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

triathleteguru wrote:

SacramentoD wrote:

Otherwise it gives FM wiggle room to keep lying. And for some reason that bugs me.

It really bugs me too! Nobody seems to be willing to step up and bluntly say "Frank Meza is a lying cheater!" However, as this goes on and more and more photos come out and Frank continues to lie and deny, this will get bigger and bigger coverage... Eventually, I expect some national TV coverage and maybe an article or two in some national magazine's etc.

Great work Derek, deadesq and others!

I agree with you guys. I think the statement is too technical-sounding and carefully-worded, and doesn't adequately get across the fact that he WILLFULLY cheated. For convenience, here is the statement.

"After an extensive review of original video evidence from official race cameras and security cameras at retail locations along the race course, Conqur Endurance Group has determined that Dr. Frank Meza violated a number of race rules during the 2019 Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon, including re-entering the course from a position other than where he left it. The video evidence is confirmed by a credible eyewitness report and our calculation that Dr. Meza’s actual running time for at least one 5K course segment would have had to have been faster than the current 70-74 age group 5K world-record [an impossible feat during a marathon]."

A lot of people who have been following this thread might be going along with the statement and saying, yes, yes, that pretty much sums up what he did. But I'm trying to look at it from the perspective of the non-runner who casually reads the story. All it specifically says he did wrong was "Re-entering the course from a position other than where he left it". That's it? I mean, if you didn't know better, you might think that was just something nit-picky, like he pulled off the road diagonally to use a porta-potty, then cut the tangent back onto the course, rather than re-entering the course at the exact spot he exited.

They also list the reason for DQ'ing him as the fact that he ran a 5k segment faster than the age-group WR for 5k. But that's not a violation! If I had no knowledge of competitive running, and I heard that part, I'd be like, so? What's wrong with setting a 5k record AND a marathon record?

I think it could have been worded much more convincingly: i.e. "Frank Meza clearly cheated in the LA Marathon by cutting off large chunks of the course (presumably the vast majority of it) and then turning up every few miles to trigger the timing mats". Instead, it gives the impression that he might have been DQ'd for some nit-picky technicalities, and who knows, maybe he would have got the record anyway if he'd followed the rules to a T?

Golgi Body wrote:

I agree with you guys. I think the statement is too technical-sounding and carefully-worded, and doesn't adequately get across the fact that he WILLFULLY cheated.

I suspect they are operating under legal constraints and also have to appear completely impartial and are not going beyond what they feel the evidence can prove. Don't get me wrong, I think the evidence is 100% certain as it also is for Phoenix.

What about the wasted time on the part of the races looking into his cheating? Or the timing companies? Or us here on Letsrun...[/quote]

I don't think you have to worry about us here on Letsrun…… I'm sure we would be wasting time on something else if Frank didn't come along.

Large races such as LAM will use legalese to describe competitors cheating. People who can’t discern fact from fiction won’t be swayed by the use of the word cheating or cheater. The word cheat itself is loaded and emotional. Laying out facts devoid of emotion like Doubler and DeadEsq do so well convinces are larger audience.

Other runners in the races Frank cheated at- who kept seeing Frank inexplicably appear in front of them, when he had never passed them- must have felt like Nan Adams in the Hitch-Hiker episode of Twilight Zone.

https://twitter.com/thenightgallery/status/947934203525529600

All they had to do was add this at the end of the statement:

"Further detailed information on Dr Frank Meza's violations at the 2019 Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon is available at marathoninvestigation.com."

Anything from Runners World yet, didn't they give him some award or other in the past?

This may already have been addressed, but does anybody have a theory about when in the course of his career he began to cheat? In this long list of races, it seems clear that Boston in 2008 is legit, and I'm guessing that the three Pike's Peak are legit. But knowing what we know now, it's hard not to wonder whether it goes back to that very first Santa Clarita in the fall of 2007, which is almost a full hour faster than Boston, five months later. Any thoughts on this?

