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

Don't you have each others #'s? Can you keep the insults to texting and allow this thread to be about a runner cheating their way into Boston and stealing a spot from someone who BQed.

This is a running site.

Hello,

I would like to run a 2:00 marathon. Assuming I'm not caught cheating, I think I can do it.

Lehigh Valley Marathon looks like a splendid race. I know they have timing on the course, but I can make a few stops.

WR this fall!!!!!

PS - I run 15 miles a month.

What I never understood is why Mike had to take the kids out of school for three days in the first place. Philly to Boston doesn't take much travel. Could have travled up on Saturday morning, had plenty of time to see the city Saturday and Sunday, done the race Monday morning and returned easily to Philly that night. The kids would have missed ONE DAY of school. Probably wouldn't even have gotten the letter for that.

And, again, Philly to Boston is not far, if they wanted to go back and spend more time on the "Freedom Trail", they could have easily done that over the summer.

It's quite simple to make that little bib chip defective. Mike will be offering an extensive cheating seminar soon, coming to a Benihana near you!

New to running wrote:

Hello,

I would like to run a 2:00 marathon. Assuming I'm not caught cheating, I think I can do it.

Lehigh Valley Marathon looks like a splendid race. I know they have timing on the course, but I can make a few stops.

WR this fall!!!!!

PS - I run 15 miles a month.

You're special wrote:

Joe or Something Else wrote:

I am an occasional visitor. I recognize that those who are actively continuing this "discussion" have serious issues and that this thread is a testament to mental illness at work. I am posting what should be obvious but apparently is not to some of you (apparently including you).

You open this thread. You read it with enough interest to generate an opinion. You then post on the thread, contributing to the discussion, by offering your opinion that those who actively contribute to the discussion have mental health issues.

You can't even make up this kind of stupid. I hope they only let you have spoons. I hate to think of the harm you might cause yourself eating with a fork or a knife.

I see, so you are unable to differentiate between someone who posts perhaps 10 times out of the 6,000+ posts on this thread and others who post 10 times a day every day.

Congratulations for a world record for stupidity.

I may check back in a week to see how you're doing.

The children are our future wrote:

Reg Fields wrote:

Just wanted to say I really think we should keep this thread about Mike Rossi and how he cheated at the LVM to BQ. These personal attacks on kids, wives, girlfriends, etc don't belong here.

Very much agree.

I second that.

Except for his wife, she can be discussed as she might have been his accomplice. But no personal attacks please.

The way Mike Rossi is attacking Ken in this thread is disgusting.

Btw, has it already been established that Mike cheated in other races? There were some suspicious splits.

testing

testingtesting wrote:

testing

Fresh take, Mike Rossi's new attorney.

Reg Fields wrote:

Just wanted to say I really think we should keep this thread about Mike Rossi and how he cheated at the LVM to BQ. These personal attacks on kids, wives, girlfriends, etc don't belong here.

Son, you are late to the party. That topic ended long ago and was beaten to death. There was no DQ.

Travelodge wrote:

What I never understood is why Mike had to take the kids out of school for three days in the first place. Philly to Boston doesn't take much travel. Could have travled up on Saturday morning, had plenty of time to see the city Saturday and Sunday, done the race Monday morning and returned easily to Philly that night. The kids would have missed ONE DAY of school. Probably wouldn't even have gotten the letter for that.

And, again, Philly to Boston is not far, if they wanted to go back and spend more time on the "Freedom Trail", they could have easily done that over the summer.

I wonder if Rossi knew he would get the letter (it's been described as a form letter) and pre-planned the whole response. Maybe he even took the kids out for three days to ensure he got the letter so that he could have his little response and let the whole world know that he ran the Boston Marathon. Missing one day of school might not be enough to trigger the form letter response after all. This is the guy who "ran" way faster than he needed to in order to ensure a BQ, after all. Mike Rossi leaves nothing to chance.

Plus the longer the trip, the more people ask "where have you been, Mike?", the more of an event it was and the more he got to talk about how he ran the Boston Marathon.

Darin McCloud wrote:

Try taking the high road in life, Mike. Just a tip, you are not acting like a falsy accused person. You are acting exactly like someone who would cheat in a marathon and then lie about it. Also, if you are going to criticize someone else's integrity, then don't do it the sentence immediately following one in which you called his ex-wife fat. Concluding with the "But this is nothing personal" demonstrates your own complete lack of self awareness. Just trying to help you out, Mike. Probably your best course of action would be to turn off your computer, because you don't seem to be able to stop making yourself look even worse with every sentence you type.

