Frank Meza 2:53:10 at LA Marathon (70 years old) unofficial time (just finished)

"the struggle against succumbing to the easy path"

One struggle he lost

A little known fact for your performance to be recognized by USATF, you have to be a USATF member. I can vouch that Frank hasn’t been a USATF member for some time.

SCA USTAF has been running a Road Racing Grand Prix based on AGP for at least five years. Frank did not receive prize money during the 2017-2018 years. The Grand Prix standings do not rely on self reporting of members. A program runs GP events through a database and scrapes out members who ran. For example if Frank Meza had paid for USATF membership in any of those years, his 2017 and 2018 LAM and LBM results would have shown up in the Grand Prix. He would have won the top prize money based on his 2017 and 18 performances. That would have brought recognition and scrutiny for many obvious reasons. I suspect Frank was aware of this and chose to keep a “lower profile” by not being a member and stayed out of USATF’s sight. He could brag about his “age group” records and recognition but not have to go through a more rigorous verification process. As the thread grew I reached out to people who’ve been involved in either LAM (not Conqur) or SCA USATF and their general response was “who”? The only people aware of Frank before this LR thread may have been high school coaches, patients, and age group competitors.

So national office had no idea who Frank Meza was - other than he is a runner who doesn’t pay USATF membership dues and thus not entitled to to “membership benefits.” A poster early on uploaded a snarky response from the national office pertaining to Frank’s race proclivities from a few years ago. Frank was most likely DQed by a USATF official at CIM because it’s a race that actually cares about rules and record certification instead of just race fees.

The story I’d like to hear is not so much how he cheats (I’m leaning towards solo effort), but how so many people looked the other way.

At minimum this has been going on for 5 years, and quite possibly longer.

I get emails from people all the time questioning the performances of friends. And acquaintances. From 3 hour marathoners to 6 hour marathoners. So many people let this slide.

Still, there’s little noise from anyone who knows him. Usually when I write about someone, I get emails from people that personally witnessed or knew of cheating for a long time. None of that with Frank except for an anonymous post or two here.

That said, I’m sure those people are following...anyone can contact me anonymously if you have some details beyond what we know.

Derek@marathoninvestigation.com

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Yeah, a question remains... the guy running alongside him in two marathons in which he cheated... even if he isn’t an “accomplice,” how did he not know? He even poses with FM after the race. They were clearly together. Are we to believe he was there alongside FM and was duped?

Could we enter his photo into Google images and see if we get a match on who he could be?

doubler wrote:

The story I’d like to hear is not so much how he cheats (I’m leaning towards solo effort), but how so many people looked the other way.

At minimum this has been going on for 5 years, and quite possibly longer.

I was thinking this today as well! I have friends his age that I would notice and question those kind of results if they looked and ran like Frank! I think you are being lenient with your 5 years, I think the last legitimate marathon result he has was Pikes Peak in like 09’!

triathleteguru wrote:

doubler wrote:

The story I’d like to hear is not so much how he cheats (I’m leaning towards solo effort), but how so many people looked the other way.

At minimum this has been going on for 5 years, and quite possibly longer.

I was thinking this today as well! I have friends his age that I would notice and question those kind of results if they looked and ran like Frank! I think you are being lenient with your 5 years, I think the last legitimate marathon result he has was Pikes Peak in like 09’!

I need to be careful how I frame my opinions and what I put out there. In general, not because of Frank’s threats of obtaining council. The 5 years is based on the known. He was first DQd in 2014.

Not necessarily a reply to you Derek, but I would be interested in your thoughts on this. Others were questing how age graded results work, here is a page that sort of explains it and you can really do a dive into some data if you like that kind of stuff:

https://www.runscore.com/Alan/AgeGrade.html

A thought I’ve had today is that timing companies and big events have the data to catch stuff like this, they are just being lazy or not proactive. In an event with multiple splits, especially like LA where it appears they have them just about every 5k, they ought to age grade each split. Any split within a race that generates a score greater than say 85% would be a cause for greater scrutiny. This can all be done automatically with software so that a report spits out a list of questionable results.

Certain people at Loyola High School knew and they have now confirmed it by scrubbing any mention of him from their website.

Also, the doctors known as the Pasadena Half Three Banditos, how could they not have known?, not only did they run that the same as him but also many of his marathons, one is a fellow coach at LHS and a training partner, one is his son and one is his daughter-in-law.

Sportstats is the best in the industry. They clean the results almost immediately. They look at pace differentials and flag and will remove runners or recommend removal of runners that meet certain criteria.

At CIM, we flag runners and email them offering them the chance to provide evidence, otherwise they are removed.

I don't think anyone at CIM that did not run the course fought the decision.

