Robert Young fakes run across America

Blimey Gary. Never heard that happen before. Being subpoenaed for your opinions on a guy you've never met who is currently 8000 miles away from you.

I have met the guy once. I gave him the buckle for finishing the NDW100 in just under 24 hours. Not a special time but not bad and apparently he had already run a marathon before the start of that race and was off to do another one. His recorded time for the latter is 6 hours or something. This was while he was doing that marathon every day thing. I had no reason to doubt and I didn't. But it's not like I thought about him all the time anyway.

Then there was the "longest run without sleep" or whatever run. I had doubts about this, mainly because there was no definition as to what he was actually doing. Also at this point I thought "RY seems like an incredible athlete, what a shame he is going in for all that "WORLD RECORD!!!!" and "most consecutive yada yada by a left-handed blonde guy with asthma" bullshit instead of just doing some races fast and competing.

You could say he was the UK's Dean K. Shunning competition to do silly stunts.

The Mark Vaz thing came along and RY was very vocal about this being bullshit, as it was. Simple physics. No one that shape could run what is close to a world record 6-day 10-day kind of race in a puffa jacket.

RY said he was going for the Trans AM record. I believed he was capable of this. Mostly because I think this record is soft. The JOGLE 9 days or the Appalacian trail or the Bob Graham or Nolans 14, these are records that are beyond any normal man. It would take a world class athlete to get these broken.

2900 miles in 46 days on pretty decent highway? What's that, just over 100k a day. Hell I reckon I could have a stab at that. I was doing about 70k a day when I did it. If I could run at night, had an RV and people waiting on me and lost a bit of flab and spend less time writing shit on the internet I could probably find that 30k each day.

This record will be broken by someone with the cash to do it. It's not got to the stage yet where you need to be Scott Jurek.

Anyhoo, clearly RY was not providing the data needed to satisfy anyone that he was doing it. But I did not take this as "definite cheating". I am now in a position where I do not believe he has done what he has done but also can't quite believe he has cheated. It would be so brazen.

So right now I am happily in a Schrodinger state of uncertainty where I think he has neither done it nor he hasn't. The box is not open yet. I know there are videos of RV's and stravas and such. I could dig into all this and make my mind up.

However I am not, mainly because of one thing.

I just don't give enough of a f**k.

I don't believe the actions of one person doing bad things needs to harm "our sport". Let's face it, "our sport" is basically a bunch of middle aged men schlumping around fields all day stuffing our face with sausage rolls and then blogging about it. Why does that have to be affected.

Right, that's me done. I'm off to the URC now. Someone just posted "I'm a bit nervous about my first ultra, any advice on steadying the nerves" and I need to call them a f**ktard before anyone else gets in with a proper answer.

Hi guys,

I've been busy - so I haven't been following. What time should I head to Times Square to see Rob finish?

No that's not what I said and you know it. Stop twisting my words to suit your own narrative.

And you're calling into question my integrity and you're hiding behind an ever changing username? Says a lot for you that you're someone who insults someone while hiding behind anonymity but you don't have the courage to stand behind your own words.

The URC,and I, handled the thread the way the way we thought best for our community. You don't agree fine but if you're going to insult me then have the courage to do it under your own name and not hide behind internet anonymity.

Oh and while I'm here, destroying our sport? Do me a favour, RY isn't even a footnote in the history of this sport. He's a pimple, he's destroyed nothing and to think he has is ridiculous.

Hiro wrote:

I'm writing a summary for the investigators, something with better sourcing and more context than the google doc. I still have a few questions.

1. Can someone give me (or link to) a good explanation of how the tracker worked? My understanding was that it saved their position every 12 minutes. After it was taken down it merely showed their most recent position, but did not save it? (1b) We confirmed that it was the tracking company, not Rob's team that took it down?

2. Did we get any resolution on the make and model of his watches? This would ideally be an image I could link to. Can we tell for sure that they record cadence and/or heart rate?

Good idea. I was about 1/2 way through writing up a "condensed version" of the google doc, but ran out of time. The doc has some duplicate info, some stuff that was relevant at first but doesn't mean much now. A lot of the links to a verbal "analysis" on the lrc forum is kinda useless now that we have so much data. To a newcomer it's a jumbled mess with no context.

1. The tracker continually moved on the map, providing real time location. It saved his location at ~12 minute intervals and put a pin on the map. (12min +/- 10sec was typical, but it did vary).

