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

That's how I felt. All of my other races are much bigger and very verifiable, I thought it was quite funny.

You got me bra my last 5k showed up 3.09 on Strava!

Your name please so we can check all your previous races, times, course photos, timing mats recorded, race differentials, etc, etc.

Mike your only chance was to dress up in the same clothes, same bib and go out to Lehigh and run the course while someone takes photos of you at strategic locations. Then using your computer, making screen shots of those very pics to remove exif data.

But you blew it by admitting you only took a selfie at start, and had race and independent photogs take pics at the finish line. Your only hope is to go on Oprah and admit you are a cheat, and spin a sympathetic story arc. Goodluck doctoring those inevitably released GPS logs bro, and by bro I mean never my bro.

sdalkfjlsakjf wrote:

You got me bra my last 5k showed up 3.09 on Strava!

Never seen this. Leave the GPS running in the car?

I was on the Facebook group that he initially starting posting the principal story on and was fully supportive of him. Seeing all of this unfold has been a little disheartening, although the evidence appears overwhelming that he didn't run it. It also pisses me off because I have been busting my ass to get down to a sub 3:25:00 to qualify for Boston. Those who qualified but didn't make the cut are probably a lot more pissed.

Regarding Mike, if he really wants to turn this into a positive, he should come clean. Admit that in addition to everything his kids learned on that trip, here is one more lesson. Most folks are forgiving by nature, and sure there will be some backlash. But if he were to come clean and apologize, it would go away a lot faster and he would maybe even get some sympathy. As long as he parses words and denies the obvious, he will be looked at skeptically.

Mike, if you are following this thread, do the right thing.

mileage_man wrote:

I already responded to this once to point out that what we did statistics on was the number of locations where runners were captured, not the number of photos. As a result this criticism misses the mark, and our stats remain valid. .

I stand corrected, I must have skimmed over that paragraph in the methods section. It's kind of a huge thread....

Some poster said he looked through all the photos at a particular location and proved (to himself) that Rossi never came through...is this being tracked in "The Spreadsheet"?

runner felice wrote:

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

Tsk, tsk, Mike. This looks BAD. REAL BAD. You better get your lawyer busy. In a case like this, you should hire none other than Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe.

Since he supposedly has the evidence (GPS data) to support his 3:11 ability, it will be a no-brainer as to whether they DQ him or not. If he presents it, then he is vindicated. If he doesn't, he's DQd.

LM wrote:

sdalkfjlsakjf wrote:

You got me bra my last 5k showed up 3.09 on Strava!

Never seen this. Leave the GPS running in the car?

It happens to cyclists, so maybe? Strava definitely does not know the difference.

Sharona, it was right in front of us.

We were looking at it all wrong.

We thought that Trevor McDowell gave his computer chip to another runner.

Like Tonday.

Like Tonday, but no other runner - had the exact same time, right? - Right.

I was just watching the tape again, and I realized it wasn't another runner.

There was somebody else who ran that whole race from start to finish.

Who? The TV camera bike.

McDowell never even attached the chip to his shoe.

He stuck it somewhere on the vehicle.

Maybe he taped it or used one of those magnetic hide-a-key deals.

McDowell started the race like everybody else.

He followed Tonday and the bike for a few miles.

Then, when he got to the curve in the road, Trevor McDowell quit the race, but his computer chip continued on.

It didn't miss a single checkpoint.

He had a change of clothes hidden in the bushes.

Near the batch of camomile.

Exactly.

Then, after the murder, he reentered the race just before the end.

The finish line was mass confusion.

It was easy to rejoin the race.

And that was it.

He had an airtight alibi.

It was the perfect crime.

"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?)"

