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

Bored at work wrote:

Here is a video of him finishing his 30 minute PR

http://results.chronotrack.com/athlete/index/e/10510918

Well, there's your smoking gun. Jogging 9 minute pace with no sweat at the end of a 3:10.

At least he looked relaxed.

The whole interwebs is basing an argument on whether there is a garmin file for the race. It may not even be him in the photo of that race and that someone else could have still worn his garmin and produced a legitimately run 3:11 used for illegitimate purposes.

missing an obvious problem wrote:

The whole interwebs is basing an argument on whether there is a garmin file for the race. It may not even be him in the photo of that race and that someone else could have still worn his garmin and produced a legitimately run 3:11 used for illegitimate purposes.

It looks like him, and he posted one of the finisher photos to Facebook.

Looks like he's been obsessed with Boston since the bombings. He posted this to a public site on CNN back in May 2013:

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-968354

Let's crowd source the photographic research.

I have created a spreadsheet where I have 101 finishers from the Lehigh valley marathon listed - the 50 before Mr. Rossi and the 50 after.

Let's all take 5 people and see how at how many different locations they were caught in photos. Pleast note, there are a couple of cameras at the finish but only count that once. We just want to see at how many different locations people were photographed (For Rossi it was just once).

So we don't repeat eachother's work. Pur your name down on the spreadsheet before you do your five.

If they were caught in less than 3 locations, we can go back and check lost and found later. If you find anything that deserves explanation, type it in.

Here is the spreadhseet where you type in your results:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o6QNphLQ7ZV_sPSCyaFV4Tm1rmOlol_AO5cxF3Lam-Q/edit#gid=0

Here is the site where you type in the bib numbers:

http://www.racephotonetwork.com/QPPlus/SearchBibNumber.aspx?EventID=1557975&_AccountNumber=2770

gatorade&vodka wrote:

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?

Here's his twitter before after Lehigh:

http://imgur.com/Qgm3kuS

He appears to be tied in to the Philadelphia media.

Cecily Tynan, mentioned in the Twitter, is a Philadelphia TV meteorologist and accomplished local masters runner. I think she was once a Runners World cover girl.

John Boruk is on the local cable sports network.

With this thread at 18 pages, there are a lot of repeats and people claiming that one aspect or another is "damning," or not. A lot of unfortunate (repeated) confusion on possible charity-entry, someone with the same name, etc. We need to stick with the FACTS. I still think it's circumstantial -- but a lot of circumstantial. The performance AND personality have to be considered together.

To summarize:

1. No correlating performances before or after, or tuneup races

2. No pictures on course

3. Head down in picture, with little celebration

4. No visible sweat in finish line photo (especially considered in combination with #1, with someone running the hardest race of their life)

5. Owns, uses, wears GPS watch -- but not for BQ race

6. Very brief mention of BQ on Twitter, saying "Thanks" when congratulated by someone else -- DESPITE active running boasts elsewhere -- instead of a picture of a medal, finishing time, watch, or other evidence that somebody likely proud and aware of an achievement that is also an active social media user would likely post

7. (Along with 6): Only brief mention of BQ effort, no pictures or run reports or details offered, yet goes to great lengths to make tshirts and a video for running Boston

8. Called Philly Marathon result 2 months later a 'great day' on Twitter -- with more talk about it than the superior Lehigh time -- despite running a half hour slower

9. Had short paragraph defense of BQ, yet offered no proof, nor exhibited righteous indignation, that someone having a legitimate performance questioned would show.

10. Along with 9, "This is all I have to say on this issue," shut down all social media. Especially unusual given the circumstances of the original story, in which he exhibited strong characteristics of defiance and attention-seeking

This guy is the epitome of the adult learner. Adults typically learn through experience and reflection rather than being directed or receiving lectures. That includes lessons about ethics.

Right now this guy is being humiliated in public by a self-righteous, vengeful horde. It is clearly his fault for (very likely) cheating and proviiding said horde with raw material in the form of his cheating and self-righteous public e-mailing.

I would argue that he's now reflecting on his actions and learning from them. He won't do this again. Admittedly I'm guessing.

He has kids. They can and will be hurt by this. Let's release the pressure, folks. You've done your part.