I recall a post saying the tracking company pulled the saved locations "because it was slowing down the website". The trackers current location remained up. I don't know that the post had a verifiable source for why the data was pulled, I think just an "i got an email from them" or something.

The last saved tracker point was at 6/9/2016 10:19:40 (eastern), which should help you narrow down where to look for the post if you want.

On 6/11/2016 10:53:00, someone started recording it's location at 3min intervals. We have that info to the end.

2. The tomtom watches are the Runner 2 (aka Spark). .

James Adams wrote:

Anyhoo, clearly RY was not providing the data needed to satisfy anyone that he was doing it. But I did not take this as "definite cheating". I am now in a position where I do not believe he has done what he has done but also can't quite believe he has cheated. It would be so brazen.

So right now I am happily in a Schrodinger state of uncertainty where I think he has neither done it nor he hasn't. The box is not open yet. I know there are videos of RV's and stravas and such. I could dig into all this and make my mind up.

However I am not, mainly because of one thing. I just don't give enough of a f**k.

Seriously? You claim to log some high mileage days and you don't know if he cheated? You think these legs are authentic in the midst of 70 or 80 mile days?

Uphill. The first 13.7 covered in 1:28 (6:25/mile pace), including one mile in 5:00 flat and 2 miles in 10:32? In the midst of 70 and 80 mile days?

First 4 miles uphill in 5:26, 5:27, 5:30, 5:35 so that he covered 8.1 in 46:15 (5:40/mile pace)? In the midst of 70 and 80 mile days?

Look at the elevation. He covered the last 5K uphill from 6750' to 7240' in 21:00 at the end of a 13.0 mile run in the midst of 70 and 80 mile days?

He covered 25.6 in 2:26:21 (5:42 pace, basically a 2:30 marathon) with the opening 6 miles going uphill from 8500' to 9400' in 6:01, 5:47, 6:00, 6:01, 6:14, 6:29? In the midst of 70 and 80 mile days?

Seriously?

Why do these runs have titles like "Run along Hwy 89 for 3 miles, then riding in the RV" and "Riding in the RV through Goffs"?

Is this his strava? Or someone elses?

If he said he actually ran these segments I would call bullshit. But I have no idea what he has said yet.

And to be honest I'm not really listening that much.

While I appreciate that you don't give enough of a f**k to look into Rob's data, what is preventing you from believing the summaries by people who actually have dug into it?

In order from general to specific:

-Half of his miles ran at well under 4:00/km pace, and a significant amount as fast as 3:20/km

-130km in a day with 80 of them averaging about 3:45/km pace.

-2:40 marathon in the middle of a 115km day at altitude.

-Multiple 34-35min 10ks at 2700m altitude

-A 3:44 mile with an 800m split in 1:35, uphill.

There's your summary, do you believe me?

James Adams wrote:

Why do these runs have titles like "Run along Hwy 89 for 3 miles, then riding in the RV" and "Riding in the RV through Goffs"?

Is this his strava? Or someone elses?

If he said he actually ran these segments I would call bullshit. But I have no idea what he has said yet.

And to be honest I'm not really listening that much.

So you haven't read the thread, but are coming on here to suggest maybe he is legit? 100% of people who have read and help expose this cheater on this thread know he is guilty. He seems to have some fans who claim not to have looked at the evidence but because they once ran with him, feel he must be legit. It seems as though people are posting on LetsRun to suggest there is a chance he could be legit, so that he can continue his cheating ways.

James Adams wrote:

Why do these runs have titles like "Run along Hwy 89 for 3 miles, then riding in the RV" and "Riding in the RV through Goffs"?

Is this his strava? Or someone elses?

If he said he actually ran these segments I would call bullshit. But I have no idea what he has said yet.

And to be honest I'm not really listening that much.

Those are our backups loaded onto a dummy account, in case he deletes them.

here are those two runs on Rob's personal account. Which he is claiming as runs.

I don't think he is legit. But I'm not ready to hang him yet. There is something too weird about the whole thing for me to 100% support the conclusion that he just rode in an RV most of the time.

Admittedly that does seem to fit the facts better than any other explanation.

But like I said I personally am not yet ready to pass sentence.

Which is why I've not really said much about it. And what would one more voice add? I wasn't there, I have no new information on the matter to add to the argument so what's the point in me getting too vocal about it? Others were already doing this well enough.

I am not "supporting" him. I've not denounced those calling him a cheat. I have in fact responded to some of the blind followers (though they may be fake profiles).

