Robert Young fakes run across America

Marathon Maniac wrote:

fred wrote:

The Guardian:

“[His] tracker and GPS data are cans of worms,” Robert Lopez wrote to Ultra List subscribers. “There is a day that Rob’s RV got stuck in the desert. The location is known. [...] Whether he legged out the 40-plus road miles or somehow orienteered his way through the brush without navigational aids, [his] time is incredible. And I mean that in the literal sense.”

I wonder if that is the Marathon Maniac #59 Robert Lopez.

Yus!

yus wrote:

Marathon Maniac wrote:

I wonder if that is the Marathon Maniac #59 Robert Lopez.

Yus!

You know it's over when 6 hour marathoners are making fun of you.

Give it up, RY.

doubler wrote:

Whoops!! wrote:

doubler, you forgot to log in before replying (to yourself most likely). lol

How many usernames you gonna use?

that wasn't me..rookie troll move..don't fall for it. I did respond on his post after seeing this however.

nice save. ;)

in addition wrote:

Nice to see the article in the Guardian. Now if the Sun, Independent, and Times would step up.

Since Skins was founded in Australia and Jaimie Fuller is Australian, I found 2 articles in Australian business magazines about Fuller. I emailed the authors and the magazine editors suggesting a follow up story as to how Fuller and Skins handle this scandal, and I linked Fuller's essay with all the comments.

Here are the two articles from 2011 about Fuller.

http://www.mybusiness.com.au/case-studies/183-we-didnt-need-a-business-plan-skins-ceo-jaimie-fullerhttp://www.dynamicbusiness.com.au/entrepreneur-profile/the-straight-shooter-behind-skins-7102011.html

It might be more helpful if someone who uses twitter can tweet the magazines (MyBusiness and Dynamic Business) and the writers (Justin Grey and Lorna Brett) suggesting a follow up article on the scandal.

I don't know if these writers will do anything. They seem to be kissing Fullers arse. They are trying to paint Fuller as a straight shooter but notice the only poster in the mybusiness article says this:

"Glad he's self critical because he'd look terrible in his own product. Here's some openess and honesty, Fuller is a farce with a history of rifping off small business to profit his own pockets and then sending in others to clean up a mess he creates himself. His own staff constantly fear his intimidating ways and are glad he relocated to switzerland. What should be a proud Australian success story is sadly tainted by a history of damaged relationships in the local business community. Just ask ASIC who fined skins for lying about paying athletes to wear his product."

This was 5 years ago. Apparently, Fuller has a history of sleaze himself.

The Guardian comments section is heavily moderated. Will LRC Troll Community rise to the challenge?

yeppers wrote:

2004 called wrote:

Really good article in the Guardian. The only thing is that they seem to accept his "started on a bet in 2014" story at face value.

Yep, decent expose in the Guardian except they don't indicate that there are serious questions about RY's book about the 370 marathons, website claims, and the 373 mile record. Or that he has received numerous awards and recognitions for running feats that all now seem very dubious. Or that he was funding all of this through charity fund raising. Or that his popularity online is artificially supported by purchasing likes and followers on Facebook and Twitter.

So yeah, decent article, but much is still lacking.

If letsrunners want to help the Guardian article, add comments. Also, it's very important to sign in and "like" the substantial comments so those rise to the top viewed.

Lets just say that I am more than a little disappointed that Fake Laz is not cited in the Guardian. Cheap Euro-trash drivel!

This is excellent. What song is it to be sung to?

Jason Conley wrote:

Marathonmanuk Haha No Lua - i dont have enough money for even one but would make it happen to prove it to Markus which would prove it to anyone.

I have had ESPN THROUGHOUT FILMING EVEN THE SECTION HE HAS JUST POINTED OUT. 3 person film crew and director. They have just left and American CCTV channel are filming for the next 3 days as filming needs separate to each channel. So even more prove.

June 5 at 2:58pm · 2

Yes, laughable, as this was the section coming through Emporia and Lebo. No mention of a crazed madman or getting lost and becoming a crack whore walking by Mr. G's Car Wash. Unless Asher works for ESPN we have exposed ANOTHER LIE!!!

