Robert Young fakes run across America

silly question wrote:

I suggest these posted to a brand new strava account to avoid confusion with existing data.

As someone suggested, once these are posted, we can crowd-source the actual start times of these. It wouldn't be too much work to add the closest matching tracker endpoint to these records.

I've uploaded all the previously un-timestamped Joanna Hanasz activities to a brand new Strava account here:

Strava was refusing to accept uploads of some of them to the previous Rob Arvie account as the were considered duplicates of existing activities, which would be expected if the timestamps were roughly correct.

For the start times of each activity, I had a script that looked at the first lat/lon in the activity file, and then found the closest point in the team1.kml and locations.js data from the OpenTracker. If there were multiple close points of the same distance, it picked the last point ( so, if the RV stops for a while, we should have the time from when it started moving ).

So, the start times should be 'correct' to within 12 minutes, but maybe more if the RV or Rob started off on their own. I'll take a walk though and maybe adjust a couple if I find an obvious overlap with one of the ones we have 'genuine' timestamps for.

Interesting how Strava was automatically converting so many of these into 'Rides' when uploading, despite the default being 'Run'

Yea the other possibility is that the delay means that Fuller now realizes that this is a total mess and that Rob clearly cheated. They may be trying to untangle the lies and they're skipping the "independent investigation." Rob and Dustin have probably gone on holiday to monitor Facebook and are tough to talk to.

Or not. I think Fuller hopes that this just goes away. Unfortunately Kip Litton now has a better chance at hawking his dental services than Skins does at convincing runners to buy their overpriced compression gear. Laz's Van Husen shirts would sell better.

Here is a treat from Micael Speicher:

Michael Speicher ‏@SwissSpike 12 Oct 2015 Steinhausen, Schweiz

Met the CEO of my company for the first time today and he called me a "*ucking cun*t", this is gonna be a fun time!

I had to edit the Speicher's tweet because even anti PC LetsRun won't allow that word to be posted.

Here is the latest update from Jaimie Fuller's blog:

http://watercooler.skins.net/2016/07/01/investigation-into-rob-young-run/

INVESTIGATION INTO ROB YOUNG RUN

1 July 2016Comments 0

"I am happy to announce the appointment of two independent experts to look at the issues that have arisen related to Rob Young’s attempt at the Trans-America run.

They are Professor Roger Pielke Jr of the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA, and Professor Ross Tucker at the University of the Free State, South Africa. You can find out more about each of them here or via their respective blogs or websites.

As I said in my previous blog post, I want to get to the bottom of this. I do not come into the investigation with any pre-determined outcomes.

If Rob Young did the wrong thing – by the running community, SKINS and, ultimately, himself – then there will be consequences. If there are lessons to be learned, SKINS will learn them. If the claims made against Rob are not accurate, then we will know this too.

It is integral to SKINS as a brand, and me as an individual, that we uphold and promote the true spirit of competition. I’ve written many times about how this is not just a tag line or marketing message. It is who we are. It shapes what we do.

The allegations raised against Rob Young are serious and, if proven, go against everything we stand for.

What happens next is in the hands of Professors Pielke and Tucker. They will be conducting their investigation from now until the end of August. SKINS will publish their report and our response to it, including any action we take, by the end of September.

SKINS’ statement on the Pielke/Tucker investigation is here. You can also find links to the Terms of Reference for the investigation, along with the Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement from each of the investigators, and a copy of the contract between Rob Young and SKINS with commercially sensitive parts redacted.

You are invited to get in contact with Roger Pielke Jr or Ross Tucker and provide any information you wish as soon as possible as set out in the Terms of Reference. The central email to which they both have access is:

submission@skins.net

. Please feel free to contribute.:"

Do any of you know these professors?

Tucker is well known here the other guy a bit less so - use the Search function button at top of page. There is a Pielke snr who is a climatologist, can only see one ref to jr.

Jaime Fuller found his experts! Should we sent them our findings?

Hooray for Skins! wrote:

Jaime Fuller found his experts! Should we sent them our findings?

Rob Young has agreed to be interviewed and offer his TomTom account, huh... Should be interesting...

I emailed that address.

"Dear Sirs,

I understand Rob Young has committed to offering access to the actual TomTom files. Just in case that doesn't work out, you may or may not be aware of a large crowdsourced data collection and analysis effort already underway, based on lesser quality data sources such as his RV tracker and Strava account.

No doubt you will conduct your own analysis, but I hope the following references and data sources may be of use to you. I urge you to consider them carefully along with your independent findings, as internet users have already made several uncanny observations and analyses:

(I am the author)

(document produced jointly by LetsRun.com forum posters)

Thank you,

xxx"

Are these guys any good? Most professors I know, if they're over like 40, probably couldn't upload to Strava if their life depended on it...

