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

Roderick is so excited that he is is starting to lose his mind. I think he just wrote that he has seen Frank running "where he was approaching the timing mat" during races. I'm wondering if Roderick is the accomplice, and that he got tired of Frank taking all of the credit so he blew the whistle on his old buddy.

Greg Chrisman wrote:

The LA Times did enough to get the story out there. A friend of mine in LA said it was front page. I would bet he will be dqd shortly by LAM as they now likely need to do something.

If you go to the comment section, most of the public comments agreed he cheated. Some said who cares about a 70 yr old.

Also I don’t know if ever mentioned but imho high level college runners don’t get better with age. If anything they are broken down w age. 70 yr olds don’t run 100 mile weeks either. Running isn’t like swimming where you can maintain a high level for a long time.

Apparently Gene Dykes run crazy miles, but he is a true outlier. Agree that Frank isn’t running that kind of mileage. Of course he wasn’t a high level college runner either apparently.

At any rate, while I think what Frank did is wrong, it’s also so outlandish that I’m starting to feel a bit sorry for him. To dedicate so much effort to cheat over so many races over a ten year period has to be a sign of some mental imbalance.

Seems like there is no one left in the Loyola camp who is denying it any more. I don't think we will see too much resistance or defense from any of Frank's former colleagues in the future. Not sure though about what more will happen with Phillip Bland being a rumored accomplice.

Thanks Derek for your work. Donated.

Another anomalous thing about the 2016 Oakland marathon is this photo:

https://iconic-imagecdn.azureedge.net/MFT2016-02/92/792992/1005/0024.jpg?preset=p

It's a pre-race picture along with plenty of others. FM has his race bib and the same hat and shoes he wears in the rest of the race. So he's not starting the race late because he's arriving at the start line late. In fact it looks like he's getting there really early. He's got a hoody to stay warm, and in normal circumstances you'd guess he'll discard it at the starting line.

And also: FM wears his sunglasses at night. He's the only guy with sunglasses on in the pre-race pictures I looked at. Why does he need sunglasses at, I'm guessing, 6:30 AM? Why does he arrive early to the start line, but then not start the race until everyone else has left?

As for the question of: Why bother at this point?

I think a stead drip of facts and evidence is more interesting and much more useful than page after page of speculation, squabbling, and name-calling.

The Oakland evidence tells us something about method. Whatever FM's method, it's something that doesn't depend on knowing every detail of his hometown course. It's something that works even hundreds of miles away in Oakland, at least at races that aren't so picky about details (like LAM and ORF), although not at races that care, like CIM.

And seriously, what's with the sunglasses? "It's too bright out" isn't typically what people with aging eyes say before dawn.

Technology? WTF is that supposed to mean? Mathematics and statistics are the tools to use along with a computer and a spreadsheet program to make it faster. You would have needed to have paid attention during 8th and 9th grade to figure it out. Crawl back into your hole grandpa.

In case you have Alzheimer's I would apologize to you, but you wouldn't remember that anyway

Roderick is so excited that he is is starting to lose his mind. I think he just wrote that he has seen Frank running "where he was approaching the timing mat" during races. I'm wondering if Roderick is the accomplice, and that he got tired of Frank taking all of the credit so he blew the whistle on his old buddy.[/quote]

We’ve seen FM actually “running” at the finish of LAM 2018 and 2019...in addition to one at the 20k (I think) timing mat at LAM2019. Explain your way out of any of those FM camp. Why so slow? To anyone new to this thread , go also to marathoninvestigation.com

maybe this wrote:

The Oakland evidence tells us something about method. Whatever FM's method, it's something that doesn't depend on knowing every detail of his hometown course. It's something that works even hundreds of miles away in Oakland, at least at races that aren't so picky about details (like LAM and ORF), although not at races that care, like CIM.

there's the key point. CIM are prepared to act to maintain the integrity of their race.

also does it really matter what his method is? it doesn't change the fact that he's a proven a serial cheat and its safe to discount almost all of this road race results and even the remaining ones should still have an asterisk.

just watch him run. if thats the form of a 2:50 marathoner who still has time to dawdle on the side of the road then i'm gonna break 2:10 the next time i race.

Enlighten me. I don't get it. I'm referring to the whole cutting the bottom of the bib, holding the timing chip on a lanyard, etc. I don't understand why he'd do it. Is it so that he can hand off the timing chip without anybody seeing a bib swap? If so, then there's an accomplice out there who knows that all fo this stuff was going on. Is that what you mean?

DFTT wrote:

run4life23 wrote:The entire allegations against Frank were exacerbated by Derek Murphy...

I know I shouldn't feed the troll, but anyone who paid attention to this thread would know that Derek was a relatively late and reluctant contributor.

His first post on page 2 in this thread:

"Lots of people have reported Frank’s results to me.

I had looked at a couple of his prior races in detail (2017 LA for one) and couldn’t find anything that would lead me to conclude that he cheated. ... I will look into everything with more scrutiny. But initially, there’s nothing that jumps out."

He basically steals everything from this site.

Greg Chrisman wrote:

The LA Times did enough to get the story out there. A friend of mine in LA said it was front page. I would bet he will be dqd shortly by LAM as they now likely need to do something.

If you go to the comment section, most of the public comments agreed he cheated. Some said who cares about a 70 yr old.

Also I don’t know if ever mentioned but imho high level college runners don’t get better with age. If anything they are broken down w age. 70 yr olds don’t run 100 mile weeks either. Running isn’t like swimming where you can maintain a high level for a long time.

It looks like LA has reached out to my buddy’s consulting service to work on ways to reduce the likelihood of cheating and find cheaters at future races.

Better late than never I guess.

Greg Chrisman wrote:

It looks like LA has reached out to my buddy’s consulting service to work on ways to reduce the likelihood of cheating and find cheaters at future races.

Better late than never I guess.

seems kinda pointless considering they refuse to take action once a cheater has been found.

Credit wrote:

DFTT wrote:

I know I shouldn't feed the troll, but anyone who paid attention to this thread would know that Derek was a relatively late and reluctant contributor.

His first post on page 2 in this thread:

"Lots of people have reported Frank’s results to me.

I had looked at a couple of his prior races in detail (2017 LA for one) and couldn’t find anything that would lead me to conclude that he cheated. ... I will look into everything with more scrutiny. But initially, there’s nothing that jumps out."

He basically steals everything from this site.

A good investigator suspends judgement until he/she has enough evidence to make a determination. I commend Derek for wading through all the info, contacting the concerned parties, and summarizing his findings. He doesn’t make up his own facts, just presents the findings. Great Job Derek, hopefully people contemplating cheating in the future will take heed of how this can mess up their life (and Frank will come clean. I know, cheats aren’t going to stop, and once caught continue the vigorous denials).

maybe this wrote:

As for the question of: Why bother at this point?

I think a stead drip of facts and evidence is more interesting and much more useful than page after page of speculation, squabbling, and name-calling.

Agree, keep the slow drip feed (such as your excellent posts) coming, lets face it there's over ten years worth of cheating out there, so plenty to draw on.

Also, going by the photos Frank's bit about wanting to run with "three Loyola alumni" was just bullshit?, did any of them appear in the results?

im pretty sure doubler always credits letsrun when appropriate. he certainly did this time.

are we saying that journalists shouldn't use outside sources to gain information?

They're teen trolls, over the years we've heard it all before, ignore them, don't feed them.

Pass it on to him that he should advise them they should first DQ Meza (set the example that even if you cheat months/years later, you may get DQ'd for clear rule violations ) and then get to work on preventing future cheaters (or hire Meza like DeCaprio's character in Catch Me If You Can--half joking).

Going viral - Worldwide! wrote:

Frank has gone international!

https://nzzas.nzz.ch/sport/wie-hobbysportler-ihre-leistung-aufmotzen-ld.1490714

I love the headline, which roughly translates to "Cheating, tricking, cheating - as hobby athletes pimp their achievements"

No running away to Europe now...

Cheating, tricking, cheating - as hobby athletes aufmotzen their achievements

For a good marathon time or a finisher photo on Facebook, some athletes are almost right. Abbreviation is considered a trivial offense, others do not even deter doping.

Translated, it really doesn't sound too bad. He's just aufmotzening his achievements and abbreviating some marathon courses.

And he’s good at it. wrote:

Credit wrote:

He basically steals everything from this site.

A good investigator suspends judgement until he/she has enough evidence to make a determination. I commend Derek for wading through all the info, contacting the concerned parties, and summarizing his findings. He doesn’t make up his own facts, just presents the findings. Great Job Derek, hopefully people contemplating cheating in the future will take heed of how this can mess up their life (and Frank will come clean. I know, cheats aren’t going to stop, and once caught continue the vigorous denials).

I’m not much different than the other posters here. I’m no smarter or no better at this than some others. But I have a platform, and I have contacts. I also have to be tempered and careful with what I write. I can’t call someone a cheater because I am pretty sure they cheated. I have a responsibility to be thorough and fair. Without this thread, I wouldn’t have seen the first photos of Frank on the corner which led to the additional discoveries. I’ve been clear in crediting this thread.

Also, I know he’s Just trolling, But I would support anyone trying to work with races to prevent cheating. In most cases, races have what they need. If they empower the timing companies (and photographers), they should catch most cheating on their own.

LA reached out to me about Frank before, as I’ve said. But they are clearly about their brand first. integrity and accuracy is down the list.

It’s situations like that that make me hesitant to search out partner races. I don’t want to enter into agreements where a race will pull this when it comes time to DQ.

For me, it’s best to remain largely independent and partner with brands and races that are 100% behind M.I. And that will make decisions solely based on the accuracy and integrity of results. Many races don’t seem to realize, that making the right decisions will lead to good P.R.

kegboy, are you a former member of that organization?

Here's a general question not specific to anyone. What's their opinion on lying? Hypothetically, would lying be worse than cheating at a Catholic institution?

general question only, no names mentioned. wrote:

Here's a general question not specific to anyone. What's their opinion on lying? Hypothetically, would lying be worse than cheating at a Catholic institution?

Lying and cheating is fine in the Catholic Church. Getting caught is a sin.