What, pray tell, is a "Marathon Maniac?" Is this a football team?

yus wrote:

Marathon Maniac wrote:

I wonder if that is the Marathon Maniac #59 Robert Lopez.

Yus!

Hiro wrote:

ryinvestigation.blogspot.com owner - how can we get in contact with you? Put an email/contact form on the blog maybe?

Done.

I do think a nice summary of confirmed lies/suspicions would be good, for general purposes and since Mr. Fuller seems to be asking for any tips. Happy to add someone as an author on there or take contributions.

Anyone know of a good free software that can do the following:

So I know we have a pastebin list of suspicious running by Robert, but I think a UI for that would be very compelling and informative. Something that could show, on the map, where are the sub 6 miles? Where are the sub 3:10 marathons?

I think Strava premium shows you best efforts for various distances during your run? Maybe GoldenCheetah?

Side note here was a nice post from the UList:

"Here's a sample of stretches from the marathon man's tracker. They are in 1

to 2 mile increments mostly, so over long periods of time they are

relatively valid for showing his pace. So on May 26 at 1:20am he decided

it's time to turn on the jets.... according to his tracker he averaged

between 9-10mph from 1:20 until 3:47 to go 22 miles in 2:27. A 3:08

marathon pace. Impressive enough by itself considering how far he had run

up to this point. But it does wear him out, so he takes a ~3 hour break

from around 3:50 to 6:50. Then he gets back out on the road and immediately

jumps up to ~9mph and runs 18 more miles at that exact same overall split,

3:08 marathon pace..... seriously. There are some slight ups/downs in the

speed, but over a 7:40 period he covers 41 miles with a 3 hour break in

between.

That is simply phenomenal.. it would be a pretty good run on its own... but

in the context of a transcon... AMAZING!

After that he winds down and gets back to a leisurely pace mostly between 4

- 5mph with some 3mphs sprinkled in. Really burned himself up with that

stretch above. By May 28 though, he's recovered and hammers out an 8.25mi

stretch in 48 minutes before going back to mostly walking.

By the night of the 29th at 1:20am he's again recovered and does some of

his best running yet - an 18.6mi stretch in just over 2 hours, a 2:53

marathon pace! That winds him a bit so he takes 30 minutes to recover, then

back out again for another 5.25 miles in 35 minutes. Now he's really pooped

though, so 1.5 hours of rest before going back out for more. This time it's

23.6mi in 2:53, or a 3:11 marathon pace.

On the 30th at midnight, more of same thing. 18.25mi in 2:12, or 3:09

marathon pace... kind of wears him out and he slows down to finish a total

stretch of 27.1mi in 3:27, or 3:20 marathon pace. He stops for about 90

minutes to gather himself, then turns in what may be one of the greatest

all time mid-transcontinental stretches of running ever: 14.1mi in 1:24

(2:36 marathon pace, 1:18 half). INCREDIBLE!!!!!! But it does kind of wear

on him to go that hard, as he needs another 30 minute break after this

before jumping back out there and logging another 9.8 miles in 1:16, or a

3:24 marathon pace.

But he's not done yet, now he is really hitting his stride. On the 31st at

1am, another great section of running yields 19.4 miles in just under 2

hours (2:40 marathon pace).... man I hope he's recording these splits in

his logs, he may set a new marathon PR on this transcon! How can he say

he's not as good as Yiannis, this is some of the most unbelievable great

running in history!

In total over that 5 day 2 hour period, he covered 388.76 miles, or 76

miles per day, by the strategy of burst running ~3 marathon pace for 20-40

miles every day and then walk/jogging the additional 30-55 left over.

Which sounds exactly like what every noob multiday runner thinks they'll do

but quickly finds out is suicidal.... but this guy is clearly something

special!"

Excrement is Free wrote:

The Guardian comments section is heavily moderated. Will LRC Troll Community rise to the challenge?

