An 18-year-old who ran the London Marathon for the first time last month and wasn't picked up by at the 5k mark needs to prove he can run 10k in just over half an hour, marathon organisers have said.

Ryan Lee, from Poplar, has been removed from the official list of marathon finishers because there is no record of him passing the 5k point in Greenwich.

Earlier this week, his mother Elizabeth Lee, 36, started scouring the web and social media for photographs to prove he was running in the first 5k.

She told News Shopper that her son has only done one 10k run before and as his time was higher than 33 minutes, the marathon organisers wouldn't accept it as proof.

She says: “They have also said he can run a 10k at the end of the month but he shouldn’t have to.

“We are of no doubt that he ran the distance and can do it again but they have treated him very harshly and branded him a cheater by removing him from the finishers’ website.”

Hugh Brasher, event director of the Virgin Money London Marathon, said that a system is in place to highlight results needing explanation, including missing split times and unusual split time patterns.

He says: “We contact runners identified through this system to ask them to provide an explanation.

“In Ryan’s case, there was no time shown in his results from the 5km timing mat and his time at the 10km mat was 34 minutes and 10 seconds.

“All his split times from that point for each 5km were about 30 minutes (i.e. about an hour for each subsequent 10km).

“We have not accused Ryan of cheating.

“We have asked him for an explanation for the time differential and we have also asked him for evidence that he has previously run a 10km in about 33 minutes or a 5km (such as a parkrun) in about 16 minutse and 20 seconds.

“To date, he has not provided that evidence.

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“We have also sent him an entry form for a free place in a 10km run we organise at the end of this month so that he can demonstrate that he can run 10k in 33 minutes and 30 seconds.

“Ryan has not been disqualified, nor has he been banned from future events organised by the London Marathon.

“His results have currently been removed from the database while the investigation is ongoing.”

But Ms Lee feels her son's guilt is being unfairly assumed.

She says: “If they only wanted a time confirmed they could have left him on and said they would like to invite him to the 10K run in London just to confirm.

“But what they actually said was that it is very unlikely anyone could run that speed that my son did and that they will be removing him as I cannot prove that he did so.

“When I asked why they didn't need to prove he didn't run it the response was “we have proof”.

“Well in my opinion saying that he ran too quickly is not proof.”

American marathon investigator Derek Murphy, from Ohio, usually uses his talents to out cheaters in the Boston Marathon but has lent his expertise to Ryan’s case.

He told News Shopper: “I've been back and forth on the disqualification of Ryan Lee.

“Initially it seemed the video evidence was confirmation that Ryan Lee cut the course.

“Based on the timing and location of video he was identified in, it would put him at that location earlier than possible had he legitimately run the first 10k of the marathon.

But having seen a photo taken on Charlton Park Way, Mr Murphy thinks that there was either an error with Ryan’s start time or that he cheated.

He says: “In my opinion, the most likely scenario is that Ryan’s disqualification was based on bad data, and should be reversed.”