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

Photographer Dude wrote:

He did run a 10 mile run from his house at 7:39/mile pace in December:

http://imgur.com/lq5SX4Q

And he also had an 18 miler at 7:54/mile in March with some walking breaks it seems:

http://imgur.com/wATc8eJ

Although I'm 95% sure he cheated, those times make me question whether the 3:11 could have been legit.

Mikey R wrote:

We don't need more evidence. The evidence seems rock solid.

No. The evidence is enough to suspect cheating. It's a long way from "rock solid".

You're right that most people don't care. Kip cheated Boston and it's a fascinating story, but very few actually "care" about it.

Mike Rossi deserves comeuppance for his narcissism and for shaming a principal for doing her job, but slow your roll a bit.

fvck you wrote:

Photographer Dude wrote:

The photo was posted on his Facebook wall then on his publicly open blog. He had zero concern about his children's photos then, he should have none now. I really don't get why people's panties get in a twist over pictures of children... They have even less rights than adults do.

You're a fvcking POS of exactly the same ilk as the cheater. No concern for innocent people (even children!) who have been dragged into this as long as it serves your purpose.

Well that escalated quickly...

So posting a photo is bad, confusing one guy with another and posting court docs for another Mike Rossi (ours is 47, that guy is 51) along with posting another radio personality's site is A-OK?

Would it have been ok had I linked a PDF save of his entire site with far more family photos? How about just posting a link to the Web cache of said site so lazy popcorn munchers don't even have to lift a finger to gawk? The original viral articles on the Internet had a family photo at the Boston finish line! Who gives a crap?

Kids, by the simple fact that they are not of legal age, have zero rights to their photos and their likeness. Their parents can sign away all their rights all day, every day and they often do. That is the simple fact. Me posting a doubly linked photo where a kid is present posted by the original alleged cheat is not even news worthy...

Oh, and it wasn't me who posted the name of the wife as that part is irrelevant and falls in the nobody gives a crap category. At least the photo I posted added color...

Took4yearsand4attemptstobq wrote:

We need more undeniable proof to hang this douchebag...like some Lehigh runners coming forth and making statements.

You are right in that we need more proof. I will say that the deleting of twitter, facebook, blog (invite only) being so sudden is what a PR agency calls "damage control". Wait until the firestorm dies down and then get back on them.

Matt.Foley wrote:

cheater wrote:

I think it was closed but I'm not sure. The part on the D & L path is so narrow that being on a bike would attract a lot of attention even if it wasn't prohibited.

Very unlikely that he cheated by riding a bike on the actual race course. Too bad, because official race pictures of him riding a bike on the course would be all time comedy gold.

If he has different gun and chip times then the most likely scenario is that he crossed the starting line, then got back off the course (before the first photo op for sure), got in his car, drove around to the finish area and slipped back on at some point between the final photo op (prior to the finish line) and the actual finish line.

Not hard to drive 26 miles in 3 hours.

It seems like he had someone with him since there's a photo of him on his (now private) blog right after the race. The photo was not one of the 4 on the official photographer's website. So it seems likely he was not there alone.

All recent comments on the Philly.com article have been deleted.

bummer.

534 wrote:

Matt.Foley wrote:

[quote]cheater wrote:

Not hard to drive 26 miles in 3 hours.

It seems like he had someone with him since there's a photo of him on his (now private) blog right after the race. The photo was not one of the 4 on the official photographer's website. So it seems likely he was not there alone.

Well dane had his crew drive him 202 miles (minus 99 feet short of the 202), in a sizzling time that was way beyond what he was capable of. (https://profiles.google.com/113585651488816658780/about) or read more here (http://baitman.blogspot.com/2013/12/dickstarter.html)

So, it seems legit that this d-bag did the same. Look at how Kip did it (many lets run posts on that). At least this guy may have kept the same shirt on while he was cheating from start to finish.

zoom zoom

Rossi cheat wrote:

I would bet that there is just one person (Mr. Rossi or his accomplice from Lehigh) posting under different user names saying to "take it down a notch" etc. anyway, Mike (Mikes "friend"), welcome to LRC, it's going to be a great ride and we are just getting started!

