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

Hot sauce is just a troll or Rossie Ruiz found himself another IP address. It's been proven. Everyone, be patient, he will be DQ'd.

hot sauce wrote:

Deadman Running wrote:

You clearly did not read the analysis of the photographic evidence presented on this thread, or you wouldn't have said something so ill-informed. Try again. The photographers didn't take a picture of him because he was never on the course. And the evidence shows that to be true.

prove it

printer wrote:

So, I went to the first series of event photos to try to find our guy. Late in the photo stream you can see the porto potties back in the distance. Plus, you can see how the road curves back to the start. I'm guessing that this first set of pictures is less than 400 yards down from the start of the marathon.

In that set of photos, the procession of people remain pretty consistent from the FB picture. However, our guy with the hat and sunglasses is nowhere to be found. My guess is that MR didn't go more than 100 yards past the starting line before he returned to the parking lot.

Now, who has photos from that last relay exchange spot?

Right, that was what I figured too. Why continue to relay exchange #1 and hop into a waiting car, which you would have had to park way ahead of time, when you can just feign an injury 100 yards into the race, drop back, and walk to your parked car at the start?

hot sauce wrote:

So Via doesn't have the proper mats to ensure an accurate race. The photographers don't take a photo of the runner. Via screwed the pooch but now they want Mike Rossi to PROVE he was there? Zero point zero chance he will be DQ'd.

YES!!! Fight for Rosie Rossie!! Too bad every other runner in the race has multiple photos that prove they ran the whole event.

You keep at it though. State something often enough it might become fact. It would help if you added some BS number to the claim.

Suspicion does not equal conviction. If nothing of actual substance surfaces, the energy of this thread is wasted.

Your timing is too early. If you keep going to pic # 350 you will see the guy in the hideous pink striped shirt (bib #1777). #1777 is well ahead of our guy in the FB starting line photo. In fact, his results say he started at 7:10:23 and finished in 3:22. That says to me that he wasn't going slow compared to his neighbors at the starting line. In fact, most of the others in that area were 4:00 finishers. There's minimal chance that MR sprinted ahead of all this people and ended up in photo 347.

So, I'm sticking with my sighting for now.

Ignore that, go to 0346 there's 1097 right next to 1861 at 0347 black hat and sunnies is over the shoulder of lady in blue singlet and in 0348 is just over shoulder of lady in blue singlet. But in photo 0347 it still doesn't look like Mike's hat cos white rim and Nike? logo.

vindication train wrote:

Suspicion does not equal conviction. If nothing of actual substance surfaces, the energy of this thread is wasted.

Nothing wasted. Facts put Rosie cheating for his BQ.

Thanks again to so many who put the time in sorting photos.

Nope, I would do what it takes to maintain the good name of my race. All good RDs do that. And this one called in the USATF for assistance in the investigation. They are not taking this lightly - especially with all the press its been getting. Besides, all the investigative work has been done, including a lot of analysis on this thread. There's not much to do but finish the interviews with the folks around him and see if MR can provide any proof in his defense.

Now that at least some of the blame is being pointed at the RD, should we consider what action should be taken if no DQ comes down?

I'm thinking we get someone to pull the final relay exchange hop-in and win or at least get top-3?

By not DQing Mike, they would basically be admitting that the only necessary criteria needed to post a time is crossing both mats.

Deadman Running wrote:

Nope, I would do what it takes to maintain the good name of my race. All good RDs do that. And this one called in the USATF for assistance in the investigation. They are not taking this lightly - especially with all the press its been getting. Besides, all the investigative work has been done, including a lot of analysis on this thread. There's not much to do but finish the interviews with the folks around him and see if MR can provide any proof in his defense.

In the movie version in my head Bart Yasso is played by Clint Eastwood and he is sleuthing round the clock to definitively prove Mike guilty and save the integrity of his race.

Jeff Albertson wrote:

Now that at least some of the blame is being pointed at the RD, should we consider what action should be taken if no DQ comes down?

I'm thinking we get someone to pull the final relay exchange hop-in and win or at least get top-3?

By not DQing Mike, they would basically be admitting that the only necessary criteria needed to post a time is crossing both mats.

They already said they're adding a load of mats.

sorry (your name here) but to answer your question, no I don't have kids. If I did I would certainly not embarrass them by starting all of this.

I'm sorry I referred to Mr 3:11 as a "douche canoe" in my little meme.

shith wrote:

Now since he's all in on this baloney (he can't let his kids think he's a fraud, for crying out loud; he could even get fired!), he sues for defamation or something, who cares if it's baseless. Do you have time for that BS? Is such a hassle worth it to maintain the sanctity of the sport?

Haha, which planet do you live on?, "sues for defamation or something".

printer wrote:

Your timing is too early. If you keep going to pic # 350 you will see the guy in the hideous pink striped shirt (bib #1777). #1777 is well ahead of our guy in the FB starting line photo. In fact, his results say he started at 7:10:23 and finished in 3:22. That says to me that he wasn't going slow compared to his neighbors at the starting line. In fact, most of the others in that area were 4:00 finishers. There's minimal chance that MR sprinted ahead of all this people and ended up in photo 347.

So, I'm sticking with my sighting for now.

Yep, you're right, stick with it, I'm going cross eyed after a hard days night.

The ten minute delay was the key. He meant to run a 3:21:xx; he just didn't, or forgot, to take the delay into account and arrived a bit early. He wouldn't just randomly jump back into the race. He backtracked the time it would take him to run from the final relay point to make it to the finish line in advance. The ten minute delay made his time totally out of whack whereas 3:21 would have made more sense.

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

So I had the thought...

Maybe MR is telling the truth about wearing the watch but not using the GPS.

Hear (or read) me out. If, as others have stated, the Lehigh Valley Marathon did start 10 minutes late, perhaps MR forgot this during his car ride/stand around before he jumped back in. Between his car clock time, his watch, and pulling his cheat plan off, it would have been easy to forget what time the race started.

It would explain why he is so far under his 3:25 BQ. He would have been 3+plus minutes below, but because of the mis-calculation of time, he jumped in early before the finish.

According to the athlete guide, the official start time of all the races (marathon, half and relay) was 7:10 a.m. Appears it started on time.

He meant to run a 3:21:xx; he just didn't, or forgot, to take the delay into account and arrived a bit early.

Even if the case, for the purposes of DQ, they can't go on his past results. They can only look at evidence from the race.

Lots of people have been DQ'd for irregular splits or missing timing mats, but has anyone EVER been DQ'd for no race photos with no other evidence? I've never heard of it. It also sets a bad precedent for runners that just happened to be missed in the race photos.

They'll have to interview the photographers and ask them if there's ANY chance they missed someone or if they've ever missed someone in past races.

Whether he skipped the course or not, a DQ is unlikely without someone from the race seeing him. If he finished in 2:40, a DQ would be more likely because the top 20 runners know their position with respect to others at all times.

The odds say no DQ.

If there were one race photographer at one place I would agee, but every one??? He will be DQ'd... And yes, they can look at past performances, I work for a timing company and when results are questioned that is one of the things we go to...

The last photographer was well AFTER mile 25, right after you go under the bridge but before you turnaround to head to the finish. Mikey jumped in miles after the last relay point, right at the very end.