Excellent story in the Guardian! It's great to have that sort of extended piece in the public record. I thought it highlighted most of the relevant issues. It wasn't unfair to Young--unless an insistence on stating the relevant facts is unfair. Great piece.

yeppers wrote:

yeppers wrote:

Yep, decent expose in the Guardian except they don't indicate that there are serious questions about RY's book about the 370 marathons, website claims, and the 373 mile record. Or that he has received numerous awards and recognitions for running feats that all now seem very dubious. Or that he was funding all of this through charity fund raising. Or that his popularity online is artificially supported by purchasing likes and followers on Facebook and Twitter.

So yeah, decent article, but much is still lacking.

If letsrunners want to help the Guardian article, add comments. Also, it's very important to sign in and "like" the substantial comments so those rise to the top viewed.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jun/22/robert-young-marathon-record-attempt-cheating-rumors

Done and done

I've got a photo up so that he can't go back and change his comments like he has done with other posts.

http://i.imgur.com/rrpaN3Z.jpg

All credit to Markus.

Let's get the word out to Mr. Fuller of SKINS, The Guardian, etc.

These easily disproved claims should make it obvious that he is lying through his teeth about all manner of things. When was the last time ESPN covered an ultra event for three days, not to mention choosing a person no one in the States had ever heard of? He claims different news channels can't record the same event? What? What is American CCTV? Is he claiming the U.S. version of China Central TV? Again, why would they care about his feat? If he's saying it's closed circuit television, that makes even less sense. His delusions of grandeur hurt real fund raising activities and legitimate charities who will now have to fight unearned skepticism, all because of his greed and narcissism.

Shameful! We have a responsibility to legitimate charities and real runners to expose this fraud in public. By making an example of Robert, who has been given ample opportunity to come clean, we can ensure that others won't dare to defraud well meaning donors.

Marathon Maniac wrote:

fred wrote:

The Guardian:

“[His] tracker and GPS data are cans of worms,” Robert Lopez wrote to Ultra List subscribers. “There is a day that Rob’s RV got stuck in the desert. The location is known. [...] Whether he legged out the 40-plus road miles or somehow orienteered his way through the brush without navigational aids, [his] time is incredible. And I mean that in the literal sense.”

I wonder if that is the Marathon Maniac #59 Robert Lopez.

Er... no, #59 is Gary Allen who is a hell of a lot better runner than I am.

I was Maniac #111 before I got kicked out of the club and erased from existence by #3. Another story for another time.

Yes, a girl from China Central TV was there with him. Pretty sure that is true.

To me the splits posted in this piece are the most damning evidence that this guy is a liar and a cheater. Any serious distance runner and especially an ultra-runner knows that these types of splits over these time intervals are completely ridiculous. Only a noob like RY would be dumb enough to think these time splits wouldn't raise eyebrows among serious runners.

I am that typical 3:10-3:20 marathoner. Nothing special but I do ok. Given that my times for shorter distances are much much faster by comparison (35 min 10K, 58 min for 10 miles, 1:19 half etc). it's hard to believe that a guy who is supposedly of similar abilities as me can just crank out 3 hour marathon paced runs day after day, covering 70+ miles. I know with complete certainty that even in my best conditioning there's no friggin way I could have run back to back 3:20 marathons with just a few hours sleep in between.

Strange Land wrote:

What, pray tell, is a "Marathon Maniac?" Is this a football team?

They're LR maniacs who discovered life outside their basement.

whorunslikeanLGTEBADSEWRW? wrote:

I am that typical 3:10-3:20 marathoner. Nothing special but I do ok. Given that my times for shorter distances are much much faster by comparison (35 min 10K, 58 min for 10 miles, 1:19 half etc). it's hard to believe that a guy who is supposedly of similar abilities as me can just crank out 3 hour marathon paced runs day after day, covering 70+ miles. I know with complete certainty that even in my best conditioning there's no friggin way I could have run back to back 3:20 marathons with just a few hours sleep in between.

Yes, his results in actual races -

show that he is at best a mediocre runner. He is an 18 to 20 minute 5k runner and his by far best marathon is 3:07, otherwise he is typically a 3:30 to 4 hour marathoner. It is only in private "feats of strength" outside of actual races that he becomes a super runner. I would take my verified results over his any day -

The second I started claiming the personal bests that he claims, without any verifiable race results to back it up is the second I should lose any and all credibility.