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

Jbatl wrote:

I run this half every year and can't pull out as it's a family tradition we want to continue, but I'm doing something....I'll be at the start, in the front, with a giant sign that says I'm breaking Ryan Hall's American Record in the half marathon today. I know every inch of this course. I'll hope off around mile 3, catch a ride and time it just right. There are multiple places to drop back in after the last relay point. After the old minsi trail bridge I'll hop on the two path from a trail in the woods. We will have a new AR record. I can't wait. Well at least until they DQ me for not crossing the new timing mats. This is ridiculous....

Awesome!

Make sure you post some selfies at the start of the race and post them online so the whole world can see what a stud you are!

4000+ posts in less than a month. In some ways I pity Mike Rossi. So guilty, so delusional. He needs professional help.

Jbatl wrote:

I'll be at the start, in the front, with a giant sign that says I'm breaking Ryan Hall's American Record in the half marathon today. I know every inch of this course. I'll hope off around mile 3, catch a ride and time it just right. There are multiple places to drop back in after the last relay point. After the old minsi trail bridge I'll hop on the two path from a trail in the woods. We will have a new AR record. I can't wait. Well at least until they DQ me for not crossing the new timing mats. This is ridiculous....

It will be even more impressive carrying such a large sign.

Good point. Should have clarified I wouldn't carry the sign. And let's be honest, I doubt I would give up summer training and my own race goals for this stunt. Sure sounds good in my head...I guess as a coping mechanism for the fact that a cheater just got away with it, I came up with this outlandish idea.

I've stated it before there were 1000 posts that nothing would come of this. There would be no Via DQ and there will be no Boston DQ.

Personally I think Mike Rossi is one of the worst piece of shit people on earth. I thought he was a douche when he intentionally embarrased the principal and you can just tell that is has that look of a guy that no one really likes, hell, even his children know their dad is pretty much a tool.

I was just like everyone here, ready to burn the guy at the stake, embarrass him for life and take away any chance to earn a living and provide for his family. But then something changed. The rhetoric on here became way too serious and way too much effort was spent righting a wrong that I think eventually became worse than the initial wrong.

Let's be honest. Did anyone really care for the sanctity of the Boston Marathon qualifying times? The majority of BQ posts before this were that they were a joke. When I first qualified the standard was 2:50 and even then that was considered a bit soft. Every year at Boston there are thousands who don't break 5 hours because they got to pay to run.

I also don't care if someone cheated in one marathon to qualify for Boston because as I mentioned above qualifying for Boston ain't that big of a deal and if anyone really wants to cheat then cheat, I feel more sorry for that guy then anger that he is ruining the sport. Look at all the drug cheats we don't spend 1/50th the energy discussing in races and events that actually matter.

No one is going to boycott Via, no one had heard of Via before this mess and "any news is good news" will apply to this marathon.

This will all die down because if it wasn't for LetsRun I wouldn't have even heard of Mike Rossi just like I wouldn't have known about the letter than went viral. I would bet you could go to any race on earth, including Philly and ask 100 people who Mike Rossi was and 99 1/2 would have a glazed look in their eye. It consumed so many of your lives on here for a month yet it touched so little actually runners, let alone the public.

Great, the top "Mike Rossi" google searches will show he's a cheat. I swear to God I haven't googled my name or any of my friends in five years. But the LetsRun community has that...congrats.

Jbatl wrote:

Good point. Should have clarified I wouldn't carry the sign. And let's be honest, I doubt I would give up summer training and my own race goals for this stunt. Sure sounds good in my head...I guess as a coping mechanism for the fact that a cheater just got away with it, I came up with this outlandish idea.

If you don't plan on doing anything outlandish/embarassing to the marathon, then please find another race to give your money to. There are plenty of other good ones within driving distance. Pulling a Rossi would certainly not jeopardize your Summer training. All you have to do is run a couple hundred metres at the start and then jump back in less than a mile from the finish. Save your goal race for another weekend. If you wear a Rossi shirt while doing this (and, provided you don't accept any awards at the end of the race) everybody will know that you're satyrizing Mike Rossi and the marathon organizers... plus you and any others who do this will be heros on Letsrun!

The Via Marathon made their decision because they thought that loyal patrons of their race, such as yourself, would still turn out to their event, even without a DQ. Prove them wrong!

Seriously -

I agree with much of what you've written. It wasn't the cheating alone that galvanized the running population (as evidenced by some of the other cheaters who have been outed on Doubter's blog who haven't received much attention). Like you, I'm disgusted and apalled by Mike Rossi's narcissistic, holier-than-thou attitude and his use of bullying tactics in order to stroke his own ego and get what he wants - first with the principal, then with the wedding events person who spoke out against him and, finally, with his use of lawyers to intimidate Letsrun and, presumeably the Via Marathon.

Then there is his constant denial of having cheated. Kip Litton continues to profess innocence to this day, and that is why his thread still pops up every now and then. Kip, however has nothing on Mike Rossi when it comes to being a piece of sh*t scumbag of a human being.

Verdict: This thread will never die.

Microwave your chip or something so it is defective, then the mats won't matter because of equipment malfuncion. Hall's record is going down for the count. If you get rattled just think like Mike. It's all about you, no one else and definitely not this sport.

Jbatl wrote:

I run this half every year and can't pull out as it's a family tradition we want to continue, but I'm doing something....I'll be at the start, in the front, with a giant sign that says I'm breaking Ryan Hall's American Record in the half marathon today. I know every inch of this course. I'll hope off around mile 3, catch a ride and time it just right. There are multiple places to drop back in after the last relay point. After the old minsi trail bridge I'll hop on the two path from a trail in the woods. We will have a new AR record. I can't wait. Well at least until they DQ me for not crossing the new timing mats. This is ridiculous....

