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

He won. It's time for us to move on folks.

BeRightDoRight wrote:

Sure wish they'd reconsider, perhaps the noise of the people who believe in the sanctity of this purest of sports will make a difference. They have quite a stain to attend to.

Petting Zoo Aficionado wrote:

The Via Marathon Facebook page has re-enabled public comments. Lots of folks teeing off on the RD and old MR. It's a beautiful thing.

My thought is if Via Marathon had known in advance they would receive this kind of backlash, they might have thought a little harder on their "decision".

Public outcry is a beautiful thing sometimes.

The Via RD clearly doesn't care about the integrity of the sport. My guess is she cares most about "participation" in her race because that = entry fees ($$$$$).

Hit them where it hurts. Blanketing the Facebook page is awesome. I would include the same messages directly to their main sponsor, and ask them to reconsider their sponsorship of the race.

WinnerMikeRossi wrote:

Rossi won.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/video/?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_PHBrand#

!/news/local/-22Marathon-Dad-22-Cleared-of-Cheating/305604201

Load up the comments section guys. I put mine in.

B1G wrote:

Why is the Lehigh Valley Marathon FB page not getting hit hard with LRCers posting their displeasure? Hit it hard, let them know you are not going to take this decision without a fight.

And this one: The race sponsors.

This might have a bigger effect. The race direction cares more about $$$$ than integrity and doing the right thing. Get their title sponsor to rethink associating with a tainted race and she might see the error of her short-term, $$$-thinking.

Title sponsor:

Other sponsors if you wish:

needs to be said wrote:

...If an effort had actually been made by the organizers to have a rolling video camera and timing mats on the course, Rossi could have been DQ'd soon after the race and not been allowed to run Boston. Additionally, not DQing Rossi now, with all of the evidence that has been unearthed is a huge slap in the face to anyone who trains and races with integrity. As a fan of this sport, their decision is unforgivable. Rossi would have never sued them and, even if he did, the marathon could have easily crowd-funded a defense without paying a dime of it out of their own pocket.

The Via Lehigh Valley Marathon is a joke and the race director is incompetent at best!!!

I have attempted to make sense of the non-decision but can't, other than that the RD accepted the chip time as conclusive. However, the accuracy of the chip time is not disputed by anyone. What people want answered is whether the race was completed legitimately. If the question is framed this way, a different conclusion could be reached.

If you start with the premise that the runner completed the race legitimately, then you would need some evidence to support that premise. The detectives on this site have searched for the evidence and found none. The RD following their investigation has not announced finding any evidence.

Therefore, the only alternate premise is that the runner did not complete the race legitimately. The supporting evidence is that every other runner is photographed running on the course. Therefore, for the alternate premise to be rejected either the RD has evidence that they have not yet announced or the photographic record is incorrect. If the latter, then you could ultimately conclude that there is no real evidence that anyone in the race actually completed it.

SaraB, GregTR, doubler, among others are mighty quiet since this decision. Wonder why?

Hmmmmmmmm wrote:

SaraB, GregTR, doubler, among others are mighty quiet since this decision. Wonder why?

Rossi's lawyer threatened to sue them.

Very flawed summary. I would explain but you can go back and read through the evidence for yourself. It is self explanatory.

Why would the RD leave the possibility for a DQ open if they had proof that he completed the race as you suggest?

I would argue the opposite. I believe the RD may believe they have enough information for a DQ. It is possible that we see a reversal once they are confident of the evidence collected and they have legal protection to defend themselves.

When the bar is set so low as to require only two conditions to be met for a runner to "complete" a race it is virtually impossible to DQ almost anyone. 1) you must cross the start and finish mat. 2) no one can witness you doing anything wrong. The definition of wrong doing isn't even defined so #2 isn't even a hurdle.

It is a non decision but a pathetic one to be honest.

lots of mike supporters showing up here lately, huh? pathetic.

let me remind you all that MIKE ROSSI IS A CHEATER.

LVM decision does not change the fact that he DID NOT run that race.

The LVM statement didn't "clear" Rossi's name. They said his times were questionable and left the investigation open ended, so obviously they do not have any convincing evidence that Rossi ran the race he says he did. However, they seem unwilling to DQ him without an eye-witness who can attest directly to his cheating. I'm guessing that this is due to his lawyer who has been threatening to sue those who have spoken out on Rossi's cheating.

I'm curious to know if anyone has spoken with his wife about his cheating? Mike, feel free to chime in if you would like… It is obvious to everyone that he is a cheat and that the only thing keeping him from being DQ'd is a lawyer, how do you think his wife is handling all this? They've only been married a couple of years, the kids are from a previous relationship. Certainly she's seen the evidence that he cheated, though I'm sure Mike has lied to her and still vehemently claims to her that he didn't cheat!

Many of you won't remember in the 80's when the US lost the Yachting World Cup. The US had won like the prior 1000 World Cups, it never made the news, no one cared but when we lost the World Cup America went into a frenzy.

