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

I've been off this thread for a week and am catching up.

ExpertKipWatcher wrote:

DevilsAdvocate wrote:

but what about it having to be a certified course?

Good point, there was a particular lying troll who maintained that if the distance isn't specified as certified then a course can be any length at all.

It needs to be certified. The whole challenge is based on him legitimately running 26.2 miles in 3:11:45. If the course is found to be short, like Salazar in NYC, we don't pay. What part of common sense do people not understand.

He can't run a local 5k in 20:52, call it the Mike Rossi Marathon, and claim both my $200,000 and the IAAF world record.

rojo wrote:

It needs to be certified. The whole challenge is based on him legitimately running 26.2 miles in 3:11:45. If the course is found to be short, like Salazar in NYC, we don't pay. What part of common sense do people not understand.

Surely you realize common sense and lawyer sense are two different things.

Mike can't run a local 5K in 20:52 period.

And he can't break 20 minutes for 5K even when cheating.

Zero chance that he can cash in on any of the offers. I do like the revised offer of an additional 100,000 to the LVM charity though.

Because Mike is never even going to attempt to run 3:11; he knows what a disaster that would be. So, if anyone actually believed he did once run 3:11 they are going to think he is a dickhead for not even trying to repeat his accomplishment in order to earn $100,000 for this charity.

And it makes Bart Yasso and Barb look stupid too. By not DQing Rossi, they allow his 3:11 to remain on the books. Now all he has to do is run this same time and the charity that they apparently care so much about would get $100,000. But he can't! And won't even try! How very damning.

People should post on the LVM Facebook page "Good news! Your charity is going to get $100,000 from Letsrun.com once Mike Rossi runs a 3:11 marathon!".

I'm sure they'll want to publicize their boy Mike's quest...

rexthebex wrote:

People should post on the LVM Facebook page "Good news! Your charity is going to get $100,000 from Letsrun.com once Mike Rossi runs a 3:11 marathon!". I'm sure they'll want to publicize their boy Mike's quest...

They have blocked so many people I wonder if you can even say this? I just looked at Twitter and neither they nor Barb have been active in a while likely because of them enabling the cheater Mike Rossi.

Hobby Ironmanner wrote:

rojo wrote:

It needs to be certified. The whole challenge is based on him legitimately running 26.2 miles in 3:11:45. If the course is found to be short, like Salazar in NYC, we don't pay. What part of common sense do people not understand.

Surely you realize common sense and lawyer sense are two different things.

Yeah but in contract law where there is no explicit language interpretation often falls to common usage. Also, if technically there is a breach you can also raise equitable defenses so that if the words "marathon" or "5k" are stated then the commonly accepted usage of what distances those races are defined as will be applied.

In reality, you can't go into court and argue with a straight face that you should be paid $100k for running a "marathon" that is 2 miles. The judge simply won't hear that.

theREALsmokingGunner wrote:

In reality, you can't go into court and argue with a straight face that you should be paid $100k for running a "marathon" that is 2 miles. The judge simply won't hear that.

Yes, by all means Mike, go run a 5k and try to defraud the brojos. Orange might look better as a suit color than hair.

TheDudeAbides wrote:

theREALsmokingGunner wrote:

In reality, you can't go into court and argue with a straight face that you should be paid $100k for running a "marathon" that is 2 miles. The judge simply won't hear that.

Yes, by all means Mike, go run a 5k and try to defraud the brojos. Orange might look better as a suit color than hair.

Sideshow Mike

Rojo, you're right about the common sense stuff, my "what about it having to be a certified course?" was in reference to the $200,000 for a 3:11:45 or quicker marathon. I'm guessing there are non-certified marathons in the US as there are around the world and it would also depend on your definition of "certified", if it was my $200,000 I wouldn't give a snake like Rossi a fraction of wriggle room.

Also, the new offer doesn't seem to be getting much traction in the media, as mentioned before does it get released via the news wires etc?

Keep up the good work and the pressure on our man, the sport seems to be drowning under cheaters and corruption at the moment, hopefully 2016 will be the year of the big clear out and then we can all move on.

EZPass Mike wrote:

Sideshow Mike

DevilsAdvocate wrote:

Rojo, you're right about the common sense stuff, my "what about it having to be a certified course?" was in reference to the $200,000 for a 3:11:45 or quicker marathon. I'm guessing there are non-certified marathons in the US as there are around the world and it would also depend on your definition of "certified", if it was my $200,000 I wouldn't give a snake like Rossi a fraction of wriggle room.

Also, the new offer doesn't seem to be getting much traction in the media, as mentioned before does it get released via the news wires etc?

Keep up the good work and the pressure on our man, the sport seems to be drowning under cheaters and corruption at the moment, hopefully 2016 will be the year of the big clear out and then we can all move on.

