seeing the number was all that important,” said Murphy, who added that she has run the Boston Marathon seven times.

The races uses a combination of computer chip registration points at the beginning, midpoint and end of the course, and surveillance cameras mounted at secret points throughout the race.

Boston officials said the Murphys registered at three checkpoints throughout the race, but they declined to speculate publicly how the runners could have checked in on the computer, but not on the cameras.

John Murphy, 61, won in the men’s senior division (ages 60 and over), and his time of 2 hours 43 minutes 9 seconds was the second-fastest ever by a United State’s senior runner. It was also more than seven minutes faster than his time in the Los Angeles Marathon on March 2.

Suzanne Murphy, 59, won the women’s veterans division (ages 50-59) in Boston. Her time of 3:12:18 was the eighth-fastest ever among women in her age group. She ran 3:14.46 in the L.A. Marathon and won the 50-59 age group.

Fleming said that about a half-dozen runners are disqualified from the marathon each year. The Murphys are the only ones to be disqualified from the 1997 race thus far.

The second-place finishers--Anthony Cerminaro, 60, of Jermyn, Pa., (2:54.17) and Susan Gustafson, 50, of Norwell, Mass., (3:19:47)--were declared the winners.

“It’s their rules,” Suzanne Murphy said, “so if we’re disqualified, I guess we’re disqualified.”