Frank’s Marathon History

3/24/2019 2:53:10 Los Angeles Disqualified

2/9/2019 2:53:54 Phoenix

10/7/2018 2:53:27 Long Beach

3/8/2018 2:56:12 Los Angeles

11/5/2017 3:02:49 Santa Clarita

10/8/2017 2:57:09 Long Beach

3/19/2017 2:58:07 Los Angeles

12/4/2016 CIM Disqualified

10/9/2016 2:55:07 Long Beach

3/20/2016 2:59:23 Oakland

11/8/2015 3:04:48 Santa Clarita

10/11/2015 2:57:04 Long Beach

3/15/2015 2:52:47 Los Angeles

12/7/2014 2:53:33 CIM Disqualified

11/2/2014 3:06:46 Santa Clarita

10/12/2014 3:00:54 Long Beach

7/27/2014 2:59:40 San Francisco

6/1/2014 3:02:39 Rock n Roll San Diego

3/9/2014 2:59:10 Los Angeles

2/2/2014 3:04:45 Surf City

1/19/2014 3:06:41 Carlsbad

11/3/2013 3:06:03 Santa Clarita

8/18/2013 6:11:37 Pike’s Peak

3/17/2013 3:00:16 Los Angeles

2/3/2013 3:05:30 Surf City

11/4/2012 3:09:53 Santa Clarita

3/8/2012 3:04:03 Los Angeles

2/5/2012 3:09:27 Surf City

11/6/2011 3:11:25 Santa Clarita

10/9/2011 3:09:34 Long Beach

7/31/2011 3:09:09 San Francisco

5/15/2011 3:10:48 Pasadena

3/20/2011 3:19:21 Los Angeles

2/6/2011 3:11:53 Surf City

11/17/2010 3:15:16 Santa Clarita

8/22/2010 6:08:12 Pike’s Peak

3/21/2010 3:18:13 Los Angeles

2/21/2010 3:19:53 Pasadena

11/8/2009 3:21:44 Santa Clarita

8/16/2009 5:51:28 Pike’s Peak

5/25/2009 3:28:08 Los Angeles

3/22/2009 3:19:59 Pasadena

4/21/2008 4:25:58 Boston

11/4/2007 3:27:23 Santa Clarita

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there's something going on and i believe there's coordination between frank's camp and the LAM (and the LA times). there's enough evidence to ban him for life and dq him from years worth of racing, but they didn't. instead, they provided a frank enough wiggle room for him to claim that he did run the course, but got dq'd for taking a piss off to the side and re-entering in a different location. But, w/ the dq, LAM likely believes that it did enough to protect their legitimacy.

with respect to the bracketed text regarding the 5k record, i'm not certain they intended to include that text in their statement. in the public relations world, individuals will often bracket text that they are considering , and at the time of release, someone should delete the brackets, or delete the text that was bracketed. it's odd that the text was bracketed in the statement.

considering that frank is a cheater, and has cheated for years, i hope that he gets dq'd from every race that he cheated in. all that said, i'm not convinced that will happen, so, w/ respect to derek's list of races, i suggest adding an additional "notes" column if fm hasn't been dq'd from a ceratain race. in that column, derek can list in shorthand, the reasons for a dq.

keep up the good work!

I'm on the edge of my seat for the next year trying to decide who will give in first: Frank coming clean or Sage renouncing veganism. Both took hard hits the last few weeks.

As far as the Twighlight Zone comment: I posted an AMA thread a few days ago "I passed Frank Meza five times in a marathon, AMA". It lasted about an hour lol.

FMD you fellas are hard to please, LAM DQ'd him and issued a statement and you're still going after them.

If you want all the nefarious details to get out there contact various media organizations with a brief outline and a link to Marathon Investigation for further info, all you're doing here is preaching to the converted.

what are they hiding? wrote:

there's something going on and i believe there's coordination between frank's camp and the LAM (and the LA times). there's enough evidence to ban him for life and dq him from years worth of racing, but they didn't.

