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

Dirty South wrote:

I think the DQ is a no brainer - as mentioned many, many times, the RD can DQ at their own discretion. The question is why bring in USATF? I'm guessing that they are going for a Boston DQ as well. It's clear he actually "ran" Boston, so it would be difficult to justify a DQ there.

Maybe Athlinks data can be used in the same way as a biological passport. That would provide ample reason to DQ him from any USATF sanctioned races and perhaps ban him from future races for a period of time as well.

????

If his results from LV are DQ'd, why would it be difficult for the BAA to DQ his Boston Marathon results?

If he gained entry into the Boston Marathon under false pretenses, i.e. cheated his way in, then by all means, they would be perfectly justified in vacating his Boston Marathon results as well. That's a no-brainer.

You might want to also consider that the runner dropped out and walked near the finish area. It could be as simple as that. Possibly the timer never got the dnf info on her and the result in and of itself isn't completely out of line.

Very different than Mike here.

Remember, Mike didn't get caught at the race. He got caught because of ego. When he went off on the Principal, and someone saw it was Boston related, that's when the search took off. Otherwise, he's living the life of luxury and the world sees him as a Boston finisher.

An interesting article with an even more interesting timing for release . Doesn't mention our boy specifically but it's pretty much on point. So which type of cheater do you think MR is? I vote for the exception which is both types.

http://www.runnersworldonline.com.au/what-drives-people-who-cheat-in-road-races/

CaptainandtheToenail wrote:

You might want to also consider that the runner dropped out and walked near the finish area. It could be as simple as that. Possibly the timer never got the dnf info on her and the result in and of itself isn't completely out of line.

Very different than Mike here.

Remember, Mike didn't get caught at the race. He got caught because of ego. When he went off on the Principal, and someone saw it was Boston related, that's when the search took off. Otherwise, he's living the life of luxury and the world sees him as a Boston finisher.

Prize money or ego are really the only two reasons to cheat in running. Because there is no competition the only possible loser is the runner himself. But if there is prize money involved, or a person somehow feels competitive and wants to make himself feel superior to other people, or he's just an attention whore, then those are all very compelling reasons.

And Mike milked the attention for all it was worth when the letter to the principal went viral. He answered the phone to any reporter who would listen and call him "dad of the year". He is probably telling the people around him that other runners were simply jealous of him and all he achieved in such a short period of time, while they sat home wishing they had been in Boston. But real runners accept the limitations of their abilities and do it for the fun and to better their health.

Nobody looked into his past races because they were jealous. People looked into it because somebody who flaunts their Boston run the way he did are clearly narcissists and are the primary candidates to be cheaters. He had made running Boston to be his biggest life accomplishment even before he qualified. And then was horrified when he started to realize that he simply wasn't good enough to ever run Boston. And thus a cheater was born.

And with a little out-of-the-way race in Allentown that nobody cared about it became possible to fulfill his goal and only hurt one nameless, faceless person along the way. The one person who would have been next in line for Boston.

We'll never know who that person would have been. But we all know the name Mike Rossi now. And we've all seen his face. And I'll bet he could never run a race for a BQ time without a small mob of people following him the whole race to make sure he knows that we know what he has done.

I'm just speculating why they got USATF involved. I'm guessing there is a bigger issue than just a DQ from LV.

keeping it real wrote:

rafa1 wrote:

Deer Madam Race Director:

100% clear positive photographic evidence that did not make it from point A to point B on the marathon course

WRONG ! ..... there are photos of him at the start , his bib is registered as crossing the start , there is photo and video of him finishing , so he definitely made it from point A-B ..... how that was accomplished is open to conjecture , but all I've heard so far is where he wasn't , based on a flimsy lack of photos reasoning.....sorry , I need to see proof of wear he WAS not where he WASN"T..... show me where he was . Prove it to me !! .... I'm waiting !

Either you are Mike or you've been reading what he has been writing on various FB groups. This is pretty much the only thing he keeps saying and your language is incredibly similar to his

CSU-1959 wrote:

RusieRoiz wrote:

It was a witness. One guy saw Rosie walk through the spectators, jump on the course, and start running, so he reported her.

AND, she didn't know what an interval was when asked in an interview if she did them. Has anyone asked MR if he knows what an interval is?!!!

We use that term very differently in the UK so it's not a universal term. We only do intervals in track work where you run at a set speed for a certain distance. I only found out the other day that in the US you do walk/run intervals. We train to run and not walk at all

No she had a post about her 'BQ'. And pictures with her finishers medal. She also has a FB post with 3 medals-from there, a HM (Over 2 hours) and. Turkey trot. but like Mike I couldn't find mentions of her

I may email the RD to see if they have looked into it. the results should have stuck out to anyone looking at them.

I haven't looked at other's photos to see If there are specific points missing. The photo site was acting up when I was on it.

