Marlon Bascombe Coach of Lean.Strong.Fast Suspected of Cheating for BQ

It looks like he ran 2013 in Wave 4 & didn't finish before the bombs & was probably invited back for 2014. How he got into Wave 4 in 2013 is anyone's guess. Charity, gifted a bib?

Mary Akorn wrote:

Seems clear wrote:

Seems obvious he's trying to eliminate cheating in marathons. All marathons. He's doing that by bringing public attention to the matter and trying to get people disqualified for cheating. It's a sound strategy to obtain his goal. Hopefully it works as it really seems to be a growing problem.

If you have a better way to accomplish this goal, please explain how you, as the voice of reason, would eliminate cheating in marathons.

How big of a 'growing problem' is this? It seems like it is a very, very small problem for Boston.

Maybe more so for Boston, but we've seen stories from triathlon now too. Ironmans even. I think it is a social media related/created problem - both being easier to catch cheaters now, together with social media attention creating an incentive to cheat. The incentive being people unfortunately feeling the need to create fake or exaggerated social media lives for their own sense of self worth.

Anyway, I think this guy has simply just honed in on another social media phenomena - we live in the age of blogs and people trying to make money off being a blogger. Seems like he hit a niche little area of interest and he gets plenty of hits. The cheater threads on Letsrun sure get a lot of attention. I think having a blog that investigates and reports suspected cheaters may earn him some add revenue and has turned out to be a pretty good idea for him.

Still, I'm not sure what your point is - are you trying to say it's a small problem and should be ignored? I think the Karadashians should be ignored and you should focus on that instead, it's a much more serious problem in society than outing cheaters.

Well, according to his own blog post. It is less than 0.1% of Boston qualifiers who fall into this category. A tenth of a percent.

Mary Akorn wrote:

Seems clear wrote:

Seems obvious he's trying to eliminate cheating in marathons. All marathons. He's doing that by bringing public attention to the matter and trying to get people disqualified for cheating. It's a sound strategy to obtain his goal. Hopefully it works as it really seems to be a growing problem.

If you have a better way to accomplish this goal, please explain how you, as the voice of reason, would eliminate cheating in marathons.

How big of a 'growing problem' is this? It seems like it is a very, very small problem for Boston.

The Numbers Don't Lie wrote:

How he got into Wave 4 in 2013 is anyone's guess. Charity, gifted a bib?

I've seen his pictures. Is it just me or is his 2013 Boston bib covered by a sticker or something else? You can see it on Derek's article.

the stats man wrote:

Well, according to his own blog post. It is less than 0.1% of Boston qualifiers who fall into this category. A tenth of a percent.

Mary Akorn wrote:

How big of a 'growing problem' is this? It seems like it is a very, very small problem for Boston.

Not correct on the 0.1%. We took a small sample of the Boston runners. It was about 4% of those. If it's 1% for the remaining, you are looking at over 400 runners. Could be more. And that's just the ones with 100% certainty. That percentage was a little understated - some of those runners reviewed turned out to have exemptions.

From the blog..

In total:

1409 runners reviewed - 54 results deemed invalid (Additional runners were detected that were not validated prior to sharing the data with Runner's World

- either at the qualifier, or at Boston (3.8% of runners reviewed in total deemed invalid)

12 cut course at qualifier

33 bib swaps - someone qualified and sold/gave bib to another runner

11 others - Did not qualify legitimately - either someone else ran the qualifier under their name or race results were modified.

We did review the runners that we felt statistically had the greatest probability of cheating through the methods outlined above. Conservatively, I think the lowest conceivable estimate of those entering Boston using one of the methods of cheating above is roughly 200 runners. My best estimate at this point, is that there were up to 400 entrants that ran Boston without a legitimately obtained bib. For 2016, an additional goal will be to review runners outside of the flagged group to better estimate the overall rate of cheating.

Hi Doubler

I'm a coach and personal trainer and phonies are an epidemic in the ranks. Social media gives them a platform for their art form of BS. Basically putting up a front that is a mile wide and tissue thin, with little or no understanding of even basic principles of training, much less what it takes to succeed over the long term. Of course there people like this at every level- I've met D1 coaches that evidence little other than a good sales pitch.

