Running Influencer Receives Lifetime Ban From New York Road Runner Races

A running influencer has received a lifetime ban for actions during New York City Marathon.

Nov 3, 2024; New York City, New York, US; Sharon Lokedi (KEN) and other elite women runners are shown in Brooklyn during the New York City Marathon. Looked finished in ninth place in 2:27:45. / Kevin R. Wexler-NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York City Marathon is one of the most popular road races in the world. This year’s edition had more than 55,000 participants running through the five boroughs, with more than 2 million spectators and 10,000 volunteers helping make things go as smoothly as possible.

As a result, it was the biggest marathon of all time. It was a life-changing experience for everyone who partook. But, not for positive reasons for everyone.

One person, running influencer Matt Choi, has been erased from the 2024 New York City Marathon results. A native of Austin, Texas, he completed the race in 2:57:15 but has since been disqualified.

For the majority of the time on the course, he was followed by two people on E-Bikes filming his run.

New York Road Runners, who organize the New York City Marathon and other events in the area, released a statement sharing that Choi has been removed from results and banned from participating in any of their sanctioned races.

“After a review and due to violations of World Athletics rules, and New York Road Runners’ Code of Conduct and Rules of Competition, NYRR has disqualified Matt Choi from the 2024 TCS New York City Marathon and removed him from the results. He has been banned from any future NYRR races,” said the statement released November 4th, 2024, via Sarah Lorge Butler of Runners World.

The statement added that Choi, who is 29 years old, “ran with the assistance of two unauthorized people riding the course on electric bicycles, obstructing runners.”

There were a lot of people unhappy with him after the race concluded online. Reddit and LetsRun had several threads of users not thrilled about the E-Bikes being on the course, making navigation difficult for the other runners at times.

Choi has a sizable following on social media. His Instagram account has more than 405,000 followers and his TikTok is even higher with north of 465,000. He is known for running shirtless and with a backward baseball cap.

People commenting on Instagram did not hold back their displeasure with what he did.

“The disrespect for other runners is disgusting,” one post read. “Get your ‘film crew’ off the course.”

A former football player, this isn’t the first time that the running influencer has found himself in some hot water. Last year, while running the Houston Marathon, he did so while donning someone else’s bib.

While some races do allow swaps to be made, Houston is not one of them. Choi issued an apology after the mishap occurred.

He is a talented runner, logging an average mile time of 6:46 at the New York City Marathon on November 3rd. Back in May, he completed the Brooklyn Half Marathon in 1:24:26, which is an impressive pace of 6:27.