It would be too ironic. I'd be right in Rossi form; a 20 min PR in half just like his 40 something PR in the full. Entirely possible!!! I hope I have the nerve to go through with it. I'll just go for a cool down and disappear into downtown Easton, with a new American Record.

BTW, I ran last year and it was ridiculously warm and humid for that time of year. No way he ran 3:11 and looked that comfortable at the finish. He would have looked like a wet mess. I was a mess and only ran half the distance.

ROJO (please add to your article what is missing from LHVM's statement, that is what evidence they have he did run it):

What is glaringly missing from LHVM’s flawed statement is what evidence they have to support that he ran the entire 26.2 miles. Instead they said “…while there is data from Rossi’s participation in other racing events indicating that Rossi’s time may not be accurate, there is not conclusive evidence that his time in the 2014 LVHN Via Marathon is inaccurate. The LVHN Via Marathon has not received any reports from the more 2,500 race participants, thousands of spectators, and more than 600 volunteers, course marshals, security personnel, medical personnel or race officials on the course of any wrong doing by any runner.

Their statement begs the question, did they have any reports that he was seen somewhere on the course? What evidence does LHVM have that he ran the entire race? They do not even address the most damning direct evidence. Specifically he is the only runner that did not have at least one photo while on the race course, excluding the finish line. What participant is looking for anything suspicious during the race on a hot humid day? For that matter, how many of the 2,500 participants can say they saw him or anyone else. The RD needs to address what evidence they have to support that he ran the race. That is sorely missing from their politically correct statement. While his time was suspicious and was certainly the initial cause of concern, I can accept that perhaps he ran the race of his life, for argument sake (I don’t think he did though). However, what is indisputable, is that there were no photos of him, that cannot be debated nor can it be interpreted any other way besides the fact that he did not run the entire race. The photographers were witnesses. For that matter, even if a witness came forward, I am confident, based on LHVM’s flawed statement, that any witnesses statement would be discounted and/or explained away.

Maybe the LHVM race director, or whoever took this project on was too lazy to actually look at the photos and didn't want to take the word of Letsrun or Sarah B's blog that compiled all of the evidence neatly for them.

Whether it was the threat of a lawsuit or extreme laziness and incompetence... either way, the marathon has alienated runners who care about the sport in a big way. Even if they eventually bow to public pressure and do the right thing and DQ Rossi, I will never run that marathon while it is run by its current team of incompetent and/or cowardly personel.

D. Daddy wrote:

Maybe the LHVM race director, or whoever took this project on was too lazy to actually look at the photos and didn't want to take the word of Letsrun or Sarah B's blog that compiled all of the evidence neatly for them.

Whether it was the threat of a lawsuit or extreme laziness and incompetence... either way, the marathon has alienated runners who care about the sport in a big way. Even if they eventually bow to public pressure and do the right thing and DQ Rossi, I will never run that marathon while it is run by its current team of incompetent and/or cowardly personel.

Yes, this is good and fine. However the race will probably never say outright that you are not their core customer. Their customer is actually the Mike Rossi's of the world. The ones that wake up and say, "I need a challenge. I'm going run Boston."

Mike is likely not suing anyone. He has no case. He CANNOT prove by a preponderance of evidence that he ran the race. It may even be determined that he is a public figure- so the burden of proof may be higher on his end.

Also if he were to sue letsrun, Hal Higdon, Sara, etc..and allow it to go to court, he would lose...and his cheating would be confirmed in a way more public manner than it had thus far.

If he does sue, it would be to try to extort a quick settlement from an entity with deep pockets. He would never go as far as a trial. The evidence is overwhelming that he did not legitimately run LVM.

If everyone here hates Mike Rossi so much for being such an attention-whoring, egotistical douche bag, why do you keep talking about him?

He's a sad little fck professional dancer and DJ from some crap town I've never heard of, who cheated to get a BQ. I guarantee at least 100 other cheaters ran Boston this year.

The worst thing you can do to him is stop talking about him.

Or in the words of Al Bundy, "I was going to kill him, until I realized the worst thing I could do to him is let him live."

Doubler wrote:

The evidence is overwhelming that he did not legitimately run LVM.

What evidence?

The evidence you think you have?

What about the evidence that LVM may have that you are not privy to?

You people are seriously demented and delusional.

But it's fun to read. so please continue.

ColumboDumbo wrote:

Do you really think they have information that confirms he ran the race?

It's possible, but if you take a look at their Facebook page and (probably) their email inbox, I'm going to guess they would have made that information public.

Doubler wrote:

The evidence is overwhelming that he did not legitimately run LVM.

What evidence?

The evidence you think you have?

What about the evidence that LVM may have that you are not privy to?

You people are seriously demented and delusional.

But it's fun to read. so please continue.

lol.

you really think if LVM had evidence that he actually ran the race, that they wouldn't have made that public to justify their decision?

ColumboDumbo wrote:

Doubler wrote:

The evidence is overwhelming that he did not legitimately run LVM.

What evidence?

The evidence you think you have?

What about the evidence that LVM may have that you are not privy to?

You people are seriously demented and delusional.

But it's fun to read. so please continue.

^This

I signed up to run the LVM before any of this Mike Rossi BS happened. I was going to use this as a last ditch attempt to improve my BQ time to avoid the cut off. What should I do?