My apologies. More like 0.2%.

YYYYYY wrote:

I'm a coach and personal trainer and phonies are an epidemic in the ranks. Social media gives them a platform for their art form of BS. Basically putting up a front that is a mile wide and tissue thin, with little or no understanding of even basic principles of training, much less what it takes to succeed over the long term. Of course there people like this at every level- I've met D1 coaches that evidence little other than a good sales pitch.

With the internet anyone can hang a shingle and be anything they purport to be. Actual running coaches are few and far between. The rest have maybe ran a marathon and now feel supremely qualified to coach others for exorbitant fees and position themselves as an expert while rehashing ineffective hal higdon plans.

"Running coaches" are multiplying like cockroaches.

I know that coaches sometimes run with their clients. In the most far-fetched scenario, I was going to say that he registered for the full then decided to support a client in their first 13.1 where they ran together and finished in 3:05.

But then I saw the photos and he's running with other marathoners at the finish.

lol

I'm really not Doubler/Derek - I doubt he would admit he is in it to make money or that he likes the attention - but I believe that is part of it for sure. I would guess he would say his motives are just to out cheats, that he does it as a hobby or something. That being said, I actually don't know anything about Derek Murphy - not even sure if he runs marathons.

True Words wrote:

YYYYYY wrote:

I'm a coach and personal trainer and phonies are an epidemic in the ranks. Social media gives them a platform for their art form of BS. Basically putting up a front that is a mile wide and tissue thin, with little or no understanding of even basic principles of training, much less what it takes to succeed over the long term. Of course there people like this at every level- I've met D1 coaches that evidence little other than a good sales pitch.

With the internet anyone can hang a shingle and be anything they purport to be. Actual running coaches are few and far between. The rest have maybe ran a marathon and now feel supremely qualified to coach others for exorbitant fees and position themselves as an expert while rehashing ineffective hal higdon plans.

"Running coaches" are multiplying like cockroaches.

How much does it pay?

21:something 5k and running a 3:05.... Right. And then he shows a 5k PR where obviously the data is glitched since the pace at the last the last mile is impossible...

Come on, 2+2 is a harder question.

doubler do you have a family?

I feel bad for them if you do.

what is your point? wrote:

Hi Mike wrote:

Hi Doubler

I'm really not Doubler/Derek - I doubt he would admit he is in it to make money or that he likes the attention - but I believe that is part of it for sure. I would guess he would say his motives are just to out cheats, that he does it as a hobby or something. That being said, I actually don't know anything about Derek Murphy - not even sure if he runs marathons.

Are people really giving/paying him money?

This is the sad truth. I coach a dozen or so athletes and I have heard stories about their experiences with other coaches and it is nuts. Technology has made this much worse, because now it is the norm for a coach to never even see or talk to his or her athlete - you can just check workouts on Strava and trade texts and emails about what's next.It drives me nuts, especially since I coach these without charge, just in the interest of seeing more people succeed and get satisfaction out of running.

YYYYYY wrote:

With the internet anyone can hang a shingle and be anything they purport to be. Actual running coaches are few and far between. The rest have maybe ran a marathon and now feel supremely qualified to coach others for exorbitant fees and position themselves as an expert while rehashing ineffective hal higdon plans.

Money, Money, Money wrote:

Are people really giving/paying him money?

No idea how much, but in fairness to him he is open about it. He discloses that he participates in an advertising program... probably no different than LRC, just on a much smaller level.

doubler wrote:

Hi Marlon wrote:

Interesting. Doubler, were you able to check his splits at the 2012 Philadelphia Marathon? I couldn't find results with splits.

http://live.xacte.com/templates/philadelphiamarathon.com/for-runners/race-results/

His fastest miles come after the 30K mat (30k to finish at 8:02 pace). This mat is a little over a mile before the turnaround in Manayunk. Draw your own conclusions.

saaaaaaaaaaaaaaa wrote:

doubler do you have a family?

I feel bad for them if you do.

So he found something he's passionate about and enjoys doing as a hobby after the family has gone to bed.

I'll admit that I sometimes feel bad for some of these people who get exposed, but aren't they bringing it down on themselves?

And .. it makes me think twice these days if I consider doing something unethical.