Frank Meza 2:53:10 at LA Marathon (70 years old) unofficial time (just finished)

Roderick Powell wrote:

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.

That Sprouts Race is all downhill but LA is a tougher course. No way he ran a legit 2:53 marathon in 2019.

I tried to send this mail to the LA marathon address but it came back as undeliverable. Does anyone else have a valid address?

Hi-not sure if you have already received an inquiry about this guys results but if you haven't you may want to review this thread on letsrun.com:

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=9307635&page=5

. Seems like he was DQ'd in prior races, along with his 5k splits being inconsistent that led to a number of questions about his performance as a 65-69 year old and now as a 70-74 age group competitor. You may want to review any video/pictures along with fellow competitors to confirm his time was as recorded.

Thank you,

Koya - Thanks for the post. I also sent an inquiry to Let's Run in 2015 and got a "We may look in to it" type of response. There was definitely some whispering about Frank in the LA distance community, especially after the CIM DQ became more widely known.

It's a bit crazy that USATF is so cavalier about not looking closely at potential world record performances from someone who has a previous history of DQs and missing splits...and very little record of other performances of note at shorter distances.

Perhaps the LA Marathon race officials need to do an exhaustive investigation of Meza's races...all available video clips, digital timing records, photo evidence, interviews with other racers in that pace group, Strava and/or Garmin data from Meza, etc.

Frank ran a 39:35 10k last year. (at 69 years old) I thought at the time it was a tune-up race that was part of his training for an upcoming marathon.

Which race was that? Link to results?

Roderick Powell wrote:

Frank ran a 39:35 10k last year. (at 69 years old) I thought at the time it was a tune-up race that was part of his training for an upcoming marathon.

Roderick, you have 13 posts so far in this thread, and you started it. Please tell us your connection with Frank and/or how you were so impressed with his performances? Do you train with him or race against him or know him personally?

Sorry for some overlap from my previous post, but this is what I sent to the LA Marathon people in 2015, right after their race:

I looked at your marathon on Sunday and noticed Frank Meza winning the 65-69 age group by a huge margin. I am a 66 year old runner from Canada who was scheduled to run California International 2014 but was unable to attend. Nevertheless, I checked the results from Sacramento to see how I would have fared. To my surprise a gentleman named Frank Meza did the run of his life, a 2:53. I was particularly surprised to note that after running 32km of a marathon, this gentleman cranked out a low 36 min last 10km. Although I am nearly as good a runner as this gentleman claims to be, there is no way in hell I or any other 65 year old could do a low 36 min 10km after doing a good 32km of a marathon. Or for that matter, a low 36 min 10km starting fresh! Of course it is disheartening to see people cheat at marathons and very discouraging for those of us who are busting our asses training to run real times. Think Ed Whitlock! Okay, despite knowing Meza cheated at Sacramento, I did nothing about it. What can one person do?

But guess what? Frank Meza pops up again at your marathon and again a spectacular time. But note the splits:

1 FRANK MEZA 1287 66 95 67 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 SOUTH PASADENA, CA

from 15km to 20km he has slowed to 25min 01sec.........from 35km to 40km he does 18min 30sec

So at this point, I went to the California International site to see if his splits from 2014 were still posted. Guess what? DISQUALIFIED!!!! subject did not appear on several video placements. So I guess some other diligent person was also suspicious and they nabbed this cheat. Hopefully you will do everything within your resources to ascertain where and how Meza cheated at Los Angeles, because I assure you, he did! I suggest you check with the California International organizers to find out exactly how he cheated in their race. Allowing this guy to cheat deprives other people of prizes they legitimately earn. Not to mention Meza’s fictitious times are scattered all over the internet at sites that collect fast masters times, and are not corrected to show that he was ultimately disqualified at California International.

To be truthful, I am now starting to wonder if ANY of his previous results, before he became lightning fast at age 65+ are legitimate. Who is checking? Not me since I don’t have the time for such a task. I even wonder if he is the age he claims to be. I know that no one has ever asked me to produce a birth certificate. What does it matter, you say? Well, apart from the people who are deprived of prizes and recognition for their honest efforts, there are records for age category runners. Only one human being on this planet has ever run a sub 3hr marathon past age 70, Ed Whitlock. Do you want his records to someday be broken by a slimeball cheater, worse yet....AT YOUR RACE.

