Robert Young fakes run across America

Dmulvee wrote:

I don't understand why he would have done this. Surely travelling at 60 mph would be obvious on his GPS? Even Guinness would want to understand why he is doing miles in a minute.

What you are saying ties up, but surely he couldn't hope to get away with this? I understand him being in the back of a vehicle and it going at 7 mph (it sounds ridiculous), he could hope to get away with that.

Data can be doctored after the entire run.

Ulister wrote:

Just finished a 64 mile run wrote:

+1

His grit isn't in doubt. There's no need to hurt himself proving a point.

This ain't no marathon little boys. Ultra-marathoners (even suspect ones) are a lot tougher than you boys on this board.

A marathon is just a warm-up for most of us.

and ultra-marathoners are pussies compared with polar explorers

Andy Dufresne wrote:

Jedd Clampett wrote:

Well, technically, he's not a citizen.

lol

Reminds of the fella way back on the thread who wanted to know why he wasn't claiming some US ultra record.

Dmulvee wrote:

I don't understand why he would have done this. Surely travelling at 60 mph would be obvious on his GPS? Even Guinness would want to understand why he is doing miles in a minute.

What you are saying ties up, but surely he couldn't hope to get away with this? I understand him being in the back of a vehicle and it going at 7 mph (it sounds ridiculous), he could hope to get away with that.

This is a fair point. I think both cases are somewhat far-fetched -- that he ran unassisted through the Mohave back country for 4 hours on a 95 degree day (temps were probably 75-90 as he ran before noon) or that he got a ride at highway speeds and then had to fudge the GPS. Everywhere else the RV was going running speeds. Why screw that up on the first state with a runner in the vehicle?

It would be really helpful to have more info of that truncated segment, even a screenshot for the time being. Just kind of coincidental that's the one that's cut off.

CoachKev

Please explain this part of his book:

http://imgur.com/a/HQczs

Rob is doing it all "for the kids", he loves children so much, he wants to help them, he started running because of child charities...

WHY DOESNT HE SEE HIS OWN CHILD IN YEARS?

Extremely bad father.

And cheater.

1 2 3 green wrote:

........................

So my deduction:

The 3:42min run has a big ole gap in the middle, paused while taking a ride in the RV, and is why it is conveniently cut off.

7:30 departure + 0:48 run (4.6mi) + 1:42 run (10mi) + 0:10 RV ride (10mi) + 2:00 run (12mi) = 12:15 arrival and 36 miles covered.

.........

Dmulvee wrote:

I don't understand why he would have done this. Surely travelling at 60 mph would be obvious on his GPS? Even Guinness would want to understand why he is doing miles in a minute.

What you are saying ties up, but surely he couldn't hope to get away with this? I understand him being in the back of a vehicle and it going at 7 mph (it sounds ridiculous), he could hope to get away with that.

What i'm guessing is that the GPS watch was paused while he rode in the RV so it didn't show a 60mph segment. I'm thinking it showed a gap or some other anomaly on the map so he cut it off. Probably a straight line with no time or distance associated from where he paused to where he started again.

sir ernie shackleton wrote:

Ulister wrote:

This ain't no marathon little boys. Ultra-marathoners (even suspect ones) are a lot tougher than you boys on this board.

A marathon is just a warm-up for most of us.

and ultra-marathoners are pussies compared with polar explorers

For the ultimate in pissing contests, please enjoy this:

The only way I can think this went down is that the RV driver catches Rob, and says "look you lost lots of time because we broke down, you shouldn't lose time from your record attempt, we'll make up the time you lost and I'll adjust the data later". The RV driver was meant to be a technology genius.

The RV driver works for Skins so I assume he has a vested interest in the record being broken.

This is one the most important posts in the thread. If he really is mentally retarded (or whatever PC diagnosis you have) that would explain a lot. For example his erratic pacing or his uploading of photos of pro cyclists, etc. I've met ruthless swindlers who are extremely likable guys but Robert doesn't fit into that category. All his cheating/lying is so obvious.

I'm a bit torn after that post. Frankly I wouldn't mind see a notorious cheater and fraudster run himself to death. But if he's really not "full shilling" (love those Brits!) he needs help.

Yes I noticed this in my data entry. IIRC, there are 8 instances where the details of a run are cut off from view in his photos. 6 of the 8 are for really big/fast runs... A bit suspicious

This makes sense. But then he ran 10 miles less than he was claiming. This isn't a big issue as he was claiming to be aiming for 3000 miles (over 200 hundred more than was required) and so wouldn't have expected people to be looking for a missing 10 miles in the desert. But the time stamp of the photo at the pool screwed this up. Whilst the blog had the extra 10 miles, what he submitted to the Guinness people wouldn't have had this (and I doubt they would use google maps and check that there wasn't a missing section). However because he hasn't ran the full way, his attempt is void for record purposes, which is why he can't upload his data.