Sportstats does not do the timing at CIM, Those were two separate thoughts.

doubler wrote:

Sportstats does not do the timing at CIM, Those were two separate thoughts.

fake Jesse Riley is not telling the truth

The other guys in his age group never filed a complaint because he was "finishing" an hour + ahead of them. They probably just thought "wow, this guy killed me! He's the best age group athlete since Ed Whitlock!" and then were probably in awe. The countless people who saw him sneaking off and on the course and hiding and un-hiding his number gave him a pass because of his age. They probably saw it, though it was odd, then shrugged and forgot it. No one wants to report an old man, after all.

April 20th - In the message to Amby, Lalo had stated that Meza has obtained legal counsel. He asked that all inquiries be directed to him.

May 25th - Meza emailed me “I think it now time to get legal counsel”

Today - I texted with Lalo, “no comment”, he told me to contact Dr. Meza’s attorneys, but when I asked for their contact info, he could not provide any. His response: “You’re the Cracker Jack investigator!!!”

doubler wrote:

The story I’d like to hear is not so much how he cheats (I’m leaning towards solo effort), but how so many people looked the other way.

At minimum this has been going on for 5 years, and quite possibly longer.

I get emails from people all the time questioning the performances of friends. And acquaintances. From 3 hour marathoners to 6 hour marathoners. So many people let this slide.

Still, there’s little noise from anyone who knows him. Usually when I write about someone, I get emails from people that personally witnessed or knew of cheating for a long time. None of that with Frank except for an anonymous post or two here.

That said, I’m sure those people are following...anyone can contact me anonymously if you have some details beyond what we know.

Derek@marathoninvestigation.com

.

agree: and thanks for all you do. I think you've scratched the surface. It's not that he's an habitual/methodical cheater (which you've proven at 2 races (so far) and DQ'd/banned at one other but that people and institutions have permitted this to continue for years and years. What are they afraid of? Or Did they know but considered the "antics" of an old dr. quirky and harmless? Many questions. This is the intriguing part. Yes, I want him dq'd and banned from these races but as curious about the surrounding story.

doubler wrote:

April 20th - In the message to Amby, Lalo had stated that Meza has obtained legal counsel. He asked that all inquiries be directed to him.

May 25th - Meza emailed me “I think it now time to get legal counsel”

Today - I texted with Lalo, “no comment”, he told me to contact Dr. Meza’s attorneys, but when I asked for their contact info, he could not provide any. His response: “You’re the Cracker Jack investigator!!!”

What a POS. His reputation will now forever be tied to Meza, whether he was in on it or not, he had to know. How could a CC/track coach not know Meza was a fraud.

Right, because no attorney in his/her right mind would represent them?

At CIM in 2014, the very competent and thorough timing company Capitol Road Race Management, reviewed splits and noted anomalies in split results for finishers, and flagged those for race management. FM was one of them.

1) He waited roughly 6 minutes to cross the start line after the gun.

2) Despite having to weave thru thousands of slower runners, he managed a 1:29:16 (?) first half.

3) He then recorded a 'negative split' of 1:23:17 (?) for the 2nd half.

4) He recording a 36:33(?) final 10k.

5) Both the 2nd half and the final 10k were faster than the current 65-69 age group records for those distances.

6) FM appears in only finish-line photos, and not in the other 4 -5 course locations where photos were taken.

7) This included a review of photos with no number visible--no FM.

8) FM did not show up in other unspecified mechanisms employed by CIM to ensure finisher/timing integrity.

9) FM was contacted by race officials and offered an opportunity to provide an explanation/any kind of demonstration that he completed the course. He was unable to do so.

10) Simple, cost-effective, and fair procedure for ensuring race integrity. Business as usual for CIM.

Pikes Peak Results

Showing all of Frank Meza's 3 results

Filter

Trail Marathon

Group by

Year

Event

Overall

Gender

Division

Pace

Final Time

2013

Pikes Peak Marathon

August 17, 2013

Manitou Springs, CO

182

of 707

156

of 537

4

of 27

14:10

min/mi

6:11:30

2010

Pikes Peak Marathon 2010

August 22, 2010

Monitou Springs, CO

166

of 689

138

of 514

2

of 22

14:03

min/mi

6:08:12

2009

Pikes Peak Marathon 2009

August 15, 2009

Manitou Springs, CO

133

of 711

116

of 539

1

of 27

13:24

min/mi

5:51:28

Just speculation, but a 70 year old physician, with a history of philanthropy, committed to his health and the health of others, HS assistant coach, and avid runner could possibly be an attractive spokesperson for some nutraceuticals, pharmaceutical, hospital group, or biotech firm that’s trying to promote some anti-aging or healthy aging drug. If you add World Record performance in a big name marathon on to that, then we’re talking the possibility of very lucrative deals.