I have it on good authority this man cheated in several races, including some of his so called impressive marathons, is this true??? His splits dont make ANY sense...
I have it on good authority this man cheated in several races, including some of his so called impressive marathons, is this true??? His splits dont make ANY sense...
You had me convinced that something wasn't right with those splits from an older race (was it 2015?) but I calculated splits from the LA marathon, 3/24 and they don't seem out of line. Looks like he had a bit left in the tank and really pushed the last 5k. Aside from the complete impossibility of any 70 yr old running this fast (LOL!), the splits seem totally reasonable. Please check my work. I calculated the last column, the other columns including pace/mile are from the LA marathon results page.
http://results2.xacte.com/#/e/2232/placings
5K 20:02 20:50 6:27 /mi 20.02
10K 40:19:00 41:07:00 6:29 /mi 20.17
15K 1:00:52 1:01:40 6:32 /mi 20.33
20K 1:22:13 1:23:01 6:37 /mi 21.21
25K 1:42:15 1:43:03 6:35 /mi 20.02
30K 2:03:38 2:04:26 6:38 /mi 21.23
35K 2:24:22 2:25:10 6:38 /mi 20.44
40K 2:44:09 2:44:57 6:36 /mi 19.47
FINISH 2:53:10
Tell you what.
I’ll enter the next marathon Dr. Meza enters.
And I will run behind him.
Be happy to pay my own way.
It won’t last more than 5 miles at his proclaimed pace.
The LA Marathon splits look legit. All the other marathon splits and "missed mats" look not so legit. It will be interesting to see how his next race goes with scrutiny from start to finish.
In 2015 I sent the following email to LetsRun (and preserved a copy):
I'm not sure whether or not your excellent site is interested in helping expose a regular age category
marathon cheat. I refer to the case of Frank Meza. He ran California International 2014 in a rather
suspicious time and manner. He was the 65-69 winner with a 2:52, a giant PB over his normal times (if they are even legitimate) which included a low 36 minute last 10km, the flat portion of the race. He was declared the winner of his age category and this result allowed him later to be declared a masters athlete of the year in Running Times, etc, etc.
This matter only came to my attention because I was entered in California International 2014 but was unable to run
due to extenuating circumstances. Out of curiosity, I checked the results to see how I would have fared in my 65-69 age group, had I run. I was coming off a 3:04 at Okanagan marathon two months before, despite a two day 2100km drive to get there from Southern Utah where I was training (Go Cam Levins!) so I wasn't a completely useless runner, considering my age. I was very surprised to see Meza running a 2:52 as I was familiar with his normal results, or what I "assume"
are his results!
A few months later at Los Angeles Marathon 2015, on a blazing hot day when times were slow he did these 5km splits supposedly, leading to a 2:52:47 net time:
20:47 39:50 1:00:18 1:25:19 1:43:53 2:03:15 2:24:43 2:43:13 2:54:15 2:52:47
Note that he took at least a 5 or 6 minute "rest" between km15 and km20. Factor this "rest" out of his result
and take into account the blazing heat and slower times and we have him doing a mid to low 2:40's marathon.
At this point I went back to check his time and splits at California International 2014, and much to my surprise (but glee) he was listed as "disqualified". Apparently he did not appear on the video at the checkpoints.
I contacted the California International people and they said they had disqualified him and alerted the Los Angeles people already. I also wrote to Running Times magazine to suggest they retract Meza being considered a masters runner of the
year. They apparently passed my letter on to USATF masters people who wrote me a snarky email...............
"Appreciate your zeal in pursuing those who you feel have “cheated” in our sport. However, our judicial system and its offspring have a basic precept that one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. I understand that he has been DQ’d and his results have been called into question in other races. At the national level we have no jurisdiction over local races, so they make the call as to what results they find acceptable.
Incidentally the rankings are not based upon one race, but rather the totality of races for that athlete for that year and he had other results that raised him to that level.
