Robert Young fakes run across America

Oddities wrote:

Has anybody tried to verify the personal life details (abuse, foster family, etc)? Often if people are compulsive liars, then they lie about literally everything.

I feel like someone needs to work on the drone idea asap, as otherwise he is going to drop out injured any day now.

Have I missed something - where did he run a 2:47 marathon?

Drones are too loud and you need to stay in range

Nothing like a LR cheat thread to keep you from your work!

My ten cents worth.....

A lot of his stats are suspect, I'd imagine they were sexed up either by himself, a publisher, or friend. He probably was involved to a far lesser degree in Triathlon, team cycling etc - I saw a post with a link to a World Tri (age grade) meet? Performance was poor though.

I do remember his 370 odd marathons in year in 2014 though. He was running the same course in Richmond park during the week alongside 20-40 recreational runners who supported his efforts, then taking part in marathons/Ultras at weekends. Here are back to back efforts for Leicester and Dublin below;

http://resultsbase.net/results/1144369

http://sseairtricitydublinmarathon.ie/results-certificates/

There was a lot of coverage at the time in the UK, and people were questioning the legitimacy of it, hence why he ran registered meets at weekends and had an entourage on the Richmond efforts.

I also vaguely remember seeing reference to his parkruns being ran either as a "friendly" effort chatting to other runners, or with him pushing a buggy with his son in it. There were some pictures in the a news rag with him doing this in 20.xx. This probably suggests he is a 16-17min/5k runner.

Still this doesn't explain the RV incident, and the PB stats.

I think he is likely a capable Ultra runner but has an exaggerated performance history.

Looking forward to see how this develops and what happens when the LR team catch up and run a week with him.

Here you go adding sentiment in the mix. What does his survival of child abuse and being a nice guy have anything to do with running honestly?

apersson wrote:

I have been in touch with Rob's wife Joanna concerning the video of the RV. She claims it's possible Rob wasn't running and was inside the RV, because he was extremely tired and they were heading to a place to eat or rest. But they always return to the place where he stopped running.

Regardless, Rob is doing something extraordinary as a survivor of child abuse and deserves a place in the Guinness Book of Records. It's disgusting how some yankees are questioning him.

George Clueless wrote:

He claims his father put him in a suitcase and threw him down the stairs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2739680/My-father-molested-sister-hung-neck-rope-fun-Inspiring-abuse-survivor-running-marathon-day-work-365-days-stop-happening-others.html

Now if that happened, it's truly awful. But I have to question it now. I really do...

I would question every word that comes out of his mouth. It's a huge pile bullshite. Just one day out of the blue with no training ran 3 marathons in 30 hours, 4:00,3:30,3:19 - ARE YOU SERIOUS!!!!! ...

Another Cycling Fan wrote:

That wikimedia "Robert Young Cycling TT" photo is of German rider Enrico Poitschke in the Tour de France 2007 Prologue (in London):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sibbald/753766618/in/photolist-9vUDFc-mXzPCe-mXzEag-mXzJug-mXzG9p-mXzNAx-mXzQCk-2bvJ2v-bcaNEz-dPzW4f-mo9PZV-goNfTN-goNg6G-fDERUB-mXA2va-jsDoQb-5hm1sx-29Bfyb-kfT4AT-2ais7D-gR4pu1-nqyJvv-4neuSA-ds7hjY-29L7pg-2ajaMd-5zXCve

Here is the starlist of that edition:

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Tour_de_France_2007_Startlist

LOL!

Everybody in their right mind knows that there's only one person who will dominate this challenge:

Kevin Strahle aka the LA Beast

https://www.instagram.com/p/BFiXTINFDe-/?taken-by=labeast62

Con artists like the narcissist d-bag Robert Young don't even stand a chance.

I just want to say I appreciate all the comparisons made with Mr Dane, the best athlete the world has ever seen, ever. NOT.

They have another trait in common : both wrote crappy books.

Van cheating. What a turd.

Dane, I know you are reading this. Are you going to attack all these posters too? Are you going to share their PBs like you tried to shame others before? You gigantic turd. You know what race I am doing next and I bet one van I will finish it way ahead of you.

Turds. All over the place.

You're being trolled. wrote:

Oddities wrote:

Being a survivor of child abuse does not merit you a place in the Guiness Book of Records - they are completely unrelated.

What about earthquake victims, holocaust survivors, and cancer sufferers ... some of these are arguably more 'deserving' so shall we give this world record to some of those people instead.

The apersson you're replying to is a troll, the real one didn't register the handle.