Is it likely that the LAM reached out to Frank and came to an agreement?

Something along the lines of "If you agree to never enter any future Conqur events, we will allow you to save face by DQing you in 2019. Try this again, and you're banned for life."

WRT LA Marathon and LA Times connections with Frank it's pretty simple.

They are simply businesses/institutions and the humans that are in them being careful about offending the people in the communities they serve. Concerns over the usual business, political and social interests apply.

Derek, for instance, may serve the running community in some ways in LA , but he is not beholden to the other community groupings in LA as the other parties involved are. Even RW probably will be ratings sensitive around something coming out of a base as large as Los Angeles and more broadly our hispanic population in this country.

Face it , a lot of hispanics will see it as bad press for their demographic....like, hey are they picking on us?

The race card was pulled here by a big troll , but those sensitivities don't just belong to some internet troll.

Did anyone find photos for any of the Pike's Peak races? I couldn't find any.

Is it likely that the LAM reached out to Frank and came to an agreement?

Something along the lines of "If you agree to never enter any future Conqur events, we will allow you to save face by DQing you in 2019. Try this again, and you're banned for life."[/quote]

I think what Derek is doing is what needs to be done. Provide proof one event at a time. Then DQ. Of course, timing companies may not like having more work to do, if they are even still in business. A guy got busted for PED use in 2012. He for sure “won” $1,000.00 in 2011 at a 10k. I am sure he still has that money. After all, there is no proof that he was “dirty” in 2011. BUT, proof can be obtained for a “course cutter”. So “we” carry on. After all, Frank Meza in insisting on it.

Don't whine here, get the story going viral out there. wrote:

FMD you fellas are hard to please, LAM DQ'd him and issued a statement and you're still going after them.

If you want all the nefarious details to get out there contact various media organizations with a brief outline and a link to Marathon Investigation for further info, all you're doing here is preaching to the converted.

Agreed. Enough already! Read the statement. He's DQ'd and if you can't understand the implication re: "........and our calculation that Dr. Meza’s actual running time for at least one 5K course segment would have had to have been faster than the current 70-74 age group 5K world-record [an impossible feat during a marathon"]. then there's no pleasing. They are saying he's a cheat ("impossible feat")

For goodness sakes, put your energy into getting Phoenix to do the same NOW not in questioning the correct actions taken by LA.. I can't stand Meza (I find him reprehensible and I think there a more buried skeletons ) and have implored the LA Marathon to take action re: the cheating in 2019's race. They did. Now focus on the other races AND the obvious Phoenix DQ which must happen.

Interesting that he's run Santa Clarita 9 times without a sub-3 on that course. That includes 3 times he's "run" it since he started breaking 3, often by healthy chunks of time. I wonder if there is a logistical problem on the course that causes his slowing, and if so, why he keeps doing the race and sullying his reputation as a reliable sub-3 man.

If you look at the Santa Clarita splits for his Meza, he always slows down uncharacteristically after the timing mat at 21.5 miles. At least, that's what happened in 2013, 2015, and 2017 (I haven't checked the others).

If I may paraphrase Edward G. Robinson, speaking to another exposed L.A. con artist at the end of Double Indemnity:

"Frank...You're all washed up."

I’m of the mind, and I’ve posted a few times, that I think he cheated his way into Boston to make it a father-son trip. Probably got a lot of accolades. Then ran a real time at Boston, an hour slower, and made up some excuse(s) for it. To make the qualifying time look real and the Boston time a “disappointment” he “validated” the better time with repeat performances and improved from there. I don’t know about Pikes Peak but I think everything else is the result of cheating.

Look at those times... has any marathoner ever ran so many races with such consistent, slight improvement and a complete absence of a blow-up race? Even on a day with 88 degree heat he makes his little improvement.

One way that golf cheats out themselves (for handicapping purposes) is that they put in scores with impossible consistency. An extremely narrow range of scores (or marathon times) is a red flag.