Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?

Ducks in a row wrote:

Part of the waiver Mike Rossi would have had to sign off on to enter the Lehigh Valley Marathon:

"I agree to abide by any and all rulings of event officials, even if such ruling results in my disqualification. I have read and understand the rules set forth by the USTAF pertaining to long distance running and agree to abide by them."

At this point, I'm sure they are just making sure all their ducks are in a row before they DQ him!

Congrats, it's been a long time since we've had something posted that's relevant and hasn't been posted before (it hasn't has it?).

Congrats wrote:

Ducks in a row wrote:

Part of the waiver Mike Rossi would have had to sign off on to enter the Lehigh Valley Marathon:

"I agree to abide by any and all rulings of event officials, even if such ruling results in my disqualification. I have read and understand the rules set forth by the USTAF pertaining to long distance running and agree to abide by them."

At this point, I'm sure they are just making sure all their ducks are in a row before they DQ him!

Congrats, it's been a long time since we've had something posted that's relevant and hasn't been posted before (it hasn't has it?).

So Via doesn't have the proper mats to ensure an accurate race. The photographers don't take a photo of the runner. Via screwed the pooch but now they want Mike Rossi to PROVE he was there? Zero point zero chance he will be DQ'd.

printer wrote:

picture you will determine that it was taken about :05 before our guy crosses the line.

I would love to know who took that picture and if they took anymore shots during the next 10 seconds or so.

What time after the gun did he cross the line?

You clearly did not read the analysis of the photographic evidence presented on this thread, or you wouldn't have said something so ill-informed. Try again. The photographers didn't take a picture of him because he was never on the course. And the evidence shows that to be true.

Deadman Running wrote:

You clearly did not read the analysis of the photographic evidence presented on this thread, or you wouldn't have said something so ill-informed. Try again. The photographers didn't take a picture of him because he was never on the course. And the evidence shows that to be true.

prove it

Your understanding of the word sanctimonious is correct.

You pretty clearly have not read this this thread enough to understand that the word does apply quite well to more than a few folks on here.

I certainly would never apply such a word to folks "guilty" of nothing more than telling the truth.

Crossed the line wrote:

printer wrote:

picture you will determine that it was taken about :05 before our guy crosses the line.

I would love to know who took that picture and if they took anymore shots during the next 10 seconds or so.

What time after the gun did he cross the line?

31 sec

hot sauce wrote:

Via screwed the pooch but now they want Mike Rossi to PROVE he was there?

As you asked the question, I don't now if " Via... want Mike Rossi to PROVE he was there", I, or you, don't know if they've asked him to. But as Ducks wrote "I agree to abide by any and all rulings of event officials, even if such ruling results in my disqualification.". So don't know what makes you think there's "Zero point zero chance he will be DQ'd.".

Ok

heyhey wrote:

Crossed the line wrote:

What time after the gun did he cross the line?

31 sec

It wouldn't take black hat and sunnies 30:05 seconds to cross the line judging by that photo, would it?

31 sec wrote:

heyhey wrote:

31 sec

It wouldn't take black hat and sunnies 30:05 seconds to cross the line judging by that photo, would it?

More like 7-8 seconds.

A quick check of the race numbers of runners just past the start line timestamp the picture at around 7:10.23 a.m.

Rossi crossed the start line at 7:10.31 a.m.

That picture was taken about :25 after the gun went off. Our guy's timing chip crossed the timing mat at :31 after the gun. Do the math.

You can confirm this by plugging bib # 1082 into the results page and find that she crossed the line at :22 after the gun.

So, I went to the first series of event photos to try to find our guy. Late in the photo stream you can see the porto potties back in the distance. Plus, you can see how the road curves back to the start. I'm guessing that this first set of pictures is less than 400 yards down from the start of the marathon.

In that set of photos, the procession of people remain pretty consistent from the FB picture. However, our guy with the hat and sunglasses is nowhere to be found. My guess is that MR didn't go more than 100 yards past the starting line before he returned to the parking lot.

Now, who has photos from that last relay exchange spot?

hot sauce wrote:

Deadman Running wrote:

You clearly did not read the analysis of the photographic evidence presented on this thread, or you wouldn't have said something so ill-informed. Try again. The photographers didn't take a picture of him because he was never on the course. And the evidence shows that to be true.

prove it

Read the thread. Its all here in black and white. I'm not going to waste my time explaining what has already been explained over and over on this thread. Read the parts about the two different spots on the course where the longest time lapse between photos is 6 seconds and he's not in any photos. Read the part where he is the ONLY runner out of more than 1000 to not have a single photograph on the course. Most people around him have ten or more photos of them on the course. Just read the dam thread and stop asking people to prove what's already been proven becuase you are too lazy to read it. We don't owe you anything.

Let's say you're the race director of some small time marathon. This isn't your full time job. Some delusional megalomaniac cheats in your race, but then promotes his accomplishment and its downstream effects with such fervor that he has no choice to be hold his line. Since it's obvious to anyone that he's guilty, you DQ him.

Now since he's all in on this baloney (he can't let his kids think he's a fraud, for crying out loud; he could even get fired!), he sues for defamation or something, who cares if it's baseless. Do you have time for that BS? Is such a hassle worth it to maintain the sanctity of the sport?

I suspect that the RD will just let him go. A thousand people on the internet will buzz around Rossi's every move for the next two years like a swarm of angry hornets; you don't have to be the public face at which he can thrash wildly in his doomed defense.

I do suspect that Boston will take a tougher stance with him for future qualifying, requiring a legit time from a better regulated race. And Rossi will either go one of two ways: stop running competitively and let time bury the story or try to train obsessively in order to retroactively clear his reputation with some future performance. If he runs 1:34 and 3:21 next year off 60 mile weeks, that 3:11 won't look so absurd anymore.

0% chance they let him go. The credibility of their race and their good names in the sport depends on this. The energy that has gone into this thread will be turned on them so fast and with so much fury...

He is DQed. They are just dotting i's and crossing t's.

No, read the thread, he signed a waiver which includes language on the DQ.

printer wrote:

So, I went to the first series of event photos to try to find our guy. Late in the photo stream you can see the porto potties back in the distance. Plus, you can see how the road curves back to the start. I'm guessing that this first set of pictures is less than 400 yards down from the start of the marathon.

In that set of photos, the procession of people remain pretty consistent from the FB picture. However, our guy with the hat and sunglasses is nowhere to be found. My guess is that MR didn't go more than 100 yards past the starting line before he returned to the parking lot.

Now, who has photos from that last relay exchange spot?

I don't think it's him, go to photo 0347, behind the pink hat lady and pink head band lady, both of whom were adjacent to black hat and sunnies in the Lehigh FB page photo you posted, you will see the black hat has white banding on rim and white logo on front. Now check photos of runners 1097 and 1861.

For those who may have missed it:

Ducks in a row wrote:

Part of the waiver Mike Rossi would have had to sign off on to enter the Lehigh Valley Marathon:

"I agree to abide by any and all rulings of event officials, even if such ruling results in my disqualification. I have read and understand the rules set forth by the USTAF pertaining to long distance running and agree to abide by them."

At this point, I'm sure they are just making sure all their ducks are in a row before they DQ him!