LetsRun.com Co-Founders React To Falsely Claiming Khalid Khannouchi Was Retiring

Far From Contrite, LetsRun Vows To Continue Doing Business As Usual

*Khalid Khannouchi To Run 2012 Virgin London Marathon

By Sidd Finch, on special assignment for LetsRun.com
April 1, 2012

On Wednesday, LetsRun.com broke the news to the world that American marathon great Khalid Khannouchi was retiring from the sport. Well, LetsRun.com is embarrassed to admit that when they thought we were breaking one of the biggest "LetsRun.com exclusives" in history, they in reality were falling for a hoax put on by Khannouchi. LRC fell hook, line and sinker for this, as Khannouchi and apparently Virgin London marathon director Dave Bedford played them like a violin as it was confirmed on a television report this morning by Bedford that Khannouch is running the 2012 Virgin London Marathon.

The duo of Khannouchi and Bedford apparently were trying to trick the world, so when Khannouchi's return to London was announced, it would create even more than a normal amount of buzz and excitement for this year's London race since it's Bedford's last as race director.

And where did the duo look when they wanted to fool the world? LetsRun.com (LRC).

It's easy to see why they picked LRC, as this isn't the first time that LetsRun.com has been accused of a lack of professional decorum or poor journalistic practices, as shown by the following list:

*MB: More top-flight journalism from the BroJos
*MB: punk journalism....
*MB: So wejo, what do you have to say about the rupp interview?
*MB: Pic of solinsky low class brojos
*MB: That Webb article is a breach of professional decorum
*MB: Dear Brojos, are you familiar with the definition of illegal?
*MB: Why do the BroJos use the word "studs" when describing fast distance runners?
*MB: To Wejo: subject typos
*MB: Front page typos

With a history like that, it's unbelievable that LetsRun.com was given the "Journalistic Excellence Award" by the RRCA in 2004.

However, to LetsRun's credit, given the sensitive nature of this story, LetsRun.com contacted me, Sidd Finch, to write a story about their poor journalistic practices. When I asked LetsRun.com co-founders Weldon and Robert Johnson if they had a statement for the article, I must admit I was surprised that neither one of them seemed overly contrite.

Weldon Johnson reacted first:

"There is no doubt this incident is a little bit embarrassing but I'm not going to apologize too much. We are the only place remaining in the world where the marathon is treated as a world-class, professional sporting event instead of a charity fun run. Similarly, we are the only place left in the world that an all-time great like Khannouchi can retire. When he actually does retire, we hope to be the one's that given him his due publicity.

But we do hope our loyal readers forgive us. We feel like we deserve it. After all, one hard-hitting question of a Regina Jacobs is more than what the mainstream media guys have done combined in all of professional sports in the last decade."

Robert, who is known for making outrageous statements, went a step farther than his brother:

"I view this 'mistake' - if you want to call it that - as being good for business. Controversy equals page views, which equals advertising dollars. Reuters and the AP weren't going to give us a mention in India, which is equivalent to about $50,000 dollars worth of free advertising, if we had said that Khalid Khannouchi wasn't retiring. To be truthful, we make our living by allowing unsubstantiated rumors to be discussed on the message board. This is only a little bit different as it's been proven to be false."


About the author: Sidd Finch has been world famous since he burst onto the scene on April 1, 1985. For more info about Finch, see the profile on him from April 1, 1985, this Wikipedia page, or this article on March 30, 2011. Image thumbnail originally came from Sports Illustrated but is being hosted on afflictor.com.

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