I did the initial inquiry into his military career, im confident the information is accurate. But that does pose the question how did he achieve a number of A - levels by the age of 17 prior to joining the army?
A levels are generally completed from 16-18.
Unlikely the A level claim is accurate, he may of picked these up in the army but not prior unless he was a boy genius?
MMUK wrote:
RYinRV wrote:Very interesting. The Georgia Supreme Court has ruled against another TransCon cheater: Stanley Cottrell. There are huge similarities to the Rob Young case.
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=7479211A very entertaining read; we could only hope RY sues someone and then has to defend his attempt in court...
+1. That thread is a must read for anyone interested in the RY story.
UK Observer wrote:
I did the initial inquiry into his military career, im confident the information is accurate. But that does pose the question how did he achieve a number of A - levels by the age of 17 prior to joining the army?
A levels are generally completed from 16-18.
Unlikely the A level claim is accurate, he may of picked these up in the army but not prior unless he was a boy genius?
Given that he was born in October, this means had he done his A levels, he would have been 18 in the May of the exams, and 19 in the following October.
So highly unlikely he did A levels if he was in the army at 17.
His level of written English is not suggestive of someone with several A levels.
It could be that Rob Young is an idiot savant.
blog reader wrote:
Is this the blog about Stan Cottrell?
https://youshallknowthetruth.wordpress.com/category/stan-cottrell/
Yes.
https://youshallknowthetruth.wordpress.com/about-2/The last post is in 2010.
Hard these days with Letsrun, GPS, tracking, internet observation etc to be an ultrarunning con-man (or woman).
The only way to do it would be NOT to create a fanciful back story as Rob did, actually do the ultrarunning stunts and limit the conning to deriving an income from gullible sponsors, gofundmes and promoting dubious charities from which you can skim some cash.
A level claim wrote:
UK Observer wrote:I did the initial inquiry into his military career, im confident the information is accurate. But that does pose the question how did he achieve a number of A - levels by the age of 17 prior to joining the army?
A levels are generally completed from 16-18.
Unlikely the A level claim is accurate, he may of picked these up in the army but not prior unless he was a boy genius?
Given that he was born in October, this means had he done his A levels, he would have been 18 in the May of the exams, and 19 in the following October.
So highly unlikely he did A levels if he was in the army at 17.
His level of written English is not suggestive of someone with several A levels.
Does he actually say he joined at 16/17? Given he is still representing the armed forces in 2004/5 and has a service period of 5 years (apparently) then joining after A levels makes sense. I agree that his standard of written English seems at odds with those academic claims though.
Racergirl wrote:
Does he actually say he joined at 16/17? Given he is still representing the armed forces in 2004/5 and has a service period of 5 years (apparently) then joining after A levels makes sense. I agree that his standard of written English seems at odds with those academic claims though.
From his book ( free books.google.com search ):
"After I’d finished school, I went to college and two years later came out with some A levels and a BTech. At that time, I wanted to join the armed forces, though I couldn’t decide whether to go for the Army or the RAF.
I remember the summer I got my exam results, going to an Armed Forces Recruitment Fair in London. The RAF guys there told me it...."
So, according to the book's timetable, he couldn't have joined the Army until he was 18 ( almost 19 in the October after this summer ).
"I remember the summer I got my exam results, going to an Armed Forces Recruitment Fair in London. The RAF guys there told me it would be a six month wait before I could join up, but the Army boys said I could be training in a matter of weeks. So that made my decision for me. I was in a hurry I guess. I had an aptitude test a few days later to...."
A level claim wrote:
UK Observer wrote:I did the initial inquiry into his military career, im confident the information is accurate. But that does pose the question how did he achieve a number of A - levels by the age of 17 prior to joining the army?
A levels are generally completed from 16-18.
Unlikely the A level claim is accurate, he may of picked these up in the army but not prior unless he was a boy genius?
Given that he was born in October, this means had he done his A levels, he would have been 18 in the May of the exams, and 19 in the following October.
So highly unlikely he did A levels if he was in the army at 17.
His level of written English is not suggestive of someone with several A levels.
It would depend on which year he actually started in school.
Nowadays they insist on the child being 5 before starting in year 1, which as he has an October birthday, would then make him 6 within a month of starting, & so be one of the oldest children in the class.
If it was the same in the mid-80s, then he would have started year 1 in 1988 as an almost 6yr old. (he could well have not had any schooling the year before, & so would have missed out on a crucial year of development)
However, he could have started in 1987, as he would be 5 within a month of school starting.
