abingtonrunner wrote:
LoserMikeRossi wrote:Every time Mike, or a friend, post his "it's over, so just let it go" message there is probably some casual observer that actually does.
But for those who actually care the time is now to spread this message even further and wider. Post it all over your Facebook. Share it with any other runner you know. Share it with any school teacher or administrator who was offended by his attack of the school principal. Share it with any and everybody who is associated with the marathon or it's charity.
This goon first levied an attack on the integrity of the very people we trust to teach our children by claiming watching a marathon and eating Boston clam chowder is more beneficial than attending school.
Then he attacked the integrity of a race that donates it's proceeds to a very worthwhile charity.
This creep has thrown a lot of people under the bus in the past 30 days. This bus is about to get heavier with more passengers and it's pointed right at Mike Rossi. The decision not to DQ seems to be based on the marathon's possible financial blowback and not on any actual fact finding.
The time is now to make clear that we will not support a marathon with no integrity, but they still have time to gain that back. And if they do we will rally behind them and do our best to make future fund raising events a huge success. Because doing the right thing never goes unrewarded.
I agree that a concerted effort needs to be made to any and all that will listen, most importantly the Boston Marathon because this is a credibility issue now. Below is a rough draft of what I am preparing to send, although it is far from final form.
I am writing to you, as well as every sponsor of the Lehigh Valley Marathon ("LVM"), local and national news outlets, magazines, sporting/running organizations (including the Boston Marathon Racing Director), and countless other sources and social media venues regarding your flawed statement and decision not to disqualify Mike Rossi.
While I am not privy to what evidence the LVM reviewed, or more appropriately, what evidence the LVM may have that is not in the public record, but if the LVM is in possession of such evidence then I would think that it would behoove the LVM to share it in order to support your conclusion and defend the integrity of your race. Specifically, in part, the LVM issued the following statement "…the Marathon committee concluded that while there is data from Rossi’s participation in other racing events indicating that Rossi’s time may not be accurate, there is not conclusive evidence that his time in the 2014 LVHN Via Marathon is inaccurate". I am not sure I fully understand the assertion that Ross's time may not be accurate in relation to other races, but in the case of this race, it was his time in relation to all his own posted race and training times and mileage that gave rise to question his run/time in the LVM.
However, his race time was not the direct and most concrete evidence that he may have not run the entire LVM and what your statement glaringly omitted. The most direct evidence the he did not run the entire race is he did not show up in any Via Marathon race photos other than at the finish line. The runners around Rossi in the results were all photographed in three to six different spots along the course. You make no mention that you have photographs contradicting that. At one photographic point, there are time stamped photos covering 100 meters with at most 6 seconds between each frame and yet, Rossi does not appear in one single photo. Please explain that.
My understanding is that there was also a relay going on concurrently with the marathon, so it is no surprise that "The LVHN Via Marathon has not received any reports from the more [than] 2,500 race participants, thousands of spectators, and more than 600 volunteers, course marshals, security personnel, medical personnel or race officials on the course of any wrong doing by any runner". No one is actively looking for a cheat, and given the weather conditions that day and the relay race, it is conceivable that Mr. Rossi could have avoided detection. How many people came forward to say they saw him at some point on the course? Are there any? If someone said they did not see him, is that proof enough that he did not run the entire race? Likely not because how can you prove you did not see him. However, the photographers essentially proved that he was not on the race course because his only photo is at the finish line unlike every other racer who has photos at other points along the course Moreover, if someone during your investigation asserted they saw something amiss, what level of proof would you need to believe them? That is why, unless you have information that the public does not have, the lack of photographs by the professional photographers throughout the course is not only direct evidence, but incontrovertible evidence that he did not run the entire race.
The other evidence, which would be deemed circumstantial, yet strong when considered in its entirety is his race time in relation to his times for prior and subsequent races and training runs. In addition, Mr. Rossi is an individual who is notorious for posting and boasting and memorializing his every running move. However, in his seminal event of his short running history, he runs a personal best by inconceivably smashing his best time by a landslide and barely mentions it in any of his postings. Not only had he never ran this fast before, he never displayed this kind of modesty either. Any reasonable person would find this behavior suspicious.
So my challenge to you is to publicly disclose what evidence do you have that he actually ran the entire race? Proving a positive (running the entire race) is certainly much easier than proving a negative (that he did not and was not on the entire course). You owe it not only to those runners who take running seriously and have trained diligently, but the credibility of the LVM, its supporters, runners, volunteers, those who use it as a Boston Marathon qualifying event etc. deserve it.