Locally a number of years ago we had the Duke Lacrosse case wherein a bunch of rowdy Duke Lacrosse players were accused of raping a “student” exotic dancer. The gang of 82 Duke faculty, an overzealous prosecutor, subsequently disbarred, all succeeded in branding for life a number of innocent young men, who were later proven innocent. The exotic dancer is now in jail having murdered her boyfriend. Thus, I do not think it is prudent to rush to judgment. Please ensure you have irrefutable evidence before you make these kinds of accusations."
So we can expect Meza to be a 2015 masters runner of the year, and maybe the next Ed Whitlock, or even much better than Ed Whitlock, if this crap continues.
Obviously when a runner cheats at least once he must be considered suspect forever, especially when producing
a time that is truly unbelievable. I hope that LetsRun is interested in pursuing this as your site is excellent at exposing cheats. Keep up the good work! I think it is important that everyone know what Meza does, not just me and a handful of others.
I would like to add that I am not just another jealous runner irritated at losing a "prize". I welcome competition, but real results not phony cheating results like Meza's. Serious marathon age category superstars are being denied
coverage because of people like Meza, and that is a pity.
LetsRun wrote back saying they weren't interested in doing a story and that I could start a thread. Being a lazy person essentially, I didn't bother starting a thread. Over the years when I see another Meza result I start fuming again and have no desire to run. It takes about a month before I calm down and can start running again. Not surprisingly Meza did pop up again at age 70 with a world best "result", or even two of them a couple of weeks apart. Who needs Ed or Gene with this "superstar".
I guess we should be acknowledging the gentleman who is carrying Meza's bib for him in these evenly split races that he is perfecting. The fellow is a pretty decent runner in his own right! In the missing mats races, I guess Meza couldn't recruit this guy to carry the bib on the day, which makes things a little more messy. Forget about Meza proving himself by running an 18:30 five km or a 40:00 ten km as someone suggested. A guy who can do a 2:52 marathon should be running a stand alone 17:30 five km and a sub 37 ten km. Take a look at his recent "race" photos and tell me that body is running those times, haha! If you want to see what a real sub 3 hour age 70 marathon runner looks like, look for a photo of Ed Whitlock or Gene Dykes.
Nice user name. Some oddities in your post, though. You took the trouble to write to Running Times and retained a hard copy, and you also took the trouble to write to Letsrun, but then couldn't be bothered to start a thread? That seems odd. I'm also very surprised that Running Times would forward your letter to USATF and that USATF would write back using such detail of the Duke case for comparison purposes. Those sentences don't at all sound like they come from an even remotely professional PR person. It's extremely unlikely he ran a legit 2:52 in 2015 but your post is about as incredible as his performances.
koyaanisqatsi3 wrote:
In 2015 I sent the following email to LetsRun (and preserved a copy):
koyaanisqatsi3 wrote:
In 2015 I sent the following email to LetsRun (and preserved a copy):
I'm not sure whether or not your excellent site is interested in helping expose a regular age category
marathon cheat. I refer to the case of Frank Meza. He ran California International 2014 in a rather
suspicious time and manner. He was the 65-69 winner with a 2:52, a giant PB over his normal times (if they are even legitimate) which included a low 36 minute last 10km, the flat portion of the race. He was declared the winner of his age category and this result allowed him later to be declared a masters athlete of the year in Running Times, etc, etc.
This matter only came to my attention because I was entered in California International 2014 but was unable to run
due to extenuating circumstances. Out of curiosity, I checked the results to see how I would have fared in my 65-69 age group, had I run. I was coming off a 3:04 at Okanagan marathon two months before, despite a two day 2100km drive to get there from Southern Utah where I was training (Go Cam Levins!) so I wasn't a completely useless runner, considering my age. I was very surprised to see Meza running a 2:52 as I was familiar with his normal results, or what I "assume"
are his results!
