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

I'll bet he couldn't run a single 800 at 3:11! When I was in 3:10 shape I ran a 1:29 half and a 19:40 5k.

Again, F__ this guy. He bumped a real runner from Boston.

Did those 5K's leading up to Lehigh show any improvement from his past 5K's? If this is the first time he was running uninjured, surely his 5K times would be better as well, right?

citizen kane wrote:

Michael Rossi of Rydal ran 3;11 in the Lehigh Valley race, that is a different guy than the Michael Rossi of Warrington who is featured in the article that went viral, Rydal Rossi is in late 40's, Warrington Rossi is 52.

The Rossi mentioned in this viral story is the 47 year old from Rydal.

The Rydal Rossi is the one who posted the time at Lehigh , he didn't run it. He is also the one that went viral. Leave the other guy out of this

Boom! After reading 8 pages of this thread, I'm convinced Mike Rossi is a cheat! Bring him down!

The Mike Rossi in the viral article, who ran Boston in 4+ hours and had a dispute with the RYDAL Elementary School over his kids missing school, is the same Mike Rossi from RYDAL who "ran" the Lehigh Marathon in 3:11.Weren't you the one who posted the rap sheet of M. Rossi of Warrington claiming it belonged to M. Rossi of Rydal?

citizen kane wrote:

Michael Rossi of Rydal ran 3;11 in the Lehigh Valley race, that is a different guy than the Michael Rossi of Warrington who is featured in the article that went viral, Rydal Rossi is in late 40's, Warrington Rossi is 52.

Google "mike rossi runner" or "mike rossie marathon," without quotes, and this thread is #1 on p. 1.

MarathonMind wrote:

I'll bet he couldn't run a single 800 at 3:11! When I was in 3:10 shape I ran a 1:29 half and a 19:40 5k.

Again, F__ this guy. He bumped a real runner from Boston.

My wife tried for 10 years to BQ (9 marathons). Her best time was only 4:10.

But in 2012 things clicked. I ran with her a lot, made her push her pace, kept her honest on long runs, and her 10th marathon was a 3:42. A 28 minute improvement and she was 46 at the time! It is possible to make jumps out of no where.

That said, her races just prior to the marathon were indicative (a 9 minute half PR, a 2 minute 5k PR, a 15k in which she set a 10k PR enroute).

Also, 30km at 4:55/km or thereabouts is a very easy run for someone that can run 3:0x and sub 1:30 for a half. Definitely not something "brag worthy." I suspect he posted that run because he was happy being sub 8 and probably had to really push it to get it there.

I'm confident I could forge a convincing GPS track. So even if he were to produce one (after a delay of a few days/weeks), I would not be convinced.

The next generation of cheaters may have to think ahead on this stuff (or maybe they're already doing it!).

As a masters runner who has worked hard to get faster I want to share what going from 3:40 to 3:15 looks like. I have all Garmin and logs to back it up. This guy is a liar and cheater. I and my running friends have similar stories time and training wise. He is not an outlier to science at 47. If I can prove it, so can he. And yes, I missed Boston this year by 13 seconds so i know the effort required.

http://www.athlinks.com/athletes/50208640

can't one just edit the time on Nike plus running after a run? can't one just edit the time on Garmin as well?

No, you can't modify the speed or gps data either through the Nike+ app or the Nike+ watch. I keep the data on all my runs and races. You would think such a narcissist as Rossie would post up his data with the Lehigh 3:11 marathon.

gdm wrote:

I'm confident I could forge a convincing GPS track. So even if he were to produce one (after a delay of a few days/weeks), I would not be convinced.

The next generation of cheaters may have to think ahead on this stuff (or maybe they're already doing it!).

I know it's possible because the .tcx is just xml. I have edited them in the past when I would forget to turn off my watch and the track contained my run (or ride) plus the car drive.

Upanddown wrote:

The Rydal Rossi is the one who posted the time at Lehigh , he didn\'t run it. He is also the one that went viral. Leave the other guy out of this

Can we get the right info on WHICH Mike Rossi we need to call out? Just getting bit confused and this RV Uber Driver needs to make sure he is picking up the correct cheater in the next race!

1) LEAVE THE KIDS OUT OF IT. I have tried to delete any photos of the kids. If there are any photos of him with his kids still up, please email me at

the page they are on and I will delete them. Yes, he put them out there, particularly with the facebook posts and what not but I don't want them on here.

Are you crazy? 3:11 marathon pace is 7:17 per mile. He runs an 18 miler at 7:54 pace and you think he can run 26.2 miles at 7:17 pace? That's laughable. That's 37 seconds per mile faster. That's 10 seconds per lap on a track for 26.2 miles. He's 2.5 seconds per 100 metesr too slow. NOT POSSIBLE.

37 seconds is 1:55 per 5k. Do you think there is a difference between a world class athlete like Ben True (13:05 ish) and your run of the mile college 15 flat guy? I think this weekend I'll find the nearest DIII meet, take him out of the 5k and enter him in the Pre Classic 5k and see how he does.

Plus there are 8 extra miles. It's not even remotely possibly.

Yes people when they first start running can IMPROVE a ton. The difference here is if you go back and look at the race photos, you will obviously show up in the race photos taken on the course .

The fact that he shows up in zero of the check points on the course as recorded by the photographer, when he's a known publicity hound is what got people interested. Then when his corresponding other races and training times show nothing EVEN CLOSE to 3:11, then it's pretty obvious he didn't run the time.'

I'm sure you a) showed up in the race photos and b) you had times in shorter races and/or training showing it's even REMOTELY possible.

When I get done with the WTW, I think I'll write an article myself. Once someone publishes it, the other sites liek Yahoo, Philly etc will basically steal it and republish it.

I just have read the thread here. I want to go through the race photos myself and have some stats myself like "the 50 finishers before and after rossi" all showed up at least ** times in race photos. He did not.

One last question. ARe you guys sure he is claiming to be a BQ qualifier? How do we know he wasn't simply a charity runner?

There was more than one Mike Rossi in the race. Does Boston list qualifiers and charity runners?

He's reading the thread - DON'T GIVE HIM ANY IDEAS

gdm wrote:

I'm confident I could forge a convincing GPS track. So even if he were to produce one (after a delay of a few days/weeks), I would not be convinced.

The next generation of cheaters may have to think ahead on this stuff (or maybe they're already doing it!).

To anyone who owns one of these - are you able to download the "raw" GPS data from those watches? Because you would have a bona fide genius in both GPS and programming to figure out how to fake that file. You would need to figure out the equations to describe all the satellite orbits, and then the exact readings from each satellite necessary to produce the thousands of waypoints that would describe your course.

I'm guessing even a very basic file that just shows waypoint locations would be very hard to fake without making some tiny mistake that would give you away. Anyone care to post what these files look like?

Not that he would ever produce said file.

Anyone remember those creepy guys who hid in the bushes at Kip Litton's office?

this just got real.