^^I like the thinking here, but the post-race photo shows him wearing a fanny pack. He could easily claim that he ran with it. I would like to know who took that pic though. Anybody know this photographer?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4E-_J9rBMJ4/VC2MHn1LNWI/AAAAAAAAB1k/FqXVW2WdWEg/s1600/10645233_10203463727808515_5208063563261582270_n.jpg

wonderbread wrote:

I wonder if they'll contact some of the legitimate finishers in that range to ask them if they remember seeing him in the middle miles. There were 60+ people in the 3:10-3:20 range. If he ran the entire course, surely someone was running with him at 5 miles, 8 miles, 10 miles, the half, 16 miles, and would remember running with him.

Unless he's claiming that he ran the entire thing completely alone.

Either you guys are all a lot more observant than me, or I don't pay attention much. In the last race I ran, a half marathon in March, I remember exactly two people from the race and one was running in a pair of depends and no shirt in the rain. People aren't necessarily going to remember a guy wearing a non-memorable outfit.

These are the most objectively weak facts to support his case possible:

“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,” he said.

“The race bib system also documented me at the start and finish. An independent photographer took my picture at the finish.”

He is cooked.

The bit of this interview/response (which he'd posted elsewhere, right?) that boggles me is this:

Rossi said the answer to that [his race times not lining up] is simple: he didn’t try very hard in any of his 20 other races. “I focused my training to peak for the LV race in order to hopefully qualify for Boston,” he said.

But...but...then why would you jog 5K races? A hard 5K is a great workout! A hard half marathon is an excellent LT workout for a marathon. And his Athlinks races being discussed are in March through July, for a September race. A little early to worry about peaking. It just doesn't add up.

I would personally be dubious of any GPS tracks he releases. As discussed before, they're falsifiable.

Aint gonna happen... we're talking about an egomaniac narcissist who over the last few days has probably even convinced himself that he really ran that BQ time. Sure, he was given credit for a 3:11 as he admitted on FB, but he did not run 26.2 in 3:11. He's used to bulldozing people in his everyday life, but not he's feeling the heat and thinks he can manipulate his way out of this one. If you know anything about LRC, it's that no stone will be left unturned for as long as he denies. This is an instant LRC classic... can't wait to see how it ends.

hayward102 wrote:

wonderbread wrote:

I wonder if they'll contact some of the legitimate finishers in that range to ask them if they remember seeing him in the middle miles. There were 60+ people in the 3:10-3:20 range. If he ran the entire course, surely someone was running with him at 5 miles, 8 miles, 10 miles, the half, 16 miles, and would remember running with him.

Unless he's claiming that he ran the entire thing completely alone.

Either you guys are all a lot more observant than me, or I don't pay attention much. In the last race I ran, a half marathon in March, I remember exactly two people from the race and one was running in a pair of depends and no shirt in the rain. People aren't necessarily going to remember a guy wearing a non-memorable outfit.

Yeah, but I can recognize every single hot girl that finished within 1 min ahead of me ...

You got 3+ hours to remember everybody's butt. Just sayin

I've done the full marathon and the relay numerous times (including last year...I ran the last three relay legs...leg "three" for my team and the final two to get a long run in). It had never occurred to me how easy it is to cheat at via, but frankly, it's a cheaters dream. The relay exchanges are completely chaotic and people are coming and going in cars all over the place. The race is rather disorganized too. Last year they didn't have bibs for our entire relay team, so only the first and last relay members had bibs on (making the rest of us look like bandits but not one person said anything).

Anyway, one thing that stood out in his FB rant is his claim that "much of the course is downhill." The course profile drops less than 200 feet over the first 5 miles and then is very flat. The most logical explanation is that he ran 6.2 miles to the first relay exchange (the only downhill portion of the entire marathon) and then drove to the final relay exchange and ran the final 3+ miles to the finish. Since he didn't run "the middle" he really has no idea that this downhill course of which he speaks really isn't.

http://www.viamarathon.org/event_info/course/elevation_marathon_relay.php

He probably did have the fannypack with the phone the whole time. I'm guessing he runs his other races like that too. I know plenty of runners that carry fannypacks and phones for whole marathon. They can't run 3:11s, but neither can Rossi.