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

cereal cheater wrote:

surprised more isn't being made of his suspected cheating in the subsequent HM?

has anybody gone through his other races to see if they are dodgy?

I think that is wasted effort. His other results line up. Just LV is a huge outlier.

I ran with Rossi the first 20 miles. We were on 2:11 pace and passed all the photographers before they had their cameras up. With 10k to go he put down the hammer and, well, I just threw in the towel. That guy is a monster! He ran solo until he had just half a mile left. There he collapsed due to the heat. My girlfriend Rosie said he lay on the ground for almost an hour before he got up and staggered down the last stretch.

How dare you question this great runner!!!!

Will this thread be the quickest in LRC history to 1000 posts?

His looking down and hiding his face at the finish is odd to me (along with 100 other things).

Kip won wrote:

Can't be that good. Kip Litton got by you.

d2xccoach wrote:...I'm the guy who reviews the results for VCM, and I invite anybody to check them out when they get posted. Switek looked them over last year. What will be up Sunday night will be unofficial, by Tuesday morning we'll be making updates as need be.

I've posted extensively elsewhere about our experience with Kip, what proof we had (on both sides...did he cheat or didn't he), so I won't get into it all again here. What I will say is that after we dealt with him we added some more measures to deal with this kind of situation. Nothing is fool proof, all you can do is analyze what you're doing and if you think you might have an issue you try to get better.

It is very, very odd that he's trying so hard to hide his face at the finish. It's his proudest moment, and yet he's going out of his way to hide behind his hat. It seems like very odd behavior for someone who likes to be seen so much.

If you watch the video of the finish line, he never reaches to stop his watch when he finishes. The guy immediately in front of him reaches for his watch just after crossing the timing mat.

Now if you watch more video you will notice quite a few people do not go for their watches (which surprises me), but for a guy as obsessed with posting his workouts to his blog, you'd think he'd be timing the race of his life.

Not Zapruder wrote:

If you watch the video of the finish line, he never reaches to stop his watch when he finishes. The guy immediately in front of him reaches for his watch just after crossing the timing mat.

Now if you watch more video you will notice quite a few people do not go for their watches (which surprises me), but for a guy as obsessed with posting his workouts to his blog, you'd think he'd be timing the race of his life.

The video to me is really funny. That's how I always envision myself crossing the line after a huge PR or the elusive 5K victory, but in reality I end up kicking like a total mess through the finish and then just sitting there with my hands on my knees.

Okay, looking at the other finishers w/ only finish line photos (like Rossi) or no photos at all seemed the most promising route for me. Thanks justAnumbersGuy for pulling this list together.I looked at the available photos for all the individuals on the list below. There are 22 others runners, besides Rossi (#2161), who didn't have photos at intermediate photo locations during the race. Of those 22, 19 had their race bibs worn in such a manner that it would've been tough to read their bib numbers correctly on photos (i.e., bib poorly secured to shorts, on back of shorts/shirt, or even held in the hand).So there are only 4 people where it's not clear why they don't have photos - Mike Rossi, and runners 1754, 2451, and 2184.I'll try to get the spreadsheet up in a minute so others can look it over, but just wanted to get this out there.

There are many comments on this thread about how Rossi disrespected the school staff and that issue must be separated from the very strong evidence that he cheated.

His comments to the school district struck a positive chord with many parents of school age children who are not happy with the condescending and imperious atittude of the school districts, especially in Pennsylvania where the teachers are union members first and educators the rest of the time.

The unions in PA will strike or threaten to strike the last month of school to terrify the parents of seniors who need a clean ending before college.

They also average double the salary of the average voter in each district and will strike before one cent or very little for their healthcare.

The average teacher salary in my PA district hovers at about 100k for 8 months work.

When did it become an issue for parents to take their kids on a trip with educational value during the school year?

Anyone over forty saw teachers write up assignments for classmates to take on trips with parents.

Millions are now home or cyber schooled, including our kids, for the above reasons along with the nationalized curricula andplunging test scores of public schools compared to other countries.

These school administrators can become so threatening, even calling in the authorities and police, that home schoolers carry Home School Legal Defense Insurance. And yes, our family has had to use that coverage.

So, he looks a BQ cheart but there were reasons that some parents may have liked the strong tone of his response to the school district over an issue that would not have been an issue from 1870 to 1990.

Rossi posted a Facebook photo of himself at the start before the race began. So he probably started the race himself.

Also, I don't think he is hiding his face at the end, it looks more just like bad running form or bad posture. He also posted one of the finish line photos to facebook. So he wasn't really intending to hide his finish, but unlike other races where he posted extensive race reports and Nike+ data, he only posted his time and something like "Holy shit I did it".

Not all of his results are on his Athlinks page. Here he is finishing the Haddonfield Adrenaline 5k on March 21, 2015. You can see him crossing the line right at 22:19 on the race clock. He's wearing a dark blue or black shirt. Is that the Boston Marathon emblem on his shirt?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=8m9s&v=RRFtBK7p2ac

Here is a link to the full results.

http://haddonfieldadrenaline5k.com/results/

Unstatisfied wrote:

Somewhere in those picture archives we're going to see our man in the background, either standing with spectators or caught with hi pants down.