There is no "registered" next to his name.

“I was suddenly struck at how great it must be to compete in a marathon and said to Joanna, ‘I bet you 20p I could do that’.

“She took my bet and the next morning I got up in the early hours and drove to a certified track in Richmond and did the whole 26-mile, 365-yard course.

“I had only done the odd fun run before that* so it was a bit of struggle but I felt strong enough to do the same the next day, and the next, and the next. It sort of snowballed from there.”

*Apart from representing GB at triathlon / duathlon, riding on a pro cycling team, running 30 mins for a 10k.

WHAT A CROCK

Why aren't the British tabloids going big on this story? Can anyone tweet to them?

It's going viral on Reddit but nothing yet in the press.

https://www.reddit.com/r/running/comments/4nc18o/robert_young_who_is_on_pace_to_break_the/

"'Sometimes my father would zip me into a suitcase and push me down the stairs, this was one of the milder things I had to endure, though. "

He's a lock for the UK bobsled team.

apersson wrote:

I have been in touch with Rob's wife Joanna concerning the video of the RV. She claims it's possible Rob wasn't running and was inside the RV, because he was extremely tired and they were heading to a place to eat or rest. But they always return to the place where he stopped running.

Regardless, Rob is doing something extraordinary as a survivor of child abuse and deserves a place in the Guinness Book of Records. It's disgusting how some yankees are questioning him.

This truly isn't a US v UK thing (apart from the odd bit of banter). I'm a Brit and have the same questions in my mind as others - he obviously does a lot of long distance run/walk/shuffling or whatever but seems to have padded out his story a lot and its fair to point out that that raises genuine questions about his current venture. Don't care what country he's from.

I'm particularly intrigued by all this talk of 5mm starting pace based on his visible genuine prs - but I get that a lot of people jog parkruns so they may be misleading. I would love to see him properly race a 5k when rested.

His runbritainsrankings has a lot more races, than the power of 10 page, here are the races listed there:

HM 91:12 Hampton Court Half Marathon 21 Feb 16

HM 99:52 Watford Half Marathon 7 Feb 16

HM 89:00 Putney & Fulham Riverside Half Marathon 18 Oct 15

parkrun 20:00 Fulham Palace parkrun # 107 17 Oct 15

Mar 3:12:22 MBNA Chester Marathon 4 Oct 15

HM 97:50 Morrisons Great North Run 13 Sep 15

parkrun 31:12 Old Deer Park parkrun # 239 1 Aug 15

Mar 3:07:40 Virgin London Marathon 26 Apr 15

Mar 4:43:44 Isle of Wight Marathon 12 Oct 14

Mar 4:23:06 Baxters Loch Ness Marathon 28 Sep 14

Mar 3:11:57 Thames Meander Marathon 23 Aug 14

parkrun 20:01 Richmond Park parkrun # 355 2 Aug 14

Mar 4:56:41 Bath Marathon 27 Jul 14

Mar 4:34:06 Giants Head Marathon 28 Jun 14

parkrun 20:38 Richmond Park parkrun # 348 14 Jun 14

Mar 3:56:32 Orpington Mara*fun Marathon 17 May 14

Mar 3:46:32 Halstead & Essex Marathon 11 May 14

parkrun 21:44 Richmond Park parkrun # 343 10 May 14

Mar 3:50:03 Milton Keynes Marathon 5 May 14

parkrun 21:09 Richmond Park parkrun # 342 3 May 14

parkrun 22:35 Richmond Park parkrun # 340 19 Apr 14

parkrun 21:29 Old Deer Park parkrun # 166 1 Mar 14

parkrun 21:23 Old Deer Park parkrun # 164 15 Feb 14

parkrun 21:23 Old Deer Park parkrun # 163 8 Feb 14

parkrun 21:34 Old Deer Park parkrun # 162 1 Feb 14

parkrun 22:10 Old Deer Park parkrun # 161 25 Jan 14

parkrun 21:06 Old Deer Park parkrun # 160 18 Jan 14

parkrun 21:00 Old Deer Park parkrun # 159 11 Jan 14

parkrun 22:24 Old Deer Park parkrun # 158 4 Jan 14

parkrun 24:24 Old Deer Park parkrun # 156 21 Dec 13

parkrun 22:05 Old Deer Park parkrun # 155 14 Dec 13

parkrun 27:19 Old Deer Park parkrun # 154 7 Dec 13

parkrun 20:20 Old Deer Park parkrun # 153 30 Nov 13

parkrun 21:45 Old Deer Park parkrun # 152 23 Nov 13

parkrun 22:13 Old Deer Park parkrun # 151 16 Nov 13

parkrun 22:39 Old Deer Park parkrun # 149 2 Nov 13

parkrun 21:08 Old Deer Park parkrun # 146 12 Oct 13

parkrun 20:39 Old Deer Park parkrun # 145 5 Oct 13

parkrun 20:00 Crane parkrun # 66 21 Sep 13

parkrun 19:56 Crane parkrun # 64 7 Sep 13

parkrun 18:55 Old Deer Park parkrun # 140 31 Aug 13

parkrun 20:21 Old Deer Park parkrun # 138 17 Aug 13

parkrun 20:09 Old Deer Park parkrun # 137 3 Aug 13

parkrun 21:08 Old Deer Park parkrun # 136 27 Jul 13

parkrun 19:37 Old Deer Park parkrun # 135 20 Jul 13

parkrun 19:46 Old Deer Park parkrun # 134 13 Jul 13

parkrun 19:49 Old Deer Park parkrun # 133 6 Jul 13

parkrun 19:54 Old Deer Park parkrun # 132 29 Jun 13

parkrun 19:15 Old Deer Park parkrun # 131 22 Jun 13

parkrun 20:27 Old Deer Park parkrun # 130 15 Jun 13

parkrun 24:26 Old Deer Park parkrun # 129 8 Jun 13

parkrun 19:38 Old Deer Park parkrun # 128 1 Jun 13

parkrun 19:27 Crane parkrun # 49 25 May 13

parkrun 20:14 Old Deer Park parkrun # 127 18 May 13

parkrun 19:33 Old Deer Park parkrun # 125 20 Apr 13

parkrun 20:00 Old Deer Park parkrun # 124 13 Apr 13

parkrun 20:03 Old Deer Park parkrun # 123 6 Apr 13

parkrun 20:03 Old Deer Park parkrun # 121 23 Mar 13

parkrun 20:27 Old Deer Park parkrun # 120 16 Mar 13

parkrun 21:25 Old Deer Park parkrun # 119 9 Mar 13

parkrun 21:34 Old Deer Park parkrun # 118 2 Mar 13

parkrun 22:17 Old Deer Park parkrun # 117 23 Feb 13

parkrun 22:35 Old Deer Park parkrun # 116 16 Feb 13

parkrun 21:58 Old Deer Park parkrun # 115 9 Feb 13

parkrun 24:36 Old Deer Park parkrun # 112 19 Jan 13

parkrun 22:02 Old Deer Park parkrun # 110 5 Jan 13

parkrun 21:38 Old Deer Park parkrun # 109 29 Dec 12

parkrun 22:23 Old Deer Park parkrun # 108 22 Dec 12

parkrun 23:23 Old Deer Park parkrun # 107 15 Dec 12

parkrun 21:10 Old Deer Park parkrun # 106 8 Dec 12

parkrun 21:30 Old Deer Park parkrun # 105 1 Dec 12

parkrun 20:43 Old Deer Park parkrun # 104 24 Nov 12

parkrun 21:30 Old Deer Park parkrun # 103 17 Nov 12

parkrun 20:45 Old Deer Park parkrun # 101 27 Oct 12

parkrun 19:33 Old Deer Park parkrun # 100 20 Oct 12

parkrun 20:00 Old Deer Park parkrun # 99 13 Oct 12

parkrun 19:30 Old Deer Park parkrun # 98 6 Oct 12

parkrun 19:23 Old Deer Park parkrun # 97 29 Sep 12

parkrun 19:16 Old Deer Park parkrun # 96 22 Sep 12

parkrun 20:01 Old Deer Park parkrun # 95 15 Sep 12

parkrun 20:07 Old Deer Park parkrun # 94 8 Sep 12

parkrun 20:19 Old Deer Park parkrun # 93 1 Sep 12

parkrun 20:25 Old Deer Park parkrun # 90 11 Aug 12

parkrun 19:55 Old Deer Park parkrun # 89 4 Aug 12

parkrun 20:36 Old Deer Park parkrun # 87 21 Jul 12

parkrun 20:20 Richmond parkrun # 226 25 Feb 12

parkrun 20:42 Richmond parkrun # 225 18 Feb 12

parkrun 20:11 Bedfont parkrun # 141 11 Feb 12

parkrun 19:56 Bedfont parkrun # 139 28 Jan 12

parkrun 20:37 Bedfont parkrun # 138 21 Jan 12

parkrun 19:01 Bedfont parkrun # 137 14 Jan 12

parkrun 24:43 Black Park parkrun # 85 26 Feb 11

parkrun 20:53 Black Park parkrun # 50 26 Jun 10

parkrun 21:44 Black Park parkrun # 36 20 Mar 10

parkrun 21:19 Black Park parkrun # 33 27 Feb 10

parkrun 21:18 Black Park parkrun # 32 20 Feb 10

None of these are in the ballpark of his listed pbs on his website. Note the Richmond Park parkrun on April 19th, wasn't this in the middle of his 10 marathons within a week? Compare his 5k times just before then with the very suspicious marathon time he claimed on his second day...