It also depends where he went to school, Scotland has a different entry system.
As for joining the Army, you can join before you're 18, it just means that you cant see front-line service until you are 18.
richW wrote:
However, he could have started in 1987, as he would be 5 within a month of school starting.
It also depends where he went to school, Scotland has a different entry system.
A few cut and pastes from RY's book.
"When I was about six years old, I got the beating of my life…."
[ .... ]
"They called up the social services and we were taken off to a ‘safe place’."
[ .... ]
"It was a difficult time, but at least we were safe. I started to go to school a little around then, which was something of a novelty for me."
This suggests to me that he didn't start school until he was six. At least not regular schooling.
Not sure on the location, but there's a few other clues. The public records show that he was born in Portsmouth on 18 October 1982, and his sister was also born there around May 1984. His parents were married in "South East Hampshire" ( so Portsmouth or surroundings ) in October 1980.
The book states that at some point they left the 'safe house' to walk the 200 miles to his grandfathers house in Hampshire. So, not in Scotland.
Skins problem wrote:
blog reader wrote:Is this the blog about Stan Cottrell?
https://youshallknowthetruth.wordpress.com/category/stan-cottrell/Yes.
https://youshallknowthetruth.wordpress.com/about-2/The last post is in 2010.
Hard these days with Letsrun, GPS, tracking, internet observation etc to be an ultrarunning con-man (or woman).
The only way to do it would be NOT to create a fanciful back story as Rob did, actually do the ultrarunning stunts and limit the conning to deriving an income from gullible sponsors, gofundmes and promoting dubious charities from which you can skim some cash.
Rob could have hit his 68 miles per day, gotten the record, a new book deal, and never been caught if he had just posted believable paces and acted tired. This whole thing has taught me how easy it is to deceive people. I'm tempted to become MarathonmanTX, quit my job and make a living off promoting myself. With verifiable PRs at about Rob's claimed PRs I think I could get away with it.
1 2 3 green wrote:
Rob could have hit his 68 miles per day, gotten the record, a new book deal, and never been caught if he had just posted believable paces and acted tired. This whole thing has taught me how easy it is to deceive people. I'm tempted to become MarathonmanTX, quit my job and make a living off promoting myself. With verifiable PRs at about Rob's claimed PRs I think I could get away with it.
Unless Asher or the Geezers show up.
But you are right, I had no idea how gullible some people are.
Didn't Rob say somewhere that he doesn't like running with a heart rate monitor? Here he is running with a "sensecore" in 2015 http://imgur.com/VG8QuNv
triathleteguru wrote:
Didn't Rob say somewhere that he doesn't like running with a heart rate monitor? Here he is running with a "sensecore" in 2015
http://imgur.com/VG8QuNv
On the other hand did you notice in those London marathon pics that got posted he had no watch on at all, which I find inconceivable.
I've deleted the last image I uploaded to imgur.com as I realized it was straying completely away from the issue of running/cheating and instead making fun of an image that Robert had posted in 2007. I would be hard pressed to explain many images on my FB if taken out of context and it isn't fair to do what I was doing in my post.
triathleteguru wrote:
Didn't Rob say somewhere that he doesn't like running with a heart rate monitor? Here he is running with a "sensecore" in 2015
http://imgur.com/VG8QuNv
It was probably in his contract...
“I started to put the wheels in motion to join the RAUSA team in January 2015. It meant a lot of hustling and organising. I needed to get funding and to know that Joanna and Buddy would be OK without me. She decided to go back to Poland to stay with her mum for a while; Buddy loved it there and they could live cheaply and well. It was a good plan and would mean I didn’t have to worry about them too much.
Then I had the small matter of raising the money to enter the race, which, including flights and everything else, came to about £10,000. I got some money through from my sponsor, Sense Core, which covered most of it.â€
Marathon Man: One Man, One Year, 370 Marathons
What is it about Brit ex-military guys cheating at runs?
Oh, and both named "Rob" lol
Interesting, there should be a wealth of heart rate and other physiological data out there on Rob Young when running 4 hour marathons across the USA according to this - http://www.livescience.com/49476-3000-mile-race-across-us-science.html
He was in Yorkshire, safe house in Hampshire, various care homes, then taken under the wing of Peter Wells, deputy head teacher. There, he lived in Cheshunt (Hertfordshire) which seems to be where he still considered himself based in 2004, given that newspaper article of the time. Not sure which school, or if he went to the school where Mr Wells taught.