If you really want to go there, then start looking at the backgrounds of photos of runners that should have been near him during the race. Sometimes people in the background are clipped or far away, but they are still recognizable. For example, if you look at the finish photo of Bib 2531, you can see Rossi in the background. He's just running, which isn't too damning, but my point is there may be additional photos.

I think we need to review all the pictures. If you view the pictures 180 at a time, there are 107 pages.

Can the brojos start a spreadsheet, so people can confirm once a page has been reviewed so we aren't doubling up?

Look what is still being promoted by Run Haven on twitter. Shamelessly promoting this guy and his exploits.

http://imgur.com/7DKuYtd

I don't want to log onto twitter and see this guy's smug face, with his family, knowing that he cheated his way into Boston. Keep it up Letsrun! Maybe someone should contact Run Haven, and tell them to look into the tweets they are promoting.

First off - this is one of the 5 best threads in LR history.

I'm going to put myself in his shows for a second. There's a 99% chance that he didn't run a 3:11. Anyone who knows anything about running understands that. What's working for him is that 95% of people do not understand that. Most people can't tell the difference between a 3:11 and a 4:11, if you're a runner, you're a runner.

If I were him I would deny as well, no reason to tell the truth, none. I would also not make any public statements and just wait a few months for this all to die down. Eventually it will. Galen Rupp will run a 12:58 again and the whole message board will turn their attention back to pro running. Most of us have already forgotten the St. Louis girls name.

He's obviously not a 'terrible' runner. So next, if I were him, I would start training. Legit training. He mustered up a 3:40 after 2 years of running, why not go all in now...put in more miles, train smarter, etc. Come back in the fall, or even next spring and wip together a legit 3:15-3:20 race. In his mind, that will shut everyone up. If he starts running 40-60 mile weeks for the next few months, he could actually dip below 3:30. And if his mindset is to deny, deny, deny, it's the perfect thing for him to do.

Can you imagine if he runs the Chicago marathon in 3:20?? Without any evidence of him cheating, he can realistically say, "Hey, I did Chicago in 3:20 and was hurt, I obviously could have done Lehigh in 3:11 in the best shape of my life".

I think he's taking this one to his grave...

10 months of work, not 8, and that is only the average if your average has 20-plus years of experience and masters degrees or better. If you paid pro rata for another 2 months, you would be taking about a 20% increase for 12 months of work. So, if you get post-graduate degrees, land one of the highest paying jobs in your profession and stick around for over 20 years, you get paid roughly $120k/year. Not bad, but lets not kid ourselves that teaching is a road to riches. If you are teaching in Philly, you are not making that and you have a tough job.

Nonetheless, that is not the real issue here. "Educational trips" are not the issue; the absence was not excused because that is not an excuse to miss the testing -- and you could opt out of testing. They just will not give your kids a make up test for your choice to take your kids out of school without making appropriate arrangements. I hate that parents do not take responsibility for things like this. My kids have managed to see Boston and see me run marathons without missing school and if I took them out of school for a family trip, however educational, I would not fault the school for following the stated policy.

Finally, I am over 40 and I was not allowed to stay home from school unless I pulled a Mike Rossi and touched the thermometer on an incandescent bulb to achieve a temperature that was otherwise impossible.

solved before dinnertime wrote:

[quote]

If you really want to go there, then start looking at the backgrounds of photos of runners that should have been near him during the race. Sometimes people in the background are clipped or far away, but they are still recognizable. For example, if you look at the finish photo of Bib 2531, you can see Rossi in the background. He's just running, which isn't too damning, but my point is there may be additional photos.

Thank you for your contribution but this has been mentioned on I'd say page two or so and another 50 times in this thread.

somebloke wrote:

cereal cheater wrote:

surprised more isn't being made of his suspected cheating in the subsequent HM?

has anybody gone through his other races to see if they are dodgy?

I think that is wasted effort. His other results line up. Just LV is a huge outlier.

The Philly 1/2 and 5k are worth looking at for two reasons:

1. The simple fact that he competed in both a 5k and a 1/2 marathon (on back-to-back days) within two weeks of a huge marathon PR run in very hot conditions is bizarre. The idea that he was able to PR in a 5k after 12 days of recovery strains credulity. I don't care that his PR isn't blazing fast-- how many people on this board could race a 5k at 20 seconds/mile faster than their PR marathon pace within two weeks of running that marathon PR? I've never tried anything that silly, but I think that even if I could it would be an immensely painful experience. At the very least I wouldn't be going out to run a half marathon the following day. It would make more sense, though, if he hadn't run the full marathon.

2. The half marathon performance is not a fast time (2:20). Who would cheat their way to a 2:20 half? Probably the same kind of person who would cheat their way to a BQ. In other words, any evidence that he cheated at other races reinforces the idea that he cheated at Lehigh. Barring a picture that actually shows him entering or exiting the course at Lehigh, that sort of evidence is the only thing that will "prove" he cheated for his BQ.

I thought the same thing when the 30k offer came up for a 3:25. I couldn't run under 3:30 right now and am about 15 pounds heavier than racing weight but if someone puts up 30k for a sub 3:15, heck even a sub 3, I'd give myself even odds at doing it.