Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?

Funny how Mike has the same MO as Kip, inconspicuous dark clothing and hat pulled down. This fella cheated.

PopcornNomz wrote:

Wow. So he DOES have GPS data. Why would he not share it?

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/-dad-of-the-year--boston-marathon-runner-under-investigation-over-qualification-questions-205004421.html

"Yahoo Canada asked if Rossi had any GPS logs of his training, or of his race at Lehigh Valley. He said yes, but declined to provide them for verification."

I think what we have here is Rosie Rossi.

T BONE wrote:

I'll bite...

Is this serious?

From a 4:05 marathon in May to a 2:59 in October? Jeez. Incredible if true.

it can happen. i did a 4:28 in boston 2012 (the hot year), and a 2:58 in november at maine. then 2 more sub 3s including boston 2013, so its not only the course. my PR before boston 2012 was a 3:07 so the number was coming down, boston 2012 was a big outlier.

OverTheHillAndBack wrote:

R U Cereal? wrote:

Are you guys serious? How many pages on this?

I don't know anything about this guy. But it is really weird that so many obsess over whether or not he may have cheated his way into Boston.

I amazed at the people indifferent to this situation.

We AREN'T OBSESSING over that fact that someone simply cheated his way into Boston. We ARE OBSESSING over the fact that an EGOMANIAC, who publicly SHAMED his kids principal teacher for not excusing their absences while watching him run Boston, CHEATED his way into the Boston.

You know, honestly I get that. Race cheaters? WTF? They are losers but I pretty much don't care. But his note to the principal was way out of line.

Cheers

I was merely pointing out I know what it takes to accomplish what he claims to have, how hard it is to reach that level of fitness, and it doesn't just go away. You don't run one magical marathon out of nowhere, at your 5K pace, and then have no races after that which are remotely close. That was my only point. Sorry I don't normally post here and just found out about his supposed cheating and was looking through threads on the internet.

Trackstar77 wrote:

[quote]Thanks for trying to make this thread about you. Newsflash, nobody cares about your race times.

Whenever somebody tells me a pair of shoes caused their injury, I always say "show me your log, I'll show you an error in your training." Same deal applies to Rossi. Even if he half-assed races, his training log (mileage, consistency, training pace, workouts) would bear out the result. But, he's not willing to share. From that Yahoo story:

“My race history…is not indicative of my performance level but my training does show an ability to run a sub 3:15 marathon. Many of my races were run for fun or were performed while I had documented injuries.”

Yahoo Canada asked if Rossi had any GPS logs of his training, or of his race at Lehigh Valley. He said yes, but declined to provide them for verification.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/-dad-of-the-year--boston-marathon-runner-under-investigation-over-qualification-questions-205004421.html

My guess is that he is still making up his "new" training log and creating "his" GPS data for a release at a later time. That sort of stuff takes time to make up.

Valley Spotter wrote:

Whenever somebody tells me a pair of shoes caused their injury, I always say "show me your log, I'll show you an error in your training." Same deal applies to Rossi. Even if he half-assed races, his training log (mileage, consistency, training pace, workouts) would bear out the result. But, he's not willing to share. From that Yahoo story:

“My race history…is not indicative of my performance level but my training does show an ability to run a sub 3:15 marathon. Many of my races were run for fun or were performed while I had documented injuries.”

Yahoo Canada asked if Rossi had any GPS logs of his training, or of his race at Lehigh Valley. He said yes, but declined to provide them for verification.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/-dad-of-the-year--boston-marathon-runner-under-investigation-over-qualification-questions-205004421.html

FYI, you can find additional photos of basically every runner in the race on the bridge section. If you aren't in that roll of photos, it looks like you either came by after the guy left (there are some 5 hour marathoners who were left out) or you weren't there.

Rosie Rossi is brilliant and we should try to make it stick.

I like the article. Gives him enough rope and he takes it and the experts are leading to the correct conclusion that he is a cheat. His comments, stating things that are true but irrelevant are not helping him any.

"I achieved a qualifying time." Who the f would say that? Nobody who actually RAN the course.

The ball is going to really start motoring downhill now.

lrc commune wrote:

mperaginejr wrote:

As someone who actually did train hard enough to make over an hour improvement in my marathon time in five months, to BQ-10 and run a sub 3:00, this guy makes me sick and it is insulting to us that work hard. I don't believe he actually ran that 3:11 or accomplished anything

And yes, my athlinks and races following my improvement more then support this.

http://www.athlinks.com/athletes/197083256

Congratulations, but your athlinks picture makes you look like a douche as well. And you should know the difference between then and than.

Sincerely,

LRC community

Big mistake to come on to the LRMB and talk yourself up then identify yourself and leave your email address. They'll be a thread on you soon.

Rosie Rossi is brilliant and we should try to make it stick.

I like the article. Gives him enough rope and he takes it and the experts are leading to the correct conclusion that he is a cheat. His comments, stating things that are true but irrelevant are not helping him any.

"I achieved a qualifying time." Who the f would say that? Nobody who actually RAN the course.

The ball is going to really start motoring downhill now.

You are getting ripped on message boards, blogs, and we articles. You're asked in an interview if you have the two key pieces of data that can back up your claim.

...and you don't release them?

GUILTY

ok?

Big mistake pal. wrote:

lrc commune wrote:

Congratulations, but your athlinks picture makes you look like a douche as well. And you should know the difference between then and than.

Sincerely,

LRC community

Big mistake to come on to the LRMB and talk yourself up then identify yourself and leave your email address. They'll be a thread on you soon.

mperaginejr wrote:

Micheal, don't listen to them. You came to the wrong place with that defense, but admonishment is what you feed on here at LRC. My suggestion is to accept it, laugh every so often, and don't take anything too seriously.

Your stats are a pretty cool story, and you're allowed and human to be proud of them.

In all seriousness I wasn't trying to be a jerk. I have never posted here. I just found it interesting what he claims were, and try his other race times were. The defense he didn't try in his other races is insane. Anyway, nothing was meant by it on my part, I will bow out and just read the other comments, which I found to be interesting. Good day all, and happy running.

Dude. You really ran a 13:44 5k? wow.

How many race directors does the race have?

From this article:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/-dad-of-the-year--boston-marathon-runner-under-investigation-over-qualification-questions-205004421.html

Gerry Yasso, race director for the Lehigh Valley VIA Marathon where Russo received his qualifying time in September 2014, told Philadelphia Magazine on Tuesday that he’s asked USA Track & Field for a “thorough and impartial” investigation into whether Rossi actually completed the full race and deserved the three-hour, 11-minute, 45-second (3:11:45) finishing time that qualified him to enter the Boston Marathon.

We're just giving you sh!t, relax.

But seriously, change that picture.

Did anybody catch this from his Facebook statement:

"I have a selfie picture of me at the start and there are photos of me at the finish and video of me finishing the race."

So he took a selfie before the race? If he did run the entire race, after he took the selfie, he would have either had to give his phone to someone before the gun went off, or carry it with him the entire 26.2 miles if he attended the event alone. Pictures show he didn't run with it secured to his arm, so it would have had to been in his pocket if he did have the phone with him. The race video and pictures aren't really clear as to if a phone is in his pocket. So...

1. If you did run the race Mike, who did you hand your phone to and is he/she willing to speak up on your behalf? (Isn't there a picture of him at the finish line at Lehigh with his finisher's medal - who took that pic?)

2. If you carried it with you, maybe there is something on your phone that would prove that you ran the entire 26.2 miles.

3. Or was the selfie story another fabrication?

Man, I would love to see his cell phone records during the time of the race. One call or text on that thing while he is supposed to be running... kaboom.