It's entirely personal between Mikey and Kenny. That's what makes this train wreck so fascinating. Kenny doesn't give two poops about the Boston Marathon - he's not even a runner.

And if it is in fact Mikey posting, he has every right to call Kenny's ex-wife fat. Kenny's been speculating about Mikey and his wife's sex life.

This is the Jerry Springer show. Quit asking for civility.

Ken's Shady past wrote:

yes, you are Ken Stillman the guy who ripped off so many clients the attorney general sued you, who's wife left your fat a$$ and who's sister won't even speak to you.

A real beacon of integrity.

But this is nothing personal.

This sounds juicy.

Don't leave us hanging - what's the deelio?

Are you wearing a tinfoil hat right now?

Dish, Girlfriend! wrote:

Ken's Shady past wrote:

yes, you are Ken Stillman the guy who ripped off so many clients the attorney general sued you, who's wife left your fat a$$ and who's sister won't even speak to you.

A real beacon of integrity.

But this is nothing personal.

This sounds juicy.

Don't leave us hanging - what's the deelio?

Other than sad DJs, who uses the term "deelio"?

A Day Late wrote:

Reg Fields wrote:

Just wanted to say I really think we should keep this thread about Mike Rossi and how he cheated at the LVM to BQ. These personal attacks on kids, wives, girlfriends, etc don't belong here.

Son, you are late to the party. That topic ended long ago and was beaten to death. There was no DQ.

Just the Salient Facts (not comprehensive):

1. Rossi posted online a letter he received from the principal of his children's elementary school because he took his two children out of school to watch him run in the Boston Marathon.

2. He then responded and wrote a sarcastic and self-serving letter to the principal, addressing it "Dear Madam Principal" rather using her real name which would have demonstrated generally accepted standards of respect (he later tries to claim he loves the school and the principal and meant no harm) when writing a letter. He essentially threw a hissy fit because he believed that he and his family should be treated differently than any other school district families.

3. He never sent that letter to the principal or any other school administrator but instead posted it online. I could understand taking all of this public after you have exhausted all avenues of recourse that responsible people first try, that is, meeting with school officials.

4. He subsequently said he posted both letters on only his Facebook page which were solely intended for his "friends" to see. He then denied that he posted either letter anywhere else but to his Facebook page, yet that was a lie as has been shown via screen captures and saved images of his twitter account and other social media sources (including his company website) that he posted/reposted and tweeted/retweeted said letters and giving tv and radio interviews, all before ever meeting with any administrator in the school district. One could argue that he was cyber-bullying the principal by his childish behavior, the tone of his letter and the sarcasm he envoked.

5. The principal did not single out Rossi or treat him and his two children any different than any of the other 7,500 students in the school district. Partial disclosure - I live in this school district. Letters such as this are issued for unexcused absences. Why he choose to make an issue of this is beyond me because it does not affect a student, especially third graders, unless the student already has a history (10 or more I believe in the state of PA) of unexcused absences.

6. This attention brought scrutiny to his public "running" and race times, as well as all of his posting and boasting on his social media accounts. As questions arose, the once very public figure decided to go uncharacteristically quiet and close his social media accounts or made them private.

7. Rossi posted and boasted about his running and training like he was an accomplished runner or athlete, although much of it sounded quite amateurish. He posted pictures like a teen.

8. He "runs" the race of a lifetime after only 18 months of running and total of about 1,000 miles at the age of 46 and all of sudden he finds modesty and barely mentions his Lehigh Valley Health Network Via Marathon's race time, in spite of somehow cutting an enormous amount of time from his PR. After every other race, he wrote a lot on his social media accounts and posted tons of pictures at each race. However, for some reason, barely a peep from him after the LVM. Things that make you go hmm?

9. When questioned in an interview about the disconnect between previous race times and his LVM race time/pace, he said he wasn’t trying in the other races yet in his posts he blatantly boasted about his race times and expressed how he thought his race times were good etc., thus his posted comments are consistent with someone trying to do his best and trying to get BQ. In fact, in the Philadelphia Marathon he mentions his time and the BQ and being upset that he "just" missed a BQ because of a bathroom break.

10. There is not one single photograph of Rossi on the LVM race course, with the exception of the ones at the finish line. The race course did not have time mats but did have several camera checkpoints on the course. There is a nearly continuous run of photos at least three checkpoints.