A few months later at Los Angeles Marathon 2015, on a blazing hot day when times were slow he did these 5km splits supposedly, leading to a 2:52:47 net time:
20:47 39:50 1:00:18 1:25:19 1:43:53 2:03:15 2:24:43 2:43:13 2:54:15 2:52:47
Note that he took at least a 5 or 6 minute "rest" between km15 and km20. Factor this "rest" out of his result
and take into account the blazing heat and slower times and we have him doing a mid to low 2:40's marathon.
At this point I went back to check his time and splits at California International 2014, and much to my surprise (but glee) he was listed as "disqualified". Apparently he did not appear on the video at the checkpoints.
I contacted the California International people and they said they had disqualified him and alerted the Los Angeles people already. I also wrote to Running Times magazine to suggest they retract Meza being considered a masters runner of the
year. They apparently passed my letter on to USATF masters people who wrote me a snarky email...............
"Appreciate your zeal in pursuing those who you feel have “cheated” in our sport. However, our judicial system and its offspring have a basic precept that one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. I understand that he has been DQ’d and his results have been called into question in other races. At the national level we have no jurisdiction over local races, so they make the call as to what results they find acceptable.
Incidentally the rankings are not based upon one race, but rather the totality of races for that athlete for that year and he had other results that raised him to that level.
Locally a number of years ago we had the Duke Lacrosse case wherein a bunch of rowdy Duke Lacrosse players were accused of raping a “student” exotic dancer. The gang of 82 Duke faculty, an overzealous prosecutor, subsequently disbarred, all succeeded in branding for life a number of innocent young men, who were later proven innocent. The exotic dancer is now in jail having murdered her boyfriend. Thus, I do not think it is prudent to rush to judgment. Please ensure you have irrefutable evidence before you make these kinds of accusations."
So we can expect Meza to be a 2015 masters runner of the year, and maybe the next Ed Whitlock, or even much better than Ed Whitlock, if this crap continues.
Obviously when a runner cheats at least once he must be considered suspect forever, especially when producing
a time that is truly unbelievable. I hope that LetsRun is interested in pursuing this as your site is excellent at exposing cheats. Keep up the good work! I think it is important that everyone know what Meza does, not just me and a handful of others.
I would like to add that I am not just another jealous runner irritated at losing a "prize". I welcome competition, but real results not phony cheating results like Meza's. Serious marathon age category superstars are being denied
coverage because of people like Meza, and that is a pity.
LetsRun wrote back saying they weren't interested in doing a story and that I could start a thread. Being a lazy person essentially, I didn't bother starting a thread. Over the years when I see another Meza result I start fuming again and have no desire to run. It takes about a month before I calm down and can start running again. Not surprisingly Meza did pop up again at age 70 with a world best "result", or even two of them a couple of weeks apart. Who needs Ed or Gene with this "superstar".
I guess we should be acknowledging the gentleman who is carrying Meza's bib for him in these evenly split races that he is perfecting. The fellow is a pretty decent runner in his own right! In the missing mats races, I guess Meza couldn't recruit this guy to carry the bib on the day, which makes things a little more messy. Forget about Meza proving himself by running an 18:30 five km or a 40:00 ten km as someone suggested. A guy who can do a 2:52 marathon should be running a stand alone 17:30 five km and a sub 37 ten km. Take a look at his recent "race" photos and tell me that body is running those times, haha! If you want to see what a real sub 3 hour age 70 marathon runner looks like, look for a photo of Ed Whitlock or Gene Dykes.
2014 CIM, Frank Mezza (65y) ran the last 10km in 36 low, for a final time of 2:52...
No way, Jose -could Frank have ran that fast, even for a straight 10km race.
All these testimonies do not look good for Frank, but the sad part of all this is that Frank does not need to do this. He is a spokesperson for Kaiser(see Youtube) and promotes health, exercise and good diet, for diabetes avoidance.
Sad case.
