Robert Young fakes run across America

Investigator wrote:

I remembered that running video they posted when we were doing like telephone pole math and whatever:

https://www.facebook.com/marathonmanuk/videos/1025192257565032/

He is huffing and puffing and it honestly looks like a tempo to half-marathon type effort.

The final numbers: 8 flat pace...

http://i.imgur.com/Kzk26n8.png

Overall, that segment (

) is a pretty good legit-run for him. 19.4 miles over 4h21m elapsed time with only about 35 minutes of non-moving time.

Which makes it a great example to contrast to his non-legit runs.

This one shows his classic run-walk style, constantly alternating between 8mph (running) and 4mph (walking), with his longest run under 2 miles as usual, and most runs around a half mile. The piece in video predictably highlights one of the "run" segments, which had been a walk just before the camera started, and returned to a walk just after the camera stopped. But that doesn't mean it was done just for the camera, as similar "run" stretches continue for the rest of the segment.

But it's not just the pacing that differentiates it from a 10-miles-straight-at-10mph RV ride. It's also the routing. In this one, he cuts across parking lots, grassy expressway interchanges, through back yards, over railroad tracks, taking any sort of short-cut possible. Just after the video stopped, they crossed to the other side of the road in order to cut the tangent and take the inner radius as the road curved.

This is exactly the kind of routing you would expect from someone trying to minimize mileage so much that they did that crazy mountain scramble on the first day. And it's the kind of routing that you *never* see when he's doing the 10mph runs. Then, he always sticks right on the road, even if there's an easy parking lot to let him cut a tangent.

Nice work

The evidence is just too much.

team1.kml wrote:

easy weeks wrote:

Someone mentioned when zooming in, Rob's actual run segments look predictably jagged and weaving, and when it is suspected that he is in the RV, the line is much straighter.

I know it would be laborious, but has anybody thought about making a map that highlights what segments appear to be run, and what segments appear to be in a vehicle based on whether the segments look jagged and weaving or not?

If anything, it would be a nice visual of what was going on in his mind in terms of where the cheating segments are bunched up over the whole route.

Happy to do that. Want to help transcribe all the strava segments and flag the ones that are suspicious? Check out

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DtGrPEckX8y-2-zAFwUgzqCo4HYwUctZNOKDLbYD4Vk/edit#gid=872318856

I "finished" matching the TomTom screenshots to the tracker data.

There are some that overlap. Apparently there are multiple reasons including time zone errors, concurrent bike segments, and concurrent RV segments. I will continue working on sorting it all out, but I figured some other people might find the current data helpful. The source I used only had the tracker data through June 9th, but I think we have the later data if anyone wants to add that. I think it would be interesting to add the strava data to this, and I might get to that some day if someone doesn't do it first. I also plan on adding a column to show rest time between runs.

I had to estimate timezone changes, so feel free to double check me on those.

If you make any changes to the doc, you might want to keep a backup version. I will keep a backup of the original.

All you sleuths have made your point. Clearly this guy was faking his run across America. What point are you guys now trying to make by continuing this obsessive thread?

Point Made wrote:

All you sleuths have made your point. Clearly this guy was faking his run across America. What point are you guys now trying to make by continuing this obsessive thread?

Why are you still reading?

Watcher of videos wrote:

Ah, this is actually the one with the 3:34 GAP mile. It's uploaded now as a 'race' so shown in elapsed time rather than moving time. Mile 11 drops to a 6:14 mile, and 3:38 GAP.

This is outstanding! It looks just like the original. I remember that section, and the fact that they backtracked a little afterwards. I'm guessing they had a semi behind them blaring their horn or something. Lots of cross-country traffic in I-40.

There's a reason they deleted that one.

I've been linking team1.kml timestamps with the timestamp-less gpx data that I downloaded from Joanna and RY before they were removed. Coming soon...

Looking back to when Rob did his "RECORD BREAKING NO SLEEP" run I found this interesting post on his FB page

https://www.facebook.com/marathonmanuk/posts/843337205750539

What's interesting is that the first 7 Crew teams which appear to cover the first 280 miles all seem a little vague with first names only. It's only when you get to Crew 8 onwards that there are full names given and these are the only sections which Rob needed volunteers for according to the post.

So either Rob just happened to have already sorted out the first 7 crews and didn't feel the need to give their surnames as they are all such good friends,

or they are made up like most other things in Robs life.

The initial set of FB updates regarding the run are all very short and far between and look decidedly fake, it also appears that Ray dumped Stacey and got a new wife called Claire for crew 6!

https://www.facebook.com/marathonmanuk/posts/848001408617452

If you were going to try and fake a run like this and you could only see yourself running a max of 100 miles then you might as well get as many witnesses as you can for that 100 miles after faking the first 270!