What, he's swimming across Lake Michigan?!

get your stories straight wrote:

Sesamoiditis wrote:

Why is he doing this run in the summer?

There's currently another man, Bjorn Suneson, doing a transcon run (though not for a record) and he's taking a more northern route. Perhaps there should have been more planning.

http://www.suneson.se/omlopet2016eng.php

Seriously mate? wrote:

What, he's swimming across Lake Michigan?!

I thought we had established that transcon runners are modern days Jesus'es.

second thought wrote:

This is one the most important posts in the thread. If he really is mentally retarded (or whatever PC diagnosis you have) that would explain a lot. For example his erratic pacing or his uploading of photos of pro cyclists, etc. I've met ruthless swindlers who are extremely likable guys but Robert doesn't fit into that category. All his cheating/lying is so obvious.

No he is not mentally retarded, he is rather clever.

A mentally retarded person doesn't create a community of followers who worship him like a god, who sponsor him, who donate crazy amounts of money to him...

He is a narcissist, craving for attention and fame.

Without Asher, he would have broken the record and been considered a running god in the UK.

team1.kml wrote:

moanswers wrote:

Hitchhiked

My vote is he was picked up by the RV. His last known location puts him in that straight section on north Hwy 95 when the RV averaged 50 mph. The next two sections the RV averaged 60mph (and had a hard right turn) and 55mph (which meandered through the mountains). Not that the crew seem to know much about speed limits, but if they are going 65mph on that stretch, it takes a minute or two to stop and talk to, then pick up Rob, and then when they get back up to speed they've lost a minute or two. It still leaves them needing to fabricate the GPS data, which is cut off in their TomTom summary screenshot. It would be quite interesting just to see the shape of the map thumbnail, since sequential thumbnails seem to line up.

What seems to be emerging is a portrait neither of total honesty nor of wholesale fraud, but of a kind of mixed mode: do a whole lot of running and walking, but in order to maintain the 70 miles per day rate (or whatever the exact figure is) required to break the record, throw in some 10-minute, 10-mile bursts in the van.

It's sort of like making meatloaf. Meatloaf is mostly ground beef--real meat--but you add some breadcrumbs, egg, a little tomato paste: extenders.

I'm not saying that this IS what happened. I'm saying that the LR sleuths are, as far as I can tell, presenting evidence about the Western portion of the race, the "run" through the great wide deserted desert wastes, that seems to make this sort of explanation more rather than less likely. It's quite a detective story and I'm sure things will tighten from here, explantation-wise, as various people, like mad scientists, consider and reconsider the evidence and evidentiary gaps.

The truly weird thing is, I find myself wondering suspecting that Rob Young DOES, in fact, have the skill-set and experience and, most importantly, mad persistence--including, now persistence in the face of what must be an insane psychological burden--required to actually do this, legit. It just doesn't seem as though he and the crew were planning to fry up a big 100% ground beef patty this time around. Instead, figuring nobody would notice, they tried to slip us a slugburger:

I put together a graphic that illustrates the evidence we have from the day the RV broke down.

http://i.imgur.com/zjXpAoP.jpg

Note I have used the most optimistic estimates based on 113's original post. This is more to show the evidence than to propose a theory of what happened.

If anyone would like the Photoshop file to edit, I can also upload that.

The reason I mention this is not to have another dig at the guy but actually out of concern from hearing today's report.

I once knew a guy who was in the army back here in the UK and his behaviour was a bit like this but not on this scale. He was really into fitness but just had absolutely no idea how to pace himself. Like Rob, he would go crazy for bursts followed by low periods of waking and collapsing into the ground often in a very dramatic manner.

Now this guy suffered as it turns out from a number of mental issues initally caused by an abusive step-dad which were made worse I believe by being in the army. I think Rob is crying out for help in many ways here and I hope that he will be able to get it at the end but only if he helps himself first.

The other thing that rings out here is that the guy I knew was one of the most likeable blokes you could ever hope to meet. He was renowned for stopping and chatting to anyone and anybody that would stop and listen to him.

Nicely summed up. 10/10

Much easier to look at this way. Thanks for putting it together

The day the RV broke down wrote:

I put together a graphic that illustrates the evidence we have from the day the RV broke down.

http://i.imgur.com/zjXpAoP.jpg

Note I have used the most optimistic estimates based on 113's original post. This is more to show the evidence than to propose a theory of what happened.

If anyone would like the Photoshop file to edit, I can also upload that.