You don't get it do you?He always goes out at race pace, then shuts it down, walking the last few miles whilst juggling, ferrying water back for others, encouraging lesser runners.HE'S DOING IT FOR THE PEOPLE.ESPECIALLY THE CHILDREN.HE HAS A HIGHER PURPOSE THAN YOU OR I.

Yes, Rob isn't very well known, is relatively new to the sport, and hasn't done any of the more recognized events. Despite that, Rob is the real deal and quite a good runner. Last year alone, Rob won the Race Across USA 2015, and completed over 1 full year of at least one marathon per day. Here are some links about the Race Across USA that he won. (Incidentally, I was an "Advisor" for that race.")

https://www.facebook.com/RaceAcrossUSA/

http://raceacrossusa.org/

http://raceacrossusa.org/results/

http://raceacrossusa.org/advisors/

Personally, I have met Rob twice, and I spent 5 days watching him run last year's Race Across USA. I crewed and advised the race for its first 5 days in New Mexico. By far, he was the class of the race, and had no challengers for any of the days I was out there. The race format was to run 26.2 miles per day with one day off per week. On that day off, Rob still went out and ran 26.2 miles to keep his consecutive streak alive.

While running 26.2 miles per day is not the same as averaging 70 miles per day, I am perfectly content that Rob has the physical and mental ability to achieve this, and a great chance to set a new record.

By the way, many of Rob's competitors from last year's race are helping him with his record attempt including but not limited to Nancy Bennett, Newton Baker, and Bryce Carlson. Nancy has already done an 80 mile day with Rob that was posted on Facebook. Also ESPN has been out with Rob taping parts of his record attempt.

Rob's tracker shows the van getting stuck around Goff at 8:20am Pacific. The data shows the RV moving slow but steady up until 8:20am, at which point there's a bunch of closely repeated points, which are visible on the tracker map as a little circle of movement where they're stuck for about 45 minutes. Then he turns up in time to get a fancy picture at the pool at 12:50pm Pacific.

According to google maps, that is a 38+ mile trek ( link:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/34.9389637,-114.8547084/35.1684307,-114.5727131/@35.0463291,-114.8010222,11.75z/data=

!4m2!4m1!3e0 )

The tracker shows them getting stuck around 8:20am, and this photo corroborates their story about it taking ~30 minutes for the truck to get there to help - note the image filenames have the timestamps - and the timestamp for the RV stuck image corresponds well with the track data export:

Specific Blog photo of RV stuck in sand:

http://www.marathonmanuk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2016-05-18-08.50.15-1024x768.jpg

And then Rob's at the hotel 4 hours later in this blog photo at hotel:

http://www.marathonmanuk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/2016-05-18-12.52.50-1024x768.jpg

Check out the shadows in that pool image, the shadow sizes corresponds very well to the timestamp of 12:52pm.

Full blog story about the day at the end of:

http://www.marathonmanuk.co.uk/2016/05/21/day-3-5-a-pick-up-for-a-hiccup/

So according to them, Rob covered 38 miles in 4.5 hours solo and unsupported in 80F heat (high that day in Laughlin was 93F) to cap off a 70 mile day. And that's if he left the RV immediately after it got stuck and then found their hotel and immediately ran and jumped in the pool. But the story on their blog claims he tried to help get the RV out of the sand for a little bit before packing up to leave solo, and that when he got to the hotel they all went to the casino to play roulette before hitting the pool.... so there has to be *at least* 10 or 15 minutes of that gap taken up by non-running activities. Even if he had ran straight away to the pool, there is no way Rob made that trip on foot. That would be 38 miles at 3:10 marathon pace or likely even better according to their story, on the end of day 4 of a transcon when his best verifiable marathon time is a 3:06.

David Warady wrote: I am perfectly content that Rob has the physical and mental ability to achieve this

Having the ability to achieve it and honestly achieving it are not the same thing.