Wow, seems good so far. The only thing I don't like is that the interviews are going to be conducted by email. Oh well. I was sure Skins would blow this off after their initial PR statement.

Ross Tucker is the genuine article I believe. I've read stuff from him before, he's a sports scientist in the real sense. As such I think it would be good to include the quote from the doc on the previous Rob Young tests. His finding that Rob had the VO2 max of a 3:30 marathon runner is probably the clearest proof that he cannot have run these segments. Without that data he can always claim to have been taking races easily.

These guys are both solid and can easily grasp the tech if they want to. My guess is that they're so busy that they won't dig deep into the data. There are so many glaring holes in Rob's story that these guys will do the interviews, look at the evidence we've compiled, have a good laugh, and write up their findings.

Tucker and Pielke are the real deal. They do great work. I suspect they did not come cheap. It's an indication that Fuller sees this issue as a serious threat to his brand.

Their duty (as spelled out in the contract) is to: "determine a clear independent finding, on the balance of probabilities, whether there is sufficient evidence or not to reasonably find that Rob Young received any unauthorised assistance in the Attempt to break the record for running across the USA ("the Finding")."

Great job to everyone here who has documented malfeasance and kept up the pressure on SKINS. Please email your findings to Tucker and Pielke (especially the data RY deleted after uploading) using your real name.

You guys are awesome!

Bad news for Rob wrote:

Tucker and Pielke are the real deal. They do great work. I suspect they did not come cheap. It's an indication that Fuller sees this issue as a serious threat to his brand.

Their duty (as spelled out in the contract) is to: "determine a clear independent finding, on the balance of probabilities, whether there is sufficient evidence or not to reasonably find that Rob Young received any unauthorised assistance in the Attempt to break the record for running across the USA ("the Finding")."

Great job to everyone here who has documented malfeasance and kept up the pressure on SKINS. Please email your findings to Tucker and Pielke (especially the data RY deleted after uploading) using your real name.

You guys are awesome!

+1, this thread is epic and you guys have done a brilliant job. I don't see how these professors can reach any other conclusion than the logical one.

Bad news for Rob wrote:

Please email your findings to Tucker and Pielke (especially the data RY deleted after uploading) using your real name.

This. Always use your real name, otherwise they won't take the evidence into account and classify it as trolling.

Maybe we should coordinate our contacts with Tucker and Pielke, in stead of overloading them with emails and evidence?

Surprised so many of you are asking who is Ross Tucker.

http://sportsscientists.com/

http://sportsscientists.com/who-are-we/

The Science of Sport, you couldn't get better.

I took a look at RY's KOMs on Strava and noticed this run. Sorry if you've covered this before...

https://www.strava.com/activities/617268918/overview

(Firstly, its a bit odd that he has the course record for a segment during this run, but is one of only two people to ever run the segment, the other one being the other Rob Young account. Weird but not suspicious.)

This run is a classic example of erratic walk/run pace and zig-zag across the road, quickly switching to much faster pace and a smooth GPS line. Those speed point changes are matched by the GPS track showing a little swirl, that others have suggested is RY entering or leaving the van. This is up a pretty steep elevation too.

2.4km - he gets into the van

9.3km - he gets into the van again

Oh and guess what, this is from the evening of 18th May, the day they got stuck in the sand...

runnerrachel wrote:

+1, this thread is epic and you guys have done a brilliant job. I don't see how these professors can reach any other conclusion than the logical one.

Hookers and a bit of money.

Oh ye of little faith. Unlike Rob's followers.

Congrats to every truth searcher in this thread. It's going the right way. But don't lay down in the RV and expect you'll be at your destination by the end of August. Keep up the pressure. Don't look at SKINS or the professors as your friends and saviors. Treat them as your adversaries until the report is on the table and the right action has been taken. You would be amazed if you knew how little some professors know about analyzing real data. It's likely that they will have a student to look at the data and present the results to them. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it introduces more uncertainty into the process.

Don't let the guard down! Let the professors know that THEIR reputation is also on stake.

SheriffJohnStone wrote:

This run is a classic example of erratic walk/run pace and zig-zag across the road, quickly switching to much faster pace and a smooth GPS line.

A quick clarification - the zig-zag'ing you see on GPS tracks from run/walks are mainly caused by the fact that with the watch worn on your wrist, the accuracy of the gps signal varies as your arm swings back and forth. The zig-zag is seen regardless of the pace of the run.

With the GPS watch stationary within a moving vehicle, or even on the wrist of a moving cyclist, the accuracy of the GPS signal is more consistent, and so the straighter line. You can even see this effect by placing your watch flat on your head under a cap.