11. At one of the photo checkpoints there was on average more than 48 photos published per minute for a 13 minute stretch during which Rossi would have to run by the checkpoint (with the fewest photos in any one minute stretch being 40 photos). All of the 20 closest finishers to Rossi (in terms of place, 10 ahead, 10 behind) were spotted at all three checkpoints and yet Mr. Rossi is absent from all three.

12. An analysis of the first photo checkpoint revealed that 199 of the top 200 finishers were photographed. Guess who is missing? Yep, Rossi #2161. Is it a coincidence that the individual who ran his fastest pace/time for a marathon and at a faster pace than many of the shorter distances (in spite of usually slowing down over longer races) did not have one single photo on the course? I think not. No reasonable person thinks its a coincidence. However, I am open to seeing and reviewing any photos or evidence that shows he was in fact on the course, excluding the start and finish lines.

13. The LVM Committee did NOT confirm nor did it state that they believed that Rossi ran the entire race, and they also did not say that they thought his time was accurate and did not say that they thought he did not cheat. Quite the opposite, as their statement said there was no conclusive evidence that his time was inaccurate. Saying or concluding a runner's time is accurate (and here is why we think so) is much different than saying that there was no conclusive evidence that a runner's time was inaccurate. In fact, they did not did provide any evidence that his time was accurate. Why not? But how could they? They did not have interim timing mats and there was not a photo to be found of him on the course. Moreover, they didn't even address the issue of photos in their statement. That is telling.

14. Other runners can at least point to time-stamped photos at various points on the course to say – "there I am", which is more than can be said for Rossi! He can't. He hasn't. He refuses to!

15. The lack of photos of Rossi is arguably more damning than his time/pace time. Why? One can debate race times/pace, training etc., but there is no bias in continuous, time-stamped photos being taken by professional photographers there to capture every racer. That is not to say that race times/pace and training is not an important piece of evidence, it is, especially in light of his other race times, particularly his pace in 5k's.

16. The mere fact that the LVM Race Director decided to impanel a committee to "review" this debacle meant there was enough "probable cause" or suspicion to do so. Therefore, it is the LVM Committee's and Rossi's responsibility to provide the conclusive evidence that his time is accurate, not anyone else's to provide conclusive evidence that his time is inaccurate.

17. Of course this isn’t any evidence that he ran the race or his time is inaccurate because the LVM abdicated its responsibility of ensuring accuracy and validity of the race times BEFORE the race by not having timing mats throughout the race course and AFTER the race by its flawed investigation, reasoning and statement.

18. Rossi claims to have photos and other exculpatory evidence to demonstrate that his time is accurate/ran the entire race. It is time for Rossi to provide any and all information that he claims to possess rather than just saying so. Saying so does not make it true. If he truly has such evidence, then there is no reason why he should not or would not share it. NONE. Failure to provide this information can only lead one to reasonably conclude that he is lying about this so called "evidence" and thus, he cheated and his time is inaccurate.

Smells funny wrote:

Dish, Girlfriend! wrote:

This sounds juicy.

Don't leave us hanging - what's the deelio?

Other than sad DJs, who uses the term "deelio"?

Back off, smelly.

I'm a total hepcat, rockin' the dad jeans.

Don't be hatin'.

Ken's Shady past wrote:

yes, you are Ken Stillman the guy who ripped off so many clients the attorney general sued you, who's wife left your fat a$$ and who's sister won't even speak to you.

.

Mike, since you don't know the difference between who's and whose, I am going to have to conclude that you are a cheat. Also, because you dye your hair.

Joe or Something Else wrote:

I am an occasional visitor. I recognize that those who are actively continuing this "discussion" have serious issues and that this thread is a testament to mental illness at work. I am posting what should be obvious but apparently is not to some of you (apparently including you).

Yeah, this thread started as an attempt to expose what many runners was an obvious cheat and then devolved into an example of what personality disorders look like. Very sad.

abingtonrunner wrote:

A Day Late wrote:

Son, you are late to the party. That topic ended long ago and was beaten to death. There was no DQ.

Just the Salient Facts (not comprehensive):

Gotta agree with "A Day Late". I won't scold y'all for keeping it going or even for the personal insults, and I still find this stuff entertaining, but the actual Rossi Cheated story is long dead and will remain dead no matter how much you beat that horse.

He's a cheating cheater who cheated. He didn't get DQed. He's not going to come clean about it. The end.

Again, keep going, I'll look in now and then and be entertained by it.