Ghost in China
"Researcher"says...............................I'm also very surprised that Running Times would forward your letter to USATF and that USATF would write back using such detail of the Duke case for comparison purposes. Those sentences don't at all sound like they come from an even remotely professional PR person....................................if it means anything to you, the person sending me the email was:
Don Lein, Chair
Masters LDR
USATF
Does that make any sense? Your country is not my country, so I'm not sure how things are structured there, but I assumed he worked at USATF.
I also have never posted on LetsRun, so this post may appear convoluted. As I said, I cannot be bothered with this stuff. Not to mention the fact that many posts on here are just the same person posting endlessly under different names to "defend" himself by appearing to be someone else. Mr Meza has a lot of "friends". haha.
Thanks for your efforts to expose fraudulent behavior. I have a feeling this has received heightened attention now and will be addressed this time around.
Scamwatcheroo has made about 100 posts on this thread so far.
Researcher wrote:
Nice user name. Some oddities in your post, though. You took the trouble to write to Running Times and retained a hard copy, and you also took the trouble to write to Letsrun, but then couldn't be bothered to start a thread? That seems odd.
I'm also very surprised that Running Times would forward your letter to USATF and that USATF would write back using such detail of the Duke case for comparison purposes. Those sentences don't at all sound like they come from an even remotely professional PR person.
It's extremely unlikely he ran a legit 2:52 in 2015 but your post is about as incredible as his performances.
koyaanisqatsi3 wrote:
In 2015 I sent the following email to LetsRun (and preserved a copy):
Scamwatcheroo is the 2015 guy.
He was convinced that Sandy Vi was an illegitimate runner that be sent emails/letter to her Across American Run sponsors calling her out as a faker, provide his "expert" analysis, and convincing them they were being take. So, Sandy lost her main sponsor and had to borrow money to do her run.
More than half way through Sandy's run across the US, Scamwatcheroo was still calling her a faker. Analyzing her daily Stava uploads, and then describing how they could be faked.
Well, Sandy Vi ended up absolutely causing the Across American record. Did Scamwatcheroo ever give her the money he forced her to lose? Not a dime. All Scamwacthroo managed to prove was that he was an insecure fool who gets off on attacking people with his careful "analysis".
Seriously, if Frank runs 6:36 pace for 5 miles at 70 years old, (app 8k) you expect him to than skip off to the side and hop on his bike, pedal ahead and “sneak “ back into the race?
Has anybody asked him about his race? Has he spoken about it? Does anybody on this site know him or see him around? I know running is not real popular but did his local paper do any type of story on him? it seems newsworthy to do a story on a 70 year old running 2:53. If I didn't go on LetsRun I would have never heard of any of this.
No, I expect him (short of 5 miles) to step off the course with an ‘injury’.
I actually believe he will use this LRC exposure to quietly retire from competitive marathons.
Exactly! There won't be any more Frank Meza marathons. But whenever a real result happens in the 70+ crowd, someone will mention "Yeah, but there was that guy from Los Angeles who did those great runs".
My advice, is to let him run Long Beach, as he does every year, do what you need to do without interfering ..to make sure you know irrefutably that he ran the course without undue help or any other speculated untoward act. If his effort is legit than put all your energy into letting the world know we have a 70 year old super marathoner..
Here are his 5k splits from his 2018 LA Marathon (he ran a 2:56). Similar unlikely swings with alternating fast and slow 5k's (varying between 18:55 and 24:13):
20:32, 18:55, 22:03, 21:45, 19:39, 24:13, 19:44, 20:01
I think someone noted that the Loyola paper (mentioned earlier on this thread) had his picture and achievement.
The biggest mark of the weekend was left by Loyola XC/distance assistant coach Dr. Frank Meza, who won his age group race (70+) at the Sprouts Mesa-PHX Marathon. His time of 2:53:54 set a new U.S. and World Record, besting the old record of 2:54:27 set two months ago.
Scroll down a fair ways and you find a much younger Frank Meza from 1975, 1983 etc. with performances no better than the current Frank Meza.
Also, does Frank race shorter stuff these days? That would tell A LOT.