Frank Meza 2:53:10 at LA Marathon (70 years old) unofficial time (just finished)

It’s laughable, we’ve got to keep it fun & still make cheaters look bad.

I'm guessing Frank's age is one of the keys to his relatively low number of DQs. No one wants to be the bad guy who reports an old man. People have probably seen him sneaking onto the course, shrugged, and thought "oh well."

Pik Nottil wrote:

I'm guessing Frank's age is one of the keys to his relatively low number of DQs. No one wants to be the bad guy who reports an old man. People have probably seen him sneaking onto the course, shrugged, and thought "oh well."

Agree.

The whole thing is laughable and sad at the same time.

On page 13302 Photo 2487_212832 is the 'running sideways' photo where looks like Frank could be re-entering the course, then he proceeds to the turn around where we see the Frank waving photos on Page 13309.

Just putting it out there for the super sleuths, when you look at the various photos around Page 13309 it appears to be the same photographer. Could he have spotted Frank jumping in at 2487_212832 and called him out at the turn around with a comment and made sure he got a photo at the turn cone while letting Frank know he spotted him jumping in and Frank sheepishly responds with a 'you got me' smile and wave. Looks like the photographer purposely got Frank at the turn cone as the cone can be seen, along with a gotcha comment, but no one else has that same photo shot as far as I can see.

Roderick, I think you are totally out of touch with reality. You talk about your proclamation that Meza would be running LA beforehand as if it should have been big news that everyone made a note of, and you question the commitment of all those who never "showed up and monitored what was going on". You are totally disregarding that a) it's unlikely anybody posting about him now even saw the thread, and b) even if they did, I think you are grossly overestimating the lengths most people are willing to go to to resolve this once and for all.

What, do you expect people to fly into LA, then waste their time hanging around looking for some old man who is quite likely to never even appear for all we know? Not to mention they'd presumably have to be prepared to actually run a 2:53 or so, just in case. Think about it: best case scenario, you blow several hundred dollars and spend hours jogging around some boring dump just to prove what a loser some old man you don't know is.

It’s always like that with cheaters: demanding proof after proof, it never ends. That’s their job, and they’re not doing it.

Actually, I am well aware that most people missed the previous post after Phoenix. I imagine maybe FM knew of it but ran LA anyways to rub it in. https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9288467 Just saying people on the current thread have boasted that they would show up and follow him. Many are certainly locals, as am I. I will be in Long Beach. Reality is overrated anyways.

Golgi Body wrote:

What, do you expect people to fly into LA, then waste their time hanging around looking for some old man who is quite likely to never even appear for all we know?

As mentioned above, there's the "People have probably seen him sneaking onto the course, shrugged, and thought "oh well."" type attitude. And didn't this thread really gain traction once Just Gene's accomplishments were compared to Super Hero Frank's?, then it became a cause célèbre for us keyboard warriors.

Tis a bit odd and funny though how some threads take hold and gain traction and others don't.

Oh yeah, and now Frank is on the radar, and there will actually be people there watching him if Roderick is to be believed, I think Frank's phenomenal running days are well and truly over, odds are he won't even turn up for race again.

It's hard catching road racing cheaters in the act. Most racing cheats are found through split and photo analysis like Marathon Investigation and Letsrun. The sleuths here have uncovered a mountain of evidence to conclude Frank Meza is 100% guilty of cheating . It's incorrect to say posters on Letsrun dropped the ball. In fact we picked the ball up when no one else did. Thank you, Roderick, for bringing attention to his performance and a healthy dose of initial skepticism regarding potential cheating. It made people look for and provide even more evidence.

All of his racing times except for the trails are tainted. All of his age group record times should be vacated. In addition he should be banned from LAM and LBM where he's cheated the most.

Sorry if I said LR posters dropped the ball. The opposite is true. Much skill and enthusiasm was displayed. Sincerely..