I would be interested to know what action, if any, you are taking about this matter, if you have time to respond.

Remember, that was written in 2015 before Gene Dykes. The LA Marathon people did write back saying they were too busy to deal with such stuff. It's pretty funny that Ed and Gene's records were broken at their LA Marathon race four years after I suggested it could happen. Do I get an award for prescience?

Also, Roderick, if you don't mind me asking, what is your role in all this? You posted the original post of this thread at 11:56am on race day; he'd barely even finished the race. You must be a serious fan. Do you know him? Live in the area? You mentioned being a runner yourself, but I didn't see you in any results.

RI red - sorry, I see you just asked the same question.

Frank's 2018 Los Angeles Half Marathon has the same type of uneven split pacing as that pointed out above for his full marathons.

SPLIT NAME SPLIT DISTANCE SPLIT TIME PACE DISTANCE RACE TIME OVERALL (/6126) GENDER (/?) CATEGORY (/43) TIME OF DAY

SPLIT1 3.1 miles 00:21:49 7:02/mile 3.1 miles 00:21:49 131 117 1 06:40:11

SPLIT2 3.1 miles 00:20:16 6:32/mile 6.2 miles 00:42:05 77 67 1 07:00:28

SPLIT3 3.8 miles 00:26:25 6:57/mile 10 miles 01:08:30 90 80 1 07:26:53

SPLIT 3 3.1 miles 00:20:11 6:29/mile 13.1 miles 01:28:41 73 65 1 07:47:03

OFFICIAL TIME 01:28:41.0 6:45/mile 13.1 miles 01:28:41.0 73 65 1 07:47:03

RI red says.................................Roderick, you have 13 posts so far in this thread, and you started it. Please tell us your connection with Frank and/or how you were so impressed with his performances? Do you train with him or race against him or know him personally?

Would I be open to a charge of cynicism if I suggested that "Roderick" is none other than Frank Meza himself, along with several of the other pro-Meza posters.

Hi, yes I was a fan since I stumbled across a result of Frank’s. I than, as I do with some fast or otherwise interesting runners I come to know of, I looked up his results on Athlinks. I noticed he mostly runs the same races, especially LA marathon, Long Beach marathon - both for many years. I too noticed he is steadily getting faster for the most part, especially at Long Beach marathon. I expected him to break the over 70 record this year. I knew of the thread about CIM, and thought it was some nut assuming everyone who does something like missing mats is a cheater. I didn’t know it would turn into this when I posted congrats. Yes I followed Frank and a few other fast friends who were there. One fast friend running his first marathon, hit the hard. I was surprised when with so many doughters, that no one went there to see if Frank was for real. I posted that he had registered on the previous post I submitted when I realized beat Dykes time in Phoenix. ( I only knew that because I had tried to track him a week or so before the LA marathon, and he ended up registering at the last minute- I was surprised he was not running, looked on Athlinks to see if he had run something else, and found out about Phoenix. Then I thought, why no stories on-line. I checked to see if the course was record eliglbe in Phoenix, and it was described as point to point and downhill too much. I knew LA was point to point and figured Frank had realized to get the record he couldn’t get it there. Anyways I have only began running again after about 37 years of doing bad for the body stuff. I lost 25 pounds than started and have lost 25 more and still have a gut. (My wife dies not “ like me skinny”). Anyways, Frank being able to keep improving has inspired me. I tell everyone I want to keep getting faster t 70 just like Frank Meza. Yes, I thought of calling his doctors office to see about running with him some Saturday, maybe with his running club. I had a few questions. I have had thoughts of running a marathon. I know a couple LA marathon legacy runners. I just don’t like the idea of stopping to use the bathroom and losing 30-40 seconds. So I run halves , 10 milers, 10ks and a 5k here and there. I am really hoping that Frank ends up being legit. There is every reason to believe either way. Some people who post here think they are real astute about what a fast senior looks like. If you know their fast times are for real, they tend to look fast. I see lots of Hispanic runners who have similar looks to Frank, and for some reason that is a formula for fast. You could say yeah , but only so fast. It is Frank’s basic shape that much different than Kenenisa Bekele. ( my true favorite runner to watch finish races). My name is Roderick Powell, not James that my cell phone posts put. I imagine anyone could contact Frank. Maybe if you know someone who is a reporter for a