A former Cambridge professor’s striking claim that he completed nine marathons while suffering from a broken leg that had “ballooned” to twice its normal size has come under scrutiny after finish-line photographs appeared to tell a different story.
Jason Arday, 41, recounts the dramatic fundraising feat in his forthcoming autobiography, describing how he ran 30 marathons in 35 days despite having only a few months of training behind him.
The sociologist says that on the 21st day of the challenge he suffered a seizure and collapsed at the roadside, before doctors later identified a small hairline fracture in his right fibula during an X-ray examination.
Arday, who resigned from his Cambridge post on Wednesday amid a bitter plagiarism dispute, was pictured at Piccadilly Circus in the summer of 2010 with both legs appearing normal in size.
The photograph also appears at odds with his memoir’s description of “two or three thousand people” waiting for him by the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, instead showing roughly 50 onlookers gathered nearby.
In the image, Arday is seen walking through the finish line as a small crowd applauds, standing beneath the sign for the former tourist attraction Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.
The scene has prompted questions about the “wave of sound” and “crescendo of cheers” that Arday says propelled him through the final stretch in his upcoming memoir, Great And Unfortunate Things.
According to the academic, he began preparing for the 918-mile marathon challenge in spring 2010 and completed his first run on July 19, with the alleged injury occurring during the 21st leg.
Jason Arday’s dazzling claim he ran nine marathons with a broken leg that ‘ballooned twice its size’ was called into question after photos of the finish line appear to contradict his story
Arday became a poster boy for diversity as the university’s youngest black professor, but is now facing questions about his academic record and bizarre claims
His book, due to be published by Simon and Schuster, tells of Arday’s meteoric rise from an autistic child who could not read or write until the age of 18 to becoming the youngest ever black professor at Cambridge.
Arday wrote: ‘The next nine marathons were truly an ordeal. It took me well over five hours to complete each one. Even though I used painkillers, I was in agony throughout. My right leg ballooned to twice its size.
‘To this day, I don’t really know how I did it. What I do know is that I’m someone who will always push things to the absolute limit, to the point that I don’t even acknowledge that there is a limit.
‘I’m not saying it’s a good thing; I’m saying this is who I am. Eventually, the last day of the challenge dawned. Sponsors arranged for a stretch of Regent Street leading up to Piccadilly Circus to be cordoned off.
‘I could see the statue of Eros… and then there was the tape and a massive banner saying “FINISH”. There must have been about two or three thousand people waiting at the statue.’
It comes after the Daily Mail revealed Arday appeared to pass off an inspirational quote as his own in an early draft of his memoir – before editors had to step in to clarify that it was actually said by tennis legend Rafael Nadal.
A poster boy for diversity as the university’s youngest ever black professor, he was initially backed by Cambridge – which had condemned a ‘vile campaign to undermine his credibility’.
But after this paper revealed a string of universities disputed Professor Arday’s claims that he held academic posts with them, the university announced it was taking action.
In a letter addressed to colleagues published on the Good Law Project’s website on Wednesday, Arday announced he was resigning.
He said: ‘While criticism is an inevitable part of academic life, what I have experienced has gone far beyond scholarly disagreement. The relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary have taken a profound toll on me and on those I love.’
Arday said that the ‘only way to bring this chapter to an end is to step away’, adding: ‘This decision should not be interpreted as a loss of faith in scholarship or in the values that first brought me to Cambridge.
‘Nor should it be mistaken for an acceptance of the narratives that have surrounded me. It is simply the decision of someone who has reached the limits of what any person should reasonably be expected to endure.’
Before resigning, an emotional Arday claimed to the Daily Mail that the criticism had ‘destroyed his life’.
He insisted that the rising tide of scepticism about his achievement is the culmination of attempts by unnamed enemies who have spent more than three years trying to ruin him.
He said: ‘My reputation is destroyed, my career is destroyed. I’m an “academic fraud, a fantasist and a liar”.’
Arday pictured at the finish line of the marathon. He was photographed at Piccadilly Circus with two regular-sized legs despite claims to the contrary
Footage has also emerged from a talk the professor gave in 2022 in which he claimed to have appeared in the TV series Seven Up (Pictured: The original Seven Up show which aired in 1964)
The sociologist didn’t respond to our specific questions on aspects of his various stories that have drawn scrutiny for inconsistency or implausibility – but instead launched into a tirade during which he became increasingly visibly upset.
He insisted: ‘What’s been published about me isn’t right. But it doesn’t matter what I say anymore, the narrative is already out there.
‘I can tell people this [these accusations] was a plan for the past three and a half years. But everything I’ve done over the last 20 years has been trying to be a good person, trying to do the right thing.
‘I have to accept it, I have no idea why this has happened to me. I don’t think anyone is interested in my side of things, it has gone so far the other way.’