Roderick Powell wrote:

Many are certainly locals, as am I. I will be in Long Beach.

Fairly sure if one of those locals wanted to bike the race and keep an eye on him the Race Director wouldn't be more than happy to allocate an official hi-vis-vest to do so, especially if made aware of this thread, I know I would if it was my race as I wouldn't want it tainted with cheating allegations

Never let them see you sweat! (Even under a long sleeve tech shirt)

Bike it. wrote:

Roderick Powell wrote:

Many are certainly locals, as am I. I will be in Long Beach.

Fairly sure if one of those locals wanted to bike the race and keep an eye on him the Race Director wouldn't be more than happy to allocate an official hi-vis-vest to do so, especially if made aware of this thread, I know I would if it was my race as I wouldn't want it tainted with cheating allegations

He won’t race again.

They all proclaim their innocence, but notice how none of them ever run again (Dave Reading, Young, Kip, M.R).

Frank Table wrote:

I am not sure if this has been mentioned, but the temperature at the 6:00 a.m. start time in Long Beach was 72 F.

Oh yeah, check out photos for most runners. Sweating like crazy before the sun even came out!

roderick, here's your evidence on phoenix. go to the links in the following picture sequence. in the first link, fm is seen with half marathon runner 3929, and in the background marathon runner 10405. runner 10405 is closing in on fm and looks to be passing him in this sequence. now, look at fm's results compared to those of runner 10405. runner 10405 ran 2:51:49. considering the marathon runners are passing the half marathon runners the photos are likely in the final mile or so of the race, as the full marathon runners have caught the half marathon runners, w/ the half marathon runners starting at the half way point of the full marathon and both the half and the full finishing together.

at the half way point, fm is 32 seconds behind 10405 and a full 1:09 behind 10405 at mile 20 (and, note, that 10405, negative split the race w/ a 1:26:08 and 1:25:41). there's no way that fm makes up 1:09 on runner 10405 between mile 20 and the finish, pulls ahead of runner 10405, only to be passed in the photos and then give up another two minutes to 10405 in final mile or so to the finish (fm's 2:53:54 vs. 10405's 2:51:49).

https://freephotos.finisherpix.com/photo/100460-100142-1005448918/10405/1

https://freephotos.finisherpix.com/photo/100460-100142-1005448919/10405/1

https://freephotos.finisherpix.com/photo/100460-100142-1005448922/10405/1

https://freephotos.finisherpix.com/photo/100460-100142-1005448928/10405/1

just another nail in that coffin. fm, come clean. you're a fraud. the loyola high school kids deserve better. not sure how you can call yourself a coach.

FYI, when FM is even with someone, he is usually quite a bit ahead of them in chip time because he usually starts so far back at the start. I don't know if you factored this in. (maybe no gun time to note) This would be additional time he lost in the last mile plus.

As one who is familiar with this area, I have to say that this is about as cheater-friendly as it gets, much more so than LAM.

https://thephoenixmarathon.com/plan-your-race/marathon/#full-course-map

Chip mats at 10k, half, and 20k. Just have your driver cruise along McKellips and University the entire time, hop into the car, hop back out.

it's only a matter of time wrote:

just another nail in that coffin. fm, come clean. you're a fraud. the loyola high school kids deserve better. not sure how you can call yourself a coach.

And don't forget The Three Banditos, you know, the ones that scammed the Pasadena charity half, medicos that worked for the same company that Frank used to work for, the one where Frank ran another effortless fantastic time, the one where he had time and energy to run back and pass his bib to one of the bandits to finish wearing (why?, who knows), the one where one of the bandits is also a coach at Loyola High. All great role models, but none greater than Frank.

Over and out.

He is out of here wrote:

He won’t race again.

They all proclaim their innocence, but notice how none of them ever run again (Dave Reading, Young, Kip, M.R).

He who must not be named did run again and attempted to cheat his way to a sub-20 5K to win $10K from the Brojos