No-Sweat Victory Leaves a Stain : Running: Belisle, an alleged cheater during marathons, is declared winner of hot, hilly 38.6-mile run.

There were no cheers for the winner of the Dam Tough Run on Sept. 27, no congratulations for setting a course record in blistering heat.

What Polin Belisle heard when he accepted his trophy were hisses, jeers and boos, according to witnesses.

“It was a real scene,” said Earl Towner, who finished third. “A lot of the runners were fuming. They knew this guy’s reputation.”

In the last two years, Belisle has been disqualified from marathons for allegedly cheating and crashed the Olympic marathon in August. So, his unexpected victory in the Dam Tough Run--38.6 miles through the hills around Isabella Lake--was greeted with skepticism.

“The running community does not believe this guy did a legitimate run,” said Brent Backus, the second-place finisher.

Belisle’s time of 4 hours 16 minutes 42 seconds--which broke the course record by two minutes--is “very, very fast and very suspicious,” said race director Joel Maki.

Belisle, who couldn’t be reached for comment, is being accused of not having run the entire Kern County course. Although Belisle’s name appears in the logs of all 19 checkpoints, the other ultra runners believe the 26-year-old Burbank resident used accomplices in a car to shuttle him between checkpoints.

That day, many of the competitors were followed by crews, and witnesses report seeing two women crewing for Belisle.

“With the winding up and down roads, I know I could have easily gotten in or out of a car without anyone seeing me,” Backus said. “There were isolated stretches where you couldn’t see anybody.”

Belisle led the 44-person ultra field from the start, a seemingly extraordinary feat for someone who says he has never run anything longer than a marathon, 26 miles 385 yards. He even beat most of the 61 four-person teams entered in the relay division.

According to Backus, Belisle’s post-race appearance was also surprising. When Backus--who won the race last year--crossed the finish line 10 minutes behind Belisle, he said he was shocked to see Belisle looking cool and refreshed.

“He had just run a tough course in 99-degree weather,” said Backus, 35, an air-quality specialist from Thousand Oaks. “Why wasn’t he hydrating? I must have drunk over two gallons of liquid.”

Towner, 42, a cross-country coach at Laguna Beach High, spoke with Belisle after the race and said: “He looked like he hadn’t run at all. He didn’t have salt on his hair or hat.”

And all during the awards ceremony, Towner said, Belisle “was standing up, looking chipper, while the rest of us had to sit down.”

Before the awards ceremony, Towner said, he discussed the race with Belisle and found him “evasive.” Towner, the leader in the Southern California Ultra Series, said he asked Belisle what his times were at the half-marathon and marathon marks.

“He said he didn’t look at his watch,” Towner said. “That’s bogus. Those are the times every runner wants to know.”

After the race, Maki canvassed the volunteers at the water stations and was “disturbed” by what they told him. “(Belisle) apparently didn’t get water frequently,” Maki said.

A day after the race, Backus filed a protest with Maki, but it’s doubtful it will go anywhere. Maki probably won’t disqualify Belisle unless someone reports having seen Belisle actually get into or out of a vehicle on the course.

Belisle was logged in at every checkpoint, and that is hard to ignore, Maki said. “There is nothing much I can do,” he added. “I reject the notion that it’s up to me to prove (Belisle) ran a clean race.”

Maki, though, has a way to resolve the dispute. He wants to a find a sponsor to put up prize money for a winner-take-all rematch, a “challenge run” pitting Belisle against his accusers.

“That will settle it,” Maki said.