Is this another run cheat?

1 2 3 green wrote:

I saw the odd 120spm thing too. It happens almost every run. Most of the time it bounces between 120spm and 0 every few data points for long stretches. Since it bounces between 0 and 120 that anomaly gets lost when the data is smoothed.

scam_, really my question was more about why the variability in time between each point. Sometimes it's 3-4 seconds between points, sometimes, 14, 15, 30. It's all over the place, averaging around 10s. I always thought garmin watches took points at consistent 1 or 2s intervals.

Yeah, the bouncing 0-120 spm data is a mystery. Has anyone seen this from other Garmin users?

The interval between the raw data points varies because Garmin watches can use their smart recording feature to minimize the amount of individual points stored to save space:

Raddison, I will eat my words. This data is very strange.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTFyn4fI34uv2EYilNI6hmTMlKZZoLz8_ErtDXQJuZDdBSKq_rxsg

Interesting that RY fanboy Andy was doubting him:

What did Jihad Gary say about him?

No political correctness please. No time for snowflakes. Just expose their names.

fvckURC wrote:

https://www.facebook.com/TheFaithRunner/

Interesting that RY fanboy Andy was doubting him:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/259647654139161/search/?query=Samir%20Singh%20

What did Jihad Gary say about him?

No political correctness please. No time for snowflakes. Just expose their names.

Oddly, Gary said nothing on URC, which is strange, as he obsessively comments on EVERY SINGLE thread there.

No real investigations were done there.

So Scam_Watcheroo, who previously raised suspicions?

Why aren't you officially naming him? His name is out now anyway. You don't want him to know about you investigating him and want to trap him cheating on this upcoming run?

Firstly:

- Props to the OP for starting the thread, even when the suspect is one of his countrymen.

- I am once more impressed by Scam's work. Can I ask you what life choices you have made (studies, career etc.) that make you able to do this? The counting of the treadmill rotations in the Amy Hughes case blew my mind.

- Thanks to the member who found his identity by some clever Googling.

Though there were times he thought he wouldn't be able to complete a 100km run, a dream of Lord Krishna changed his life, he shares. From that day on, he felt unstoppable. -> No disrespect to Hindus, but this sounds like BS.

It was at the Iskcon temple that he had an epiphany and decided to earn money by running marathons. -> Huge incentive to cheat.

I don't see the need to hide his identity. It means that less people can participate in the investigation. And what is the chance that some crazy Indian is reading here?

Regarding trapping him on his new stunt, that seems very hard to do without boots on the ground. And even with boots on the ground, he has to use a live tracker.

Hiding his Strava and Garmin profile is very suspicious as well by the way.

1 2 3 green wrote:

Raddison, I will eat my words. This data is very strange.

Actually, 1 2 3 green, my additional investigating shows that you are likely right and Raddison is wrong and that our suspect is indeed cheating by riding a bike instead of running. I have found a duathlete Garmin user (named Erwin) on Strava that has an upload of his run, bike, run and the cadence data oscillates between 0 and 124 spm just like for our suspect, Samir Singh (guess everyone has guessed who it is by now), who's cadence oscillates between 0 and 120 spm.

Here is the link to one of Erwin's run, bike, run Strava data along with my plot of Erwin's unsmoothed cadence. It oscillates just like some of the unsmoothed cadence of Samir's suspicious runs:

You will be able to find the analysis output of other random run, bike, run people on my Google Drive as I find them.

Mike Rozzi wrote:

Can I ask you what life choices you have made (studies, career etc.) that make you able to do this? The counting of the treadmill rotations in the Amy Hughes case blew my mind.

I'm a jack of all trades, master of none. I think people can guess I have a little bit of computer science background. But it's mostly a matter of breaking down a complex task into smaller simpler tasks. It just takes some time to think and research things.

Mike Rozzi wrote:

I don't see the need to hide his identity. It means that less people can participate in the investigation. And what is the chance that some crazy Indian is reading here?

Regarding trapping him on his new stunt, that seems very hard to do without boots on the ground. And even with boots on the ground, he has to use a live tracker.

Hiding his Strava and Garmin profile is very suspicious as well by the way.

So Scam W, is the point of this to keep the investigation a secret from him?

You want to keep it a secret from him until you have absolute proof?

Getting boots on the ground is always hard, but the more people that KNOW about him possibly cheating the new run, the more chance of catching him.

How have you got hold of his watch data if it's private?