I just think there is more to this than a bloke riding an RV across the states.

doubler wrote:

Keila's RV got stuck in the desert.

https://www.facebook.com/keilarunsamerica/?fref=ts

So she only logged 12 miles. The contrast between this effort (legit) and Rob's is quite interesting.

Thanks for the update. I'll have to start checking face book too. Her route on the tracker this morning was very odd - she slowed to a walk (3mph) and then a crawl (1mph) before back-tracking to a McDonald's in Blythe. I was fearing the worst so glad to hear it wasn't injury or illness that side-lined her.

I get what you're saying. You can doubt the method of cheating if you want, but there's really no reason to reserve judgment on the fact that he did cheat. The box has been opened, a whole lot of people looked inside, and all saw a dead cat, even showed you pieces of it.

I'm no stunt runner....get back to your bingo b itch

Really cant be arsed with reading long essays from you.

This is a FORUM and we use HANDLES, okay? This isnt twitter or facebook. No one cares what your name is, we are replying to comments not names, its YOU going on and on about names, like Lindley.

I responded using my real name in URC and you or your moronic admins locked the thread, so i lost interest and came here instead, where a full indepth investigation has been taking place.

People like YOU are the reason why Americans in here take the piss out of uk ultra runners. You are a dick, too serious, and too precious, same as Lindley. Though he has always written great posts about RY while YOU defended him. Your posts in the locked thread showed you defending him by refusing to allow comments against him. Get over yourself, you make uk look stupid, and so do many others in URC.

DMulvee wrote:

I have never been on an ultrarunning thread but when you state:

"I think you'll find it difficult to find either me or any of the other admins giving a personal opinion."

Why? As someone who has an interest in the sport, surely you have the duty and responsibility to maintain the integrity?

If you saw a world class athlete taking illegal drugs you would have a duty to speak out about that, I don't see any difference here. By refusing to criticise someone who has a high profile, when many are attacking them then you give the illusion of condoning their activities. When this is added to you deleting other comments, then it is easy to see how you could come across as a supporter.

Yes. In that group you may only express an opinion that agrees with the admins or is seen as "cool". A newbie is laughed at and RY was defended, because refusing to allow most people to comment against him is indeed supporting him

You called out Vaz as it was brits that outed him and you enjoyed yourself.

You defend RY (by refusing most comments against him) because it was THIS forum that outed him.

You allow newbies to be personally attacked but not RY.

Dont try and make out URC is some nice place where everyone is sweet and kind to each other because its not. If a newbie isnt in your click they are laughed out of the place as you seem to think you are so cool and anyone not in the click is hounded out

How difficult is it for you to understand that personal insults and attacks weren't allowed?

Though you seem to see that as some kind of defence of RY it was simply trying to keep a thread on topic rather than a slagging match which it was in danger of becoming.

And yes, quite clearly I do understand the use of 'handles' rather than names on a forum. But I was brought up with the idea that if you were willing to insult someone and call them names you had the courage to do it to their face or at least so they knew who you are/were.

So feel free to consider me a dick, in return I'll consider you a coward who hides behind a false name.

UKultra wrote:

Gary Dalton wrote:

I absolutely do care about our sport and when the Mark Vaz episode occurred in the UK I was very vocal about it, even to the extent I wrote about it before any of the UK press caught up to it. That resulted in me getting my fingers burned with the threat of being personally sued.

So because you were afraid of being sued, you kept silent when Rob was destroying our sport?

You know, Gary, truth is an absolute defence: "a person cannot be made to pay damages for a defamatory statement, if the person can show that the statement is true".

The way URC has handled the Rob Young fiasco shows that you have very little integrity.

SPOT. ON.

Yes gary, how the hell could vaz have sued you when we knew without question he was lying? He couldnt, and neither could RY as he would have to prove you were lying if you fully exposed him, and he couldnt

Sigh. I'm Irish. Born and bred. If you think I have a national bandwagon to jump on because of my nationality let me assure you you're wrong.

I genuinely didn't even know RY was attempting Transcon until the whole thing blew up over here and upon checking out THIS thread we, the admin team, were surprised at the amount of vitriol it had already engendered. WE agreed that we would try to contain the discussion in one thread as we didn't want it swamping the fb forum, as you know it's not like a forum here where you can see the main board and all the topics, you need to scroll down and if you have a dozen RY threads then nothing else gets seen.

We also agreed to stop personal comments and attacks, both by poster on RY but also poster on poster. And yes we did delete comments but as far as I'm aware I never defended RY as being genuine. Not to my knowledge anyway. My personal view is that he cheated.