SHANGHAI: China has banned for life three runners who broke the rules at the recent Boston Marathon, accusing them of giving the country a bad name and vowing to root out cheats.

Marathon running is growing fast in China but there have been numerous instances of cheating, including a woman who jumped on a bike in a recent domestic race and several others whotook shortcuts.

In the latest cases, one entrant at Monday`s prestigious Boston Marathon gave his bib to someone else while two other Chinese participants presented forged certificates of previous races to gain entry, the Chinese Athletic Association (CAA) said.

`All the three runners were hit with a life han from all road running races underthe CAA,` said Xinhua news agency, citing the association.

`The CAA also reiterated that it will continue to crack down all kinds of cheats in marathons in order to build a healthy and clean environment of road running in China.

The trio`s behaviour `had a negative impact on China in the [international] community`, said the CAA.More than 500 runners from China took part in the 123rd Boston Marathon, Xinhua said.

In 2011, there were just 22 marathons, half-marathons or other running events in China, but that number rocketed to about 1,5001astyear.The surge has seen aspike in cheating and at a domestic marathon last month a woman was caught using a bicycle part of the way.-AFP