Secret? wrote:

So Scam W, is the point of this to keep the investigation a secret from him?

You want to keep it a secret from him until you have absolute proof?

Getting boots on the ground is always hard, but the more people that KNOW about him possibly cheating the new run, the more chance of catching him.

How have you got hold of his watch data if it's private?

I had previously followed Samir on Strava and the OP requested that we initially keep Samir's identity secret because he is such a high profile runner and we wanted to have the evidence debated here. Since everyone has guessed the suspect's identity, it is no longer necessary to keep it secret and I will update the report and evidence to include the real name and location data when I have some time.

Here is another duathlon Strava upload from a John Dunworth using a Garmin Forerunner 220 that clearly shows the cadence oscillations between 0 and 120 spm, exactly like in Samir's cheated runs:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fd8cSsWmqHH2U7he9pYghgpEjQvX3VC4/view?usp=sharing

https://www.strava.com/activities/1231997543

I think the logical conclusion here is that Samir did indeed cheat by using a bicycle on portions of his runs.

Interesting.

I have a friend who runs with a jogging stroller and keeps his watch (garmin 620) hand on the handle a lot. His garmin connect data shows cadence oscillation between 0 and 120.

1 2 3 green wrote:

Interesting.

I have a friend who runs with a jogging stroller and keeps his watch (garmin 620) hand on the handle a lot. His garmin connect data shows cadence oscillation between 0 and 120.

I would imagine that we could distinguish that because a runner pushing a stroller wouldn't show implausible speeds in a speed plot.

I hate to mention Rob Young but Samir Singh's story sounds very similar.

* He had a troubled upbringing

* Unsuccessfully tried to get into professional sport.

* Had results that gave no indication of this ability to do 100 consecutive 100km's

- 105km in a 12 hour event (2015), 120km in a 12 hour even (2016)

- 3:02m Marathon

Can't find the link to the story I read but it says he told nobody he started and just did it solo for the majority.

* Started in the middle of an Indian Summer with no support.

* Ran bare foot at the beginning

* Credits ability to other factors rather than training.

* Ran with others at limited times a long way into the effort.

Has no proper proof of results

* Cadence data has let him down

Much Like RY, when you zoom into the activity Map (The main Bridge where GPS signal appears good), you notice when the cadence is good it looks like he is on the footpath. When the cadence is bad, it looks much like he is in the middle of the road.

https://www.strava.com/activities/1104254489/overview

That's in no way great evidence but it adds heaps to the suspicion.

Who investigated before? wrote:

So Scam_Watcheroo, who previously raised suspicions?

The first to raise suspicions about Samir was actually the UltraList mailing list. Laz even commented and noted it is suspicious.

I believe he is guilty of cheating.

I messaged him on facebook with a vague question about his watch data and he instantly blocked me.

Innocent people do NOT do that.

Let;'s get this scammer. He's making a fortune off this fraud.

Outing people has mixed results. It worked in getting rid of Rob Young and Mark Vaz, but the likes of Amy Hughes, Darren Kavinoky, Ben Rogers, Dave Reading, etc, just carry on.

If I were to cheat my way to 100km each day I would do the following.

- Find an accomplice (Brother) who takes over on a bike to cover missing distances. Don't ride yourself as you may be seen and why not get some eat/sleep while somebody it covering some km's for you. Passing off a watch is pretty easy right!

On another note, the only strava activity I can see has the cadence magically alters near to the start/finish location. Would love to check all of the rest for this anomaly.

When you get near the end and people start watching it's going to get really hard as you will need to really cover some of these distances. Think RY found that out when under scrutiny.

Who doesn't love more data.

All of these activities have the cadence change at the same spot on the same road on each run. Goes from normal to the 0/120 each time on the same spot. Coincidence?...ha

https://www.strava.com/activities/1073688639/overview

https://www.strava.com/activities/1039592305/overview

https://www.strava.com/activities/1104254489/overview

https://www.strava.com/activities/992511347/overview

https://www.strava.com/activities/1021115492/overview

https://www.strava.com/activities/986954051/overview

The last activity has some crazy fast splits.....2:30/km 2:17/km

I'm sure all these activities will all be deleted soon.

What about this one?

https://www.strava.com/activities/986959840/overview

Elevation is flat and missing all the normal spikes on that route. Also total saying 708m elevation. Pace is jumping about like crazy and is nothing like the other runs.

GPX device is blank, no cadence. I'm calling this is a generated file.