True, there has been a lot of cheating and corruption lately. However, while such behavior is reprehensible, one could argue that the non-action by Barb McKeever and those involved at VIA is just as or more so reprehensible. Many times, as we have read here and elsewhere, reputable RDs and race officials have DQ cheaters, which is what they are paid to do and should do when presented with compelling evidence, such as in Rossigate. Sadly, there are some RDs and officials that are also just as bad as the actual cheater, which is a stain on the race event and the sport, and unfair to those who do not feel the need to cheat.

Again, what is truly needed is to focus on Barb McKeever, VIA officials and Board Members in any legal means possible.

Inconvenient Truth wrote:

Again, what is truly needed is to focus on Barb McKeever, VIA officials and Board Members in any legal means possible.

Go for it if you have the time and money and then come on here and let us know how you went. Good luck.

Going forward I think I'll concentrate on Rossi.

DevilsAdvocate wrote:Go for it if you have the time and money and then come on here and let us know how you went. Good luck.

Going forward I think I'll concentrate on Rossi.

Rossi is certainly the fun target. Maybe easy target, too.

But Barb McKeever is the one earning a living off of runners. I don't think this has to be an either/or proposition. We can address both.

But Barb McKeever took the easy way out because she was too timid to make the right decision.

rojo wrote:

I've been off this thread for a week and am catching up.

Would you consider creating an online petition that we could sign directed at Via and asking for Rossi to be disqualifed? I think their criteria clearly made it impossible to DQ him. As we discussed before, he could have run an hour faster or even a WR and by their criteria he would not have been disqualified.

Inconvenient Truth wrote:

...However, while such behavior is reprehensible, one could argue that the non-action by Barb McKeever and those involved at VIA is just as or more so reprehensible...

Again, what is truly needed is to focus on Barb McKeever, VIA officials and Board Members in any legal means possible.

I think Barb McKeever's behaviour is worse in some respects, in that the expectation is that she's suppose to be responsible and objective. We expect a race director to do the right thing. On the other hand, nobody expects Mike Rossi to do the right thing because he is just a seriously messed up dude (likely linked to his micropenis). You expect a guy like Mike to be a sad sack who does pathetic crap like cheat at a Turkey Trot. Just fits in with his sad existence.

The only way I can figure it is that Barb is not very successful and so she really needs the money from the VIA gig in a bad way. Because of that she's terrified to make a mistake or do anything which could get her punted from that job. If you think of her as being a coward and fearful, then the decision to not DQ tiny Mike makes sense in that she was trying to take the easiest route - and the easiest route is always to do nothing. Still, why I would understand her fear of losing her income stream, it doesn't make her decision right.

RossiRat wrote:

I don't get why people keep banging on about the $200.000 3:11 Marathon.

It would be the same as offering a reward to Ken eating a full-grown Sequoia-tree within a day.

The only reason I can think of is that the Brojo's were hoping to get some media coverage out of it, which didn't happen so far. Rojo also stated that he would contact Rossi's lawyer: Was there any feedback on that? It just seems utterly surreal to me.

Agree. The 3:11 is mission impossible.

I remember Rojo coming out stating that he contacted Rossi's lawyer after the Turkey Trot. Sounded like a bit of gesture politics to me.

What's the other badge around his neck? Is that the infamous press pass?

bored troLLer wrote:

TheDudeAbides wrote:

Although his twitter is private he cannot help himself, still posting a profile pic at this moment of the Boston starting line. .

It's a selfie (of course!) at the FINISH line, probably a day or 2 before the marathon. He's wearing the Boston Expo entrance pass around his neck.

Agreed. I don't think it was a money decision not to DQ Rossi for Barb McKeever, but the same character flaw as Rossi exhibited, that is, lack of integrity. She abdicated her responsibility to ensure an honest race by all participants and then worse by taking no action in spite of the overwhelming evidence to support a DQ. To make matters worse, the statement issued by VIA was so ill conceived and written and made those in charge look like bigger idiots.

run.run wrote:

I certainly didn't know that there were competitive Sequoia-tree eating events for which people spend years training daily to achieve fast eating times.

How do people cheat at eating a full grown Sequoia-tree? Is cheating common?

You should look into it. It's quite a scene.

This guy Kip Bunyan once got caught chopping up and discarding large portions of the tree.

And then there was Mike 'Firetruck' Pyrossi who got caught after he wanted his children to watch him eat a bonsai tree a bit later. After seeing him struggle with the bonsai people questioned his ability to handle the Sequoia.

Most likely he burned about 90% of the tree: Mike was covered in soot and large stacks of smoke were visible at the day of the event.

SuperCooper123 wrote:

What's the other badge around his neck? Is that the infamous press pass?

bored troLLer wrote:

It's a selfie (of course!) at the FINISH line, probably a day or 2 before the marathon. He's wearing the Boston Expo entrance pass around his neck.

Oh man.

Noun.

Poser - a person who habitually pretends to be something he is not.

This picture should be ideal for the upcoming Wikipedia entrance on 'Transmarathoning'.