LoserMikeRossi wrote:

...We'll never know who that person would have been. But we all know the name Mike Rossi now. And we've all seen his face. And I'll bet he could never run a race for a BQ time without a small mob of people following him the whole race to make sure he knows that we know what he has done.

I seriously doubt this. Next time I line up for a race will I be looking around to see if anyone looks like Mike Rossi?

For better or worse, nobody is going to give a shit a year from now and nobody is going to be following Rossi in his next BQ attempt.* **

* If it ever happens

** Which it won't

SaraB wrote:

CSU-1959 wrote:

AND, she didn't know what an interval was when asked in an interview if she did them. Has anyone asked MR if he knows what an interval is?!!!

We use that term very differently in the UK so it's not a universal term. We only do intervals in track work where you run at a set speed for a certain distance. I only found out the other day that in the US you do walk/run intervals. We train to run and not walk at all

Haha! I can't figure if you're naive or a brilliant troll. But I do appreciate what you done here. In hopes of the former: they meant exactly what you understood - track intervals (like what kind of work outs she had done to prepare). However - I recall the story as they asked her about her splits - something entirely different.

Damn it, going to have to do an Ironman now :)

gatorade&vodka wrote:

IMmike wrote:

I would put money on that. Have you seen the amount of M-Dot merchandise available? You could cover every square inch of your body in IM logos, and cover your entire car in IM stickers.

I did not appreciate the scope of their merchandising until I saw the IRONMAN Dooney & Bourke purse collection.

CSU-1959 wrote:

NowFindJimmyHoffa wrote:

I'd like to go on the record as a vegetarian. Which could cause all kinds of semantical shenanigans.

There is another thread for "I Hate Vegetarians". :)

This is "I Hate MR/Cheaters"

Did I mention I'm also ADD? 😀

Doubler wrote:

Thought I'd just randomly pull up a marathon to see if I could spot a cheat. Found an interesting one the first marathon I looked at where a woman BQ'd and got sixth in her age group. With no intermediate splits.

She had a 10k split and a finishing split and no intermediate times.

Her 10k time was 1:06 and finishing time 3:39. That 10k split is 20-25 minutes slower than it should have been and slower than all that finished around her?

So, do we care enough to investigate this in a public forum? After all, if she cheated, she is taking a spot away from someone if she registers for Boston--or is this really about karma - and about how much we think Mike is a douche, and deserves what is coming to him?

I say we investigate.

Maybe because of $$. Maybe because he knew he was having a medical issue in the future. Maybe he wanted to take advatage of an opportunity. This logic is meaningless.

illiniowl wrote:

A question for MR:

Why would running Boston be a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity for a guy who can run 3:11? The standard for his age group is 3:25 and will only get slower in the future.

He might have had a feeling he was never going to be "able" to "run" "3:11" ever again.

Dirty South wrote:

Haha! I can't figure if you're naive or a brilliant troll. But I do appreciate what you done here. In hopes of the former: they meant exactly what you understood - track intervals (like what kind of work outs she had done to prepare). However - I recall the story as they asked her about her splits - something entirely different.

Oh. Some people the other day told be that the US uses the interval system (walk/run/walk/run) in the US and the Europe was inferior and none of us can run past 40 (which is rubbish) because we don't train to walk in races. I did have to explain track intervals to them though, should perhaps have been a clue that they were talking rubbish.

Doubler wrote:

No she had a post about her 'BQ'. And pictures with her finishers medal. She also has a FB post with 3 medals-from there, a HM (Over 2 hours) and. Turkey trot. but like Mike I couldn't find mentions of her

I may email the RD to see if they have looked into it. the results should have stuck out to anyone looking at them.

I haven't looked at other's photos to see If there are specific points missing. The photo site was acting up when I was on it.

The Rossi trail has gone a bit quite so until it gets up a bit of momentum again just name her, her bib number and the event and we'll do the rest.

Beaver Boy wrote:

Doubler wrote:

No she had a post about her 'BQ'. And pictures with her finishers medal. She also has a FB post with 3 medals-from there, a HM (Over 2 hours) and. Turkey trot. but like Mike I couldn't find mentions of her

I may email the RD to see if they have looked into it. the results should have stuck out to anyone looking at them.

I haven't looked at other's photos to see If there are specific points missing. The photo site was acting up when I was on it.

The Rossi trail has gone a bit quite so until it gets up a bit of momentum again just name her, her bib number and the event and we'll do the rest.

We don't really need to know her name. Just bib number and race. Race cheat investigator would be a great job.

Doubler Wubbler wrote:

Seems like we could keep several people occupied full time trying to track down cheaters.

I think I've identified a potential business opportunity here. Race directors hire me for a fee and I do exactly that, track down cheaters, in fact I'm working on an app right now and intending to go world wide with it. Any investors out there prepared to throw in some seed capital.

I'd like to capture all the social media stuff before doing so. Didn't see a ton--but a few things that are relevant. I'd like to tread fairly lightly. There are some things she posted that make her more sympathetic than MR. Although I guess anyone is more sympathetic than MR.