Dodge Is Taken Off List in San Francisco Race : Running: Canyon Country woman was credited with third-place finish but can’t be found in film of the race.

San Francisco Marathon officials have disqualified Candy Dodge, who had been credited with finishing third in Sunday’s race, after an investigation revealed that she failed to complete the entire race.

The five-member long-distance racing committee of the Pacific Assn./U.S. Track and Field Assn. voted unanimously Thursday night to strike Dodge’s time from the official race record.

Mark Winitz, chairman of the committee, said the evidence against Dodge was irrefutable.

Dodge did not return phone calls to her Canyon Country home.

Marathon officials said they will release a statement from Dodge when they officially announce the decision at 10 a.m. today.

Dodge, 43, who did not defend herself before the committee, will be unable to collect $4,000 in prize money.

In addition, she could be charged with criminal fraud and attempted grand theft, said John Mansoor, race director.

Dodge’s time of 2 hours 46 minutes 18 seconds had come under scrutiny after a protest was lodged by Laura DeWald, the fifth female finisher.

DeWald and fourth-place finisher Kathy Wood alleged in interviews that Dodge did not start the race but joined it during the last quarter- to half-mile, in a winding, hilly part of the city.

Dodge did not appear in race footage supplied by KGO-TV in San Francisco, and her bib number was not recorded by any of three race monitors, Mansoor said.

Race officials sorted through more than 150 hours of videotape, locating key areas of the race, among them Mile 22, where Dodge failed to appear, Mansoor said.

Race officials had informed Dodge of their findings and expected her to defend herself in a conference call, but she declined, Winitz said.

Dodge has been credited with finishing at least nine marathons, all in times under 3 hours 11 minutes, according to the U.S. Track and Field Assn. Road Racing Information Center.

Sunday’s race was Dodge’s fifth recorded marathon in 1993, an unusually high number, according to several marathon officials.

Included in that span were two marathons in two weeks.

On Jan. 24, at the San Diego Marathon, Dodge’s time was 2:55:24. On Feb. 6, her time for the Las Vegas Marathon was 2:53:28.

Officials in those cities said they were unable to determine whether the times were legitimate.

Dodge’s sub-three-hour times made her one of the top female runners in the 40-49 age group, according to race officials in San Diego, Boston and Las Vegas.