Robert Young fakes run across America

This reminds me so much of the whole Kip Litton spectacle. Nobody is asking for stellar reviews of Rob's character. ("Kip is a fantastic dentist-- took great care of my teeth...such a wonderful human being; he'd never cheat")

Honestly, it would be enough to have someone follow Rob for a span of 72-96 hours just to verify the legitimacy of this pace/mileage issue. I don't care how fast he ran for one mile of the 25 he ran with you, or how well caffeine woke him up. Twenty five miles out of 350 is a joke compared to an RV consistently moving 7-10mph with a Rob who is supposedly keeping up...after 1,700+ miles.

As others have stated, his less than realistic debut in ultra running also raised eyebrows because it simply wasn't plausible. Unless I watch it happen, I'm simply not inclined to believe anyone could jump in cold and negative split consecutive marathons the way he supposedly did, the last one in 3:19, during the course of 30 hours. That's cartoon fantasy material, not reality.

I'm not sure which outrageous claims you are referring to. I haven't seen Kev's posts on here - have to confess to not having gone through all 20 pages. There was a Kev running with me that time, so I'm guessing it may have been him on here. I can try and respond but, as I say, can only speak from my experience of Rob. I believe his team are going to be posting up some data. As for the videos, I don't know what is going on there. Hard to comment on that from thousands of miles away. I don't understand why the guy filming didn't just go up to the team and talk to them. That would have seemed the obvious thing to do. What's funny is that we had someone stating he had broken the UK record a month or two ago and Rob was one of the first to call him out. Many of the comments on here are similar to the ones then, only this time I think evidence will be produced

APersson wrote:

I saw someone refer to a newspaper article earlier in this thread which is all accurate apart from the 5 min mile bit (presumably a bit of journalist"s license).

Stop cherry picking and address some of his many outlandish claims, manipulations and lies:

Rob wrote in his book (summarized), not some journalist:

"So in summary, Rob claims to have become an instant marathoner. Not only does he claim to run his first three marathons ever all within a 30-hour period of time which included less than 4 hours sleep, but he got progressively FASTER as he did so: 4:07, 3:28, 3:19."

quote]curiously interested wrote:

Rob Young's book is on amazon.co.uk and you can read quite a few of the opening parts for free at:

Rob's first day of marathon running was quite a doozy. Below are his claims in his book.

Sunday, April 13, 2014 - Watched London Marathon. Enamored by the 40,000 runners behind the elites. Observed that £53 million was raised for charity. Made crazy 20p bet he could run 50 marathons. "I was just a 31-year-old office worker who hadn't run his first marathon yet." Briefly mentions that he had been a pro cyclist (no team or details mentioned), and later mentions he "was a triathlete for Great Britain." He claims he was decent at swimming and fast at biking and had to build a big lead "because my running was awful. I was slow: Mr Plod, Dr Dawdle." That day he researched online about marathon frequency records (Larry Macon's 157 and 239; Richard Abad 366).

Monday, April 14, 2014:

3:30 AM - Alarm goes off and wakes up. Bikes 20 minutes over to Richmond Park.

4:15 AM - Starts running 26.2 miles in Richmond Park. Claims to have finished in 4:07.

8:30ish AM - Changed into his work clothes in the park before biking off to Richmond to catch the train to work. "I was tired and hungry, but still felt fresh. . . . I thought I might have to run quicker or get up earlier in [the] future as I was going to be late. . . ." ". . . In fact, I felt so happy about what I'd done that morning that I began to develop a new plan: maybe I should run another one after work? . . ."

5:30ish PM - Left work and took the train back to Richmond. Biked to the park. Guzzled Lucozade and a can of Red Bull. Starts running a second marathon.

9:00ish PM - Finished his second marathon of the day. Claims to have "finished in 3 hours 28 minutes - a personal best and still there was no 'wall' to climb over."