Not Only Running wrote:

Not Only Running wrote:

If you think that only running brings out the fakes you'd be wrong. Here's an article about an Indian couple who 'summited' Mt. Everest with faked data, deleted FB posts, etc.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/indian-couple-accused-of-faking-widely-praised-everest-climb-20160629-gpv1e4.html

And the case against them.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/andreborges/the-first-indian-couple-to-climb-mount-everest-is-allegedly?utm_term=.do7Yp3PWk#.myJQzpRPV

Buzzfeed seems like the likely type of reporting source that would lap this up.

team1.kml wrote:

Not Only Running wrote:

And the case against them.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/andreborges/the-first-indian-couple-to-climb-mount-everest-is-allegedly?utm_term=.do7Yp3PWk#.myJQzpRPV

Buzzfeed seems like the likely type of reporting source that would lap this up.

So they will lap up the RY fake too.

team1.kml wrote:

Watcher of videos wrote:

Ah, this is actually the one with the 3:34 GAP mile. It's uploaded now as a 'race' so shown in elapsed time rather than moving time. Mile 11 drops to a 6:14 mile, and 3:38 GAP.

This is outstanding! It looks just like the original. I remember that section, and the fact that they backtracked a little afterwards. I'm guessing they had a semi behind them blaring their horn or something. Lots of cross-country traffic in I-40.

There's a reason they deleted that one.

I've been linking team1.kml timestamps with the timestamp-less gpx data that I downloaded from Joanna and RY before they were removed. Coming soon...

Damn! Take a look at Google streeview for that fast section - it's two lanes coming down to one. The footage was taken last year and it looks temporary, but we all know how long construction projects can last so maybe it was still there? They got forced into one lane, were being honked at, had to speed up, and the spot that they regroup and backtrack a little is actually right where the lane opens up again!

Quite the observation. I'll bet there are no Matt, Smon, Sarah, Toby, Mel, Chris, or Dan. Unless Matt is Matt Lonsdale or Matt Tonks? No other possible repeats here.

nice!

To me this is the biggest smoking gun in the thread. I really don't know what information we could find that would be better, (other than a longer and faster run.)

We have a lot of info at the micro and macro level that proves the running was impossible for Rob to accomplish. Long runs at 10+ mph, 34:45 10k at 8000ft, 300+mpw at sub 7, etc, etc. We know it's proof, but the fans keep saying, "you're just jealous cause you aren't that fast, it's downhill, he took breaks".

I guess it's because they believed Rob to be some kind of distance prodigy, they see each run is humanly possible, and they don't grasp how absurd those performances are collectively. So we are left trying to prove that Rob is actually just a 17min 5k guy who can't sustain that pace.

This run though, is impossible for everyone. It needs no explanation or analysis. The only drawback is proving that it can from Rob's GPS.

Good spot!

Maybe he just has a 3x6 hole in the bottom of the RV so he can run on the road while safely protected by the RV.

Hiro wrote:

I wrote an executive summary, you can find it here:

http://ryinvestigation.blogspot.com/p/a-summary-of-major-pieces-of-evidence.html

It ended up being longer than I originally planned, but I think it is a good introduction to everything that has been uncovered in the investigation. I tried to write it in a way that would be accessible to non-runners. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Even as someone who has been following this thread from day 1 this was very hard to compile. It simply isn't possible to sort through this thread, and the google doc doesn't have a lot of context in it. Without more high level, easy to understand material, our accusations won't get much traction.

Excellent summary! This would be a great piece to send to a journalist.

However, it might be better to find a flatter 100 miler than western states to compare the ridiculousness of RYs pace. One could argue "Of course the mean pace for WS is just 8:51, it climbs over 18,000 feet".

Consider the Western States 100, a well established 100 mile ultra marathon that takes place out west. The course record, 14:46, translates to an average pace of 8:51 min/mile. This is the course record. That means that the fastest time that any of the multitudes of elite, well rested, ultra-marathoners could manage was almost 9 minutes per mile.

I was just checking in to see what you all were still talking about. The guy cheated. You proved it a couple thousand pages ago. What now is the point of all this?

hates being honked at wrote:

Investigator wrote:

Damn! Take a look at Google streeview for that fast section - it's two lanes coming down to one. The footage was taken last year and it looks temporary, but we all know how long construction projects can last so maybe it was still there? They got forced into one lane, were being honked at, had to speed up, and the spot that they regroup and backtrack a little is actually right where the lane opens up again!

nice!

Yup. Don't know how it exactly compares to the 2015 Google imagery but according to AZ DOT there are lane closures there:

DMulvee wrote:

A 400m effort in 46s?!?

Michael Johnson, Paavo Nurmi, Lasse Virén... they are all being outshone by this remarkable Robert Young.