StolenBoston wrote:

3. Head down in picture, with little celebration

Good summary. But the video showed there wasn't anything special about his head down. Lots of runners celebrate the same way.

teamdoc wrote:

would argue that he's now reflecting on his actions and learning from them. He won't do this again. Admittedly I'm guessing.

Reflecting on his actions? Improbable. Reflecting on how to get away with the cheating? Probable.

FYI - His Philadelphia Marathon finisher photos show him with his head down. Looks like (in the LV video) he has a similar finish and pumps his fist after crossing.

I also read in another post where he says he shut down his twitter because her was getting threats.

That's inexcusable. (the threats)

teamdoc wrote:

This guy is the epitome of the adult learner. Adults typically learn through experience and reflection rather than being directed or receiving lectures. That includes lessons about ethics.

Right now this guy is being humiliated in public by a self-righteous, vengeful horde. It is clearly his fault for (very likely) cheating and proviiding said horde with raw material in the form of his cheating and self-righteous public e-mailing.

I would argue that he's now reflecting on his actions and learning from them. He won't do this again. Admittedly I'm guessing.

He has kids. They can and will be hurt by this. Let's release the pressure, folks. You've done your part.

Smithers, release the hounds.

He must have killed JFK too wrote:

I also read in another post where he says he shut down his twitter because her was getting threats.

That's inexcusable. (the threats)

B.S. unless you call asking for an explanation as being a threat.

StolenBoston wrote:

3. Head down in picture, with little celebration

5. Owns, uses, wears GPS watch -- but not for BQ race

He celebrated.

He appears to be wearing a GPS watch. There is no evidence that he did not track the race.

StolenBoston wrote:

9. Had short paragraph defense of BQ, yet offered no proof, nor exhibited righteous indignation, that someone having a legitimate performance questioned would show.

It's helpful to think about what you personally would do if you were accused of cheating by someone. From my perspective, I don't wear a GPS watch, so I wouldn't be able to offer that as "proof." So what would I do? I would immediately share my splits. I could give you my splits from any race in the past 10 years within a few minutes, and I could almost certainly dig up older splits with a little bit of effort. To me, it would just be a reflex-- you don't think I ran this race? Have a look at my splits and let me know what you think.

Of course, hand-written splits (which mine are) don't "prove" anything-- they can be invented out of thin air. So why do we accept them as "evidence"? First, they're quite a bit harder to just make us than you might think... especially when you've never run the time in question. Rossi might not even know what mile pace a 3:11 marathon is. When you try to factor in details of a course you never ran (uphills, downhills, etc.) it gets very complicated. Second, the second you put splits out there, your story becomes falsifiable. You say you hit the half marathon in 1:35? Then why aren't you in this photo at the 14-mile mark with a guy who also split a 1:35?

To me, the fact that a guy would shut down all of his social media after getting hounded by letsrunners isn't that remarkable. I would do the same. But my final post would have my splits for everyone to chew over.

bad guess wrote:

teamdoc wrote:

would argue that he's now reflecting on his actions and learning from them. He won't do this again. Admittedly I'm guessing.

Reflecting on his actions? Improbable. Reflecting on how to get away with the cheating? Probable.

Where do you get your probabilities from? Also -- do you have children?

The good news is his kids can skip another week of school because they have undoubtedly learned more in the last few days than they will in an entire year of going to school. (Or at least that is what I think Michael Rossi would claim.) For instance, they have learned that if you get away with cheating, it is best not to call attention to yourself. They have learned that public scorn swings both ways and if you use it to embarrass someone else, you ought to be prepared for it to be used likewise against you. I have no idea if they have learned the Oxford Comma, or proper grammar in general, although I know they have not learned these things from their father.

dkggpeters wrote:

teamdoc wrote:

This guy is the epitome of the adult learner. Adults typically learn through experience and reflection rather than being directed or receiving lectures. That includes lessons about ethics.

Right now this guy is being humiliated in public by a self-righteous, vengeful horde. It is clearly his fault for (very likely) cheating and proviiding said horde with raw material in the form of his cheating and self-righteous public e-mailing.

I would argue that he's now reflecting on his actions and learning from them. He won't do this again. Admittedly I'm guessing.

He has kids. They can and will be hurt by this. Let's release the pressure, folks. You've done your part.

Smithers, release the hounds.