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

Many asked why runners would start in the back in that thread and I explained the easy answer (think like a cheater).

If you start near the back you'll never see those people when the race is over, they're still running.

If you start near the front and obviously can't maintain pace the whole way, many at that pace will remember you when you drop off and will know 100% that you never passed them again. But...cheaters suddenly show up in front of runners late in the race who never saw them from very early in the race till that point. They simply deny and claim that they were ahead of them.

Many think these people are "smart"...they aren't. Wear sunglasses and a hat and have on nothing flashy. Don't talk with other runners during the race, ever. If someone sees you veer off, play the potty break role.

When questioned, deny, deny, deny. Think Rob Sloan who allegedly ended up finally confessing. When his GPS watch showed him running 35 mph, the speed of a bus, he said that a GPS won't work on a bus to which the interviewer said you could have had it near the window.

People on the bus saw him with his tattoo down his calf. His answer, "It wasn't me".

Cheaters are only cheating themselves and always have an excuse. Don't let them consume your life, they're miserable inside and crave there own self-fabricated attention. In the end, they'll always know what they did and anyone who understands racing and splits does too.

Google Oscar Miranda. Does anyone actually think he ran 2:16 out of the blue and then decided to not race anymore? Cheaters will always be cheaters.

Course (bad dictionary)

Almost looks like they simply switched bibs.

Unless Jesseriley is right and you are the man himself... We've pretty much ruled out the switch bibs scenario so why would you bring that up?. It would appear to be more like classic Kip course cutting with bikes or other means based on the photos and discrepancies between adjacent runners.

What gets me is the DQs at CIM followed by what appears to be escalation and increasing brazenness and refinement.

jesseriley, I'm also half thinking some of the comments challenging from some of the posters here are from the man himself. Particularly those from "Mark's thoughts". At first glance, the LA mats looked legit. Mark's thoughts said "what about the mats at LA". This prompted LRC to dig deeper into the photos. "Mark" disappeared after that.

pure speculational wrote:

jesseriley, I'm also half thinking some of the comments challenging from some of the posters here are from the man himself. Particularly those from "Mark's thoughts". At first glance, the LA mats looked legit. Mark's thoughts said "what about the mats at LA". This prompted LRC to dig deeper into the photos. "Mark" disappeared after that.

google mark matusak frank meza

I can assure you I am not Frank Meza. I have too finds indisputable proof as well. Not as hard, or with such resourcefulness as some. You see, FM has to succeed every time out. Especially now that he has the two fastest 70 and up times ever. This is much more serious because of that. He has already won. I have yet to see a posting that proves he cheated. Since his times are not record eligible because both courses were not record eligible, that is not an issue. However, I think he has been top 3 masters runners at least once.. Not sure if their was money for that. He finished 3rd at Santa Clarita in 2017. Would most likely have got 2cd this year if he had run it. Placement money? Cheating and taking money away from others would raise the stakes. My humble opinion, Gene Dykes is the new Ed Whitlock, as someone posted.

Go ahead, pick on the grammar error in the 2cd sentence. It happens. Was supposed to be sort of "I tried to find proof" too.

Roderick Powell wrote:

Go ahead, pick on the grammar error in the 2cd sentence. It happens. Was supposed to be sort of "I tried to find proof" too.

I know what you're saying. It is all circumstantial evidence. and... You're looking for direct evidence.

Here's an analogy. DNA evidence is actually circumstantial evidence, and it is very well accepted.

So I'll accept Derek's findings even if it's based on photos and timing discrepancies. It makes a powerful inference. Photos and timing mats are almost the DNA of road running integrity. We don't need video of runners cycling down a side street.

I think you've upset Rod. ?

Not at all.

Rod, with all due respect, I do not understand your position. Your contributions here contradict each other.

To put it bluntly: When somebody runs times that give the impression that these results are the world's best in the age group, then all runners in the world are interested. The question is legitimate, if the results are clean. Should it be cheating, I'm not interested in whether someone has doped or has cheated in another way. It is cheating. It needs to be investigated.

Good news!! wrote:

Rod, with all due respect, I do not understand your position. Your contributions here contradict each other.

I had assumed that someone had registered a similar looking ID and was trolling Rod given the fact that you can never tell from post to post what his position is.

Can you imagine if there was a picture of the guy who can't be named reentering the Via course and photographs with other runners, when compared with mat times near the photo sites, that demonstrate he could not have run the pace which resulted in the BQ finishing time? (I understand that the lack of mid-race photos was part of the case against the guy who can't be named and Via did not have any mid-race timing mats.)

ExpertKipWatcher wrote:

Good news!! wrote:

Rod, with all due respect, I do not understand your position. Your contributions here contradict each other.

I had assumed that someone had registered a similar looking ID and was trolling Rod given the fact that you can never tell from post to post what his position is.

I think the same thing. Apparently an upper case I is identical to a lower case L in the font used for posting usernames so his surname could be spelled four different ways yet look identical when displayed on this page.

My position has evolved with the bombardment of relevant new information. I am strongly inclined to agree with the critics of Frank Meza's legitamacy. If the marathon guru wants to watch the video cam on the 3 presented by how world record breakers do it....that should be a good start. If that does'nt look like a man doing something shady, then what does it take?

Page 3 ktla video cam around 42 or 43 minutes into it.

Roderick here (cellphone). What could Frank Meza be doing. Figure that out and perhaps game over. What could possibly be so important with less than 5 minutes to the finish line. Who would give up this much time and energy, while completing a world class performance. How often do you get a video of an accused cheater, perhaps caught right in the act. Watching FM, factoring in our suspicions, this is actually quite funny. Gotta give it to FM, he is brazen..

roderick, i feel for you. you want to believe, but, the facts don't lie. he's a cheat. i don't hedge my words, as there is no need to in this case. for what it's worth, you shouldn't either. you should accept that he's a cheat, but, more importantly, take pride in whatever legitimate racing you're doing. the unfortunate thing, just like you, there's a group of high school kids and alums that believed, and they too, need to ground themselves in reality and call a spade a spade.

You are right I want to believe. If you do not see where I am coming from now. I am as skeptical as most posters on this thread. If I was to speak with Frank Meza...I would tell him there are a lot of people who do not believe you ran these times without cheating...and a lot of strange things that arouse suspicion. (explain to him them all) Especially the starting behind a virtually inpenetrable wall of runners barely moving and not moving out of the way. Get his reaction. Ask him point blank, "are you cheating"? Challenge him to prove me wrong....... Because why would I not want to believe? I liked the idea of having a role model. Through this thread, I have found the best role model. Gene Dykes, a super person, and a super runner.

Roderick Powell wrote:

If I was to speak with Frank Meza...I would tell him there are a lot of people who do not believe you ran these times without cheating...and a lot of strange things that arouse suspicion. (explain to him them all)

FFS, just contact him instead of endlessly rabbiting on about it here, the LR sleuths and truth seekers have done the work and gathered the evidence so go ahead and ask your questions, there's plenty of email/phone contacts for him, but then again you know that.

So just do it, if not, only come on here when you've got something concrete to contribute as you're becoming the Ken of that other cheaters thread whose name we're not allowed to mention.