There was a huge marketing campaing "Yank It Back" and it captured the nation for like a year building up to the race and of course the US won the Americas Cup and everyone went back to not caring.

This is how you ding dongs are overreacting to Mike Rossi getting into Boston. No one gave two craps about Boston before this. No one will give two craps after this.

What does his wife think? wrote:

I'm curious to know if anyone has spoken with his wife about his cheating? Mike, feel free to chime in if you would like… It is obvious to everyone that he is a cheat and that the only thing keeping him from being DQ'd is a lawyer, how do you think his wife is handling all this? They've only been married a couple of years, the kids are from a previous relationship. Certainly she's seen the evidence that he cheated, though I'm sure Mike has lied to her and still vehemently claims to her that he didn't cheat!

I think his wife has to know that he cheated, people like Rossi cheat in all aspects of life to get what they want because they don't think the rules apply to them. This should come as no surprise to the people that really know him.

So what can we do now?

Well, I for one am still hoping that the long promised article will be showing up today on Letsrun.com! An article on letsrun.com pointing out the absurdity of Mike Rossi's time at Lehigh, pointing out the temperatures that should have "slowed" Mike down, instead he destroys his previous PR… His lack of times showing him able to run that fast for a marathon… The lack of photos on the course… While we all know these things, no news organization besides the one article in Runner's World has come out with a good article. Hopefully, the brojos aren't intimidated by Rossi's lawyer and come out with a really hard hitting piece! There is no doubt in my mind that Mike Rossi is a dirty cheat - my name is Tony Rigdon, I'm not hiding out on an anonymous message board! I'll be writing something soon myself, though I don't have quite the audience that letsrun.com has...

AND THEN START A PETITION ON CHANGE.ORG!!!!

News flash for you: if you haven't run a couple of marathons, you've never heard of Letsrun.com.

The media didn't care about the LVM ruling. There is 0.0% chance that they will care about some poorly written, rambling, incredibly slanted article about how LVM got it wrong.

But please, write your own article. I'm sure the 9 people who pretend to read your fantastic blog (hint: they don't actually read your crap, they are just being polite when you ask them) will make a difference.

Yawn.

somebloke wrote:

lots of mike supporters showing up here lately, huh? pathetic.

let me remind you all that MIKE ROSSI IS A CHEATER.

LVM decision does not change the fact that he DID NOT run that race.

Not "lots". Just one: MIKE. And maybe his wife. Anyone with half a brain would know he cheated and they def don't qualify. QUALIFY! HAhahahahah.

GinoC wrote:

So what can we do now?

The best option right now is for everyone or anyone to send emails to LVM's race director and sponsors that voices concern over their "politically correct" yet grossly flawed decision. Moreover, send emails to the Boston Marathon's Race Director expressing your concern for allowing racers to qualify for the Boston Marathon in situations such as this, newspapers (editorial pages), news outlets and use social media. Keep your comments focused on the facts, not personal attacks. Call out the lack of credibility of the race and the race director for not taking any action.

Again, in their statement, the LVM focused on Mr. Rossi's time, which is certainly suspect and which is what gave rise for Letsrun's further investigation. However, the most crucial, direct and indisputable piece of evidence is "...that he did not show up in any Via Marathon race photos other than at the finish line. The runners around Rossi in the results were all photographed in three to six different spots along the course". While no one here considers his race time probable, one can make the argument that he somehow achieved it by miraculously running the race of his life (no, I don't believe that for one second, just playing devil's advocate). What LVM can't dispute is the lack of his photograph except at the finish line. Not one picture on the course/ Moreover, there is certainly precedents for DQ'ing people well after the race as we all know and even Hal Higdon wrote so eloquently about. FINALLY, LVM needs to provide what evidence it has to support that he ran the race. Their statement OMITS any mention that he ran the entire race and that they have proof that he did. Their is no explanation how he managed not to get photographed. They need to supply an answer to that crucial question. Seeing is believing. I find the omission of the photographic issues from their statement as very troubling.

As for the threat of a lawsuit, it is immaterial. If one sticks to the facts such as lack of photographs and even historical race and training times vis-a-vis his VIa Marathon time and our analysis based on the running fields' collective knowledge, there is nothing defamatory, particularly since he posted his times himself and used social media to post and boast.

NowFindJimmyHoffa wrote:

somebloke wrote:

lots of mike supporters showing up here lately, huh? pathetic.

let me remind you all that MIKE ROSSI IS A CHEATER.

LVM decision does not change the fact that he DID NOT run that race.

Not "lots". Just one: MIKE. And maybe his wife. Anyone with half a brain would know he cheated and they def don't qualify. QUALIFY! HAhahahahah.

While I believe that Mike is doing some posting, I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few trolls as well. Every time somebody posts anything in favor of cheater Mike Rossi, it encourages a raft of replies, which keeps the thread at the top of page 1. Of course, Mike is probably too imbecilic to realize this...

Let me remind you all that the VIA LEHIGH VALLEY MARATHON CONDONES CHEATING AT ITS EVENT.