Well after many years of support for Rob I have thrown in the towel.
I have apologised to the Ultra Running Community and now I am taking the time to apologise to the Lets Run Forum.
I apologise - I got it wrong - you were right
To save you posting links to the Ultra community I have included the copy written there.
I must say I have enjoyed some of your posts, they often are well written, thought out and hilarious at times, even those at my expense have been funny.
Some haven't been so nice and I get that. Some people have taken time to attack me privately and whilst this might seem like "fun" for you it certainly isn't for me.
I have now moved on from all this and this will be my final post. I won't be reading any replies so don't waste your energy just bask in your glory.
I would ask you to respect my apology and the fact that I have not hidden away from anything. I have gained nothing but shit for my support of Rob.
I won't be supporting him anymore and have told him this privately and now publicly.
as Vinnie says in Lock Stock - "it's been emotional"
This is what I posted on the URC
"My sincere apology to this community
I apologise for believing in Rob Young and for arguing for his case against many of you in this community. I based my belief on his ability in what I have seen when running with him and on his words to me on many occasions.
To many this was blind loyalty and plainly stupid as I was supposedly blinkered to the possibility of this all being a sham.
In my mind this is totally incorrect. Yes I had loyalty, I had belief and I had the notion that you back your mates, no matter what happens. But in recent weeks Rob’s behaviour and attitude has affectively removed all of this. I have had my doubts for a long time but prefer to act on hard evidence.
I realise I am contradicting myself here as I don’t have hard evidence that Rob has cheated, I don’t think anyone has. However his recent interactions with myself and others has effectively written off any belief I had in him.
Rob has a tendency to provide data that suits him and avoid hard questions not only from his doubters but also his long term supporters. I have asked many hard questions in recent weeks and gave him until yesterday to provide me with answers to my questions. This has not happened to my satisfaction hence my apology to this community and cessation of my support towards him.
I left the community recently after getting terrible personal messages from a variety of truly disgusting people. I felt that adding any further fuel to the raging fire would make matters worse for me. I also stopped posting anything on Letsrun for the same reason.
I recently rejoined as I hoped things had calmed down now the attempt was over but there is lots of hatred still being displayed. The admins in this community have had a nightmare in policing this and allowing proper debate. I think Neil, Gary and other admins have done a great job.
In the past I have been a long time supporter of Rob Young and his running exploits for many years. I have invested time, effort, emotional energy and a small donation to his GoFund me page as well as donations to his charities. I have no regrets about the charitable donations.
Time is something we all have the same amount of and I am guilty of wasting time on all of this. Emotional energy is precious and I have been guilty of allowing myself to be dragged into squabbles and nasty debate from people who have no agenda other than to cause trouble.
Rob has let me and many of his supporters down with his total disregard for the effect his behaviour, choices and actions have had on myself and others.
This is something he will have to deal with and he may see other supporters like myself distancing themselves either publicly or privately.
I warned him that the chance of being branded as a liar and cheat by many will plague him for a long time. I cannot think of anything worse that toeing the line at a Parks Run or any race and having people run past and calling you a cheat. This could be the sad reality for Rob regardless of the outcome of the investigation.
He has provided evidence for some of the questions that have been asked but many questions still linger. I believe it is very easy to back up accomplishments and his lack of transparency in this regard is dreadful.
I am glad that there are voices of good reason like the Woodward Brothers, Lindley Chambers and selected others who have communicated well in this community and privately in a professional and honourable way. I want to thank you for your patience towards me and for the balanced approach you have taken.
For those who chose to act in a less gentlemanly way I hope you are basking in your glory at this apology and that you might stop sending me hate mail as it’s a bit boring and a waste of all of our time.
I hope to see many of you in the future at races and would ask that if you choose to take time to respond that it is in a respectful way. These threads have been plagued with enough hatred and you can always go to Letsrun if you feel the need to write that sort of thing."