Said the ding dong posting under 42 names

He's in one of my running groups on FB. He posted this last night in a thread questioning him:

Mike Rossi

These allegations are completely FALSE. I battled through several injuries in the past 2 years and trained extremely hard throughout to overcome these injuries and keep running. My biggest problem was trying to run too many races in short periods of time, without ever properly recovering. My times suffered. But during the summer of 2014 I concentrated solely on training for Lehigh Valley (with the exception of a couple 5ks). It was literally the only major race I have done where I was 100% healthy. I am proud of my accomplishments. I am not going to get into a back-and-forth battle with a blogger and a few anonymous people on some message boards who want to play internet detective and make conclusions without knowing me or being around me every day to watch how hard I trained and worked to get that BQ. This is all I have to say on this issue.

9 hrs · Edited · Like

oreilly wrote:

Photographer Dude wrote:

He did run a 10 mile run from his house at 7:39/mile pace in December:

http://imgur.com/lq5SX4Q

And he also had an 18 miler at 7:54/mile in March with some walking breaks it seems:

http://imgur.com/wATc8eJ

Although I'm 95% sure he cheated, those times make me question whether the 3:11 could have been legit.

These paces are far from a legit 3:11 race. As a hobby jogger, I run faster in training, and I am a 3:17 - 3:20 marathoner at best. And I have my training log with splits and GPS track from every single race to account for it. He cheated.

"I battled through several injuries in the past 2 years and trained extremely hard throughout to overcome these injuries and keep running. My biggest problem was trying to run too many races in short periods of time, without ever properly recovering. My times suffered."

So you were hurt and kept training hard while you were injured? You're a f*****g moron.

Let's get this clear: The photos of his family and kids that he posts in the public domain are his business. He has the right to do it.

But you, my friend, or anybody else, have no right to drag his wife and kids into his cheating scandal because they have done nothing wrong. Your argument that kids have no legal rights to their photos is bizarre. Yes, maybe, as long as their parent/guardian posts them. You are not their parent/guardian.

I would like to out this cheating douche as much as anybody else, but I think going after his wife and kids - or even his professional website - is off limits. And mixing him up with some other Mike Rossi guy is just lazy and inexcusable.

I ran a 3:03, and my training pace ranges from 9:30mi/mile to 8min/mi. I have more than five 100 mile weeks under my belt and train a decent volume year around though. Of course my 5k times reflect my mileage during my buildup.

oreilly wrote:

These paces are far from a legit 3:11 race. As a hobby jogger, I run faster in training, and I am a 3:17 - 3:20 marathoner at best. And I have my training log with splits and GPS track from every single race to account for it. He cheated.

what an @ss.

also a legit hobby jogger wrote:

I ran a 3:03, and my training pace ranges from 9:30mi/mile to 8min/mi. I have more than five 100 mile weeks under my belt and train a decent volume year around though. Of course my 5k times reflect my mileage during my buildup.

oreilly wrote:

These paces are far from a legit 3:11 race. As a hobby jogger, I run faster in training, and I am a 3:17 - 3:20 marathoner at best. And I have my training log with splits and GPS track from every single race to account for it. He cheated.

It wasn't oreilly who wrote this :) and yes, I do realize I probably run my training runs too fast. But I only run up to 4 times a week, rarely 5, and peaked at about 45 mpw when I ran 3:20 in NYC last year. I'm lucky to get this far on such a limited mileage.

Don't forget that the VIA marathon has a simultaneous relay that starts & finishes at the same time / place. Very easy to run the first leg (+/- 6 mi), melt into the crowd and drive / catch a ride to the last exchange zone. Melt into the crowd, run your last 3 miles. With no mats at half or exchange zone, easy to do.

Well since you called me out, I figured it's time to register a real name. I have made a total of 7 comments until you posted this one. I will take credit and blame for every single one of them as well as the douche nozzle comment on the principal's son's Facebook post.

I'm not responsible for any of the other posts given that they weren't authored by me.

I also posted one more comment to the person calling me the same shit as Mike Rossi. Now you can put a name with who you called shit. @WatchGregRun on Twitter, GregTR on RWOL.

Again, I did not go after his wife or his family. I posted a photo from his website that he had no problems with being in the open.

WARNING! May contain pictures of children!

I have been following this thread since last night. Actually, this is my first time posting to LR community. Has anyone written the reporters who reported his bogus story? I am sure they will want to post a correction. Also, what time is his show on the air? Thanks for exposing this jerk.

I think Mike Rossi should follow GregTR's commendable lead and FESS UP.