11:00 PM - Arrives home.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014:

3:30 AM - Alarm goes off and wakes up. Has a couple of small blisters on right foot. Legs felt tired, but that was the new normal.

Ran another marathon in another personal best, 3:19.

Wednesday, April 16, 2014:

Another marathon.

Thursday, April 17, 2014:

Ran two marathons, before and after work.

Friday, April 18, 2014:

Another marathon.

Saturday, April 19, 2014:

Another marathon.

Sunday, April 20, 2014:

Two more marathons.

So in summary, Rob claims to have become an instant marathoner. Not only does he claim to run his first three marathons ever all within a 30-hour period of time which included less than 4 hours sleep, but he got progressively FASTER as he did so: 4:07, 3:28, 3:19.

Now for non-runners, this might not seem implausible. But for anyone remotely associated with running, this is not possible. Remember, this claim is more than running his first marathon on no training (something that is not really impossible), but repeating it TWICE and FASTER each time within 24 hours after completing his first.

Rob claims he was not a distance runner, and yet he ran 78 miles within 30 hours and got progressively faster, all on a whim without any training or any previous long-distance running experience.[/quote]

apersson wrote:

As for the videos, I don't know what is going on there. Hard to comment on that from thousands of miles away. I don't understand why the guy filming didn't just go up to the team and talk to them. That would have seemed the obvious thing to do.

He tried, but they drove away. This is addressed in this thread. Also, there's separate security cam footage clearly showing the RV driving slowly by with no runner in sight. The poster has offered to go back and get the footage for any timestamp that Rob wants, if he claims he ran by earlier or later.

Crazy Scam wrote:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_HP_Young

This is a joke, right?

Height

5 ft 6 in (168 cm)

Weight

79 kg (174 lb)

Personal best(s)

5km 15:56 10km 30:47 Half marathon 1hrs 08mins Marathon 2hrs 41mins 24hrs 139 miles 200 miles 38hrs 43mins 350 miles 75hrs 29mins 3100 Miles RAUSA Race 482hrs 10mins 3rd 2004 European long Distance triathlon (20-24 age group) 2015 Winner USA transcontinental Race

Will Travel wrote:

ROJO - CHIMED IN!!! WOOT WOOT

OK - so I may be up for a road trip to see if this nozzle is really doing what he says he is doing. I am up for 50-100 miles on a bike to keep him company...I say bike because if he is TRULY running sub 7 min pace each day (or) night, that is faster than I can run right now. On a bike, I am good to go.

Anyone else up for a road trip?

Per his Run Time Table on the web site - I am thinking June 16, 17, 18 - but per his pace and current location, that may have to be moved up since it appears he is way ahead of schedule.

I think the Flash couldn't beat this guy in a race.....

Yes road trip. As I need partners. I'll pay for the gas and beer.

Crazy Scam wrote:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_HP_Young

Hahahahaha looked through that too Check out references 11 and 12 which talk about him being a

Running part of a 2-man team 2250 miles with 102,563 ft of actual climbing in 25 days

and

Winner of the 2015 International Peace and Sports Awards - Champion of the year - in Monaco

FYI he wasn't

'notherUlister wrote:

4. He is a little over halfway through. No hurry and, again, it is already covered.

What do you mean it's already covered? Is someone is already going to follow him for 24-48 hours. Please have them email me. I want to call them. At least interview them.

apersson wrote:

...have to confess to not having gone through all 20 pages.

You should, I think you'll find it very enlightening, to come on here and defend him without having done so is not the brightest thing to do.

rojo wrote:

'notherUlister wrote:

4. He is a little over halfway through. No hurry and, again, it is already covered.

What do you mean it's already covered? Is someone is already going to follow him for 24-48 hours. Please have them email me. I want to call them. At least interview them.

robertjohnson@ltesrun.com

Rojo, there's a crowdfunding effort going on on the ultralist to have 2 veteran ultrarunners tail him for a week or so. It's discussed further back in the thread. Not sure what the current status of it is though.

I don't have the skill to do this, but between GoPro, a GPS watch and Periscope, would it not be possible to do a continuous broadcast of not only Rob running, but also have a continuous stream of his GPS coordinates? And I'd think this would be very cheap. And I thought of it in about ten seconds. And I'm not very bright. Somebody planning a cross country record attempt didn't spend ten seconds thinking about how they'd document this incredible feat? Not possible. They put effort in alright...effort into rigging up a system that would allow them to cheat.

Which bits are you doubting? His race across the USA win? Pretty sure that was very well documented. The going into running a marathon a day. From experience I don't think that is implausible. I always think it sounds much harder than it actually is. It was 60 miles I did with Rob, not 25. The caffeine hit mention was only because somebody had questioned the newspaper article and I was stating I was there, but that, yes, 5 min/mile was an exaggeration. Don't know what it's like over there, but our papers aren't always renowned for their accuracy. I really hope people do go out and find him and run with him. As he nears New York I'm sure they will and there will be no way of faking anything then.

apersson wrote:

I don't understand why the guy filming didn't just go up to the team and talk to them.

That's because you haven't read the whole thread. You really aren't too bright are you.

Please tell me this is a joke. wrote:

Crazy Scam wrote:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_HP_Young

This is a joke, right?

Height

5 ft 6 in (168 cm)

Weight

79 kg (174 lb)

Personal best(s)

5km 15:56 10km 30:47 Half marathon 1hrs 08mins Marathon 2hrs 41mins 24hrs 139 miles 200 miles 38hrs 43mins 350 miles 75hrs 29mins 3100 Miles RAUSA Race 482hrs 10mins 3rd 2004 European long Distance triathlon (20-24 age group) 2015 Winner USA transcontinental Race

BMI=27.9?

rojo wrote:

Yes road trip. As I need partners. I'll pay for the gas and beer.

Rojo - there are two grizzled, veteran ultra-runners (Lazarus Lake & RayK) and a few others, are headed out to do just that.

If a crew from here would like to do the same, they might reach out and co-ordinate with the crew from the ultra list to ensure they are not overlapping and a longer span of Mr. Young's venture could be witnessed.

apersson wrote:

Which bits are you doubting? His race across the USA win? Pretty sure that was very well documented. The going into running a marathon a day. From experience I don't think that is implausible. I always think it sounds much harder than it actually is. It was 60 miles I did with Rob, not 25. The caffeine hit mention was only because somebody had questioned the newspaper article and I was stating I was there, but that, yes, 5 min/mile was an exaggeration. Don't know what it's like over there, but our papers aren't always renowned for their accuracy. I really hope people do go out and find him and run with him. As he nears New York I'm sure they will and there will be no way of faking anything then.

Yes you're right. As he reaches his final destination I'm sure he'll find a way to actually run it in. What a champ.

Your information backing that up being...?

http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/robert-young-extreme-endurance-runner-poses-with-his-award-news-photo/498871382

Again I ran 30 miles of that and followed his progress on FB and, yes he could have been making it all up apart from the 30 miles I did, so he could get to carry a peace torch for a bit, but I kind of doubt it

Did you read the original poster's acount on page 1? If not, here is the pertinent section:

"...After it drove by, I ran into the highway, turned on my headlamp to strobe mode, and started running behind the RV. It was driving running speed, so I was making progress, but they saw my light and stopped. Someone got out of the passenger side of the RV, but when I got closer they got back in, and the RV drove off too fast for me to follow on foot. I ran back to my car..."

Please explain to us "colonials", why the RV pulled away so quickly? Odd behavior. Rob wants people to join him in the day time ok, then why all the secrecy in the middle of the night? I eagerly await your explanation/excuse.

I read that he was in a car and that the RV was crawling along the road. In fact I swear I saw him overtake in the video. If he was so keen to support Rob, could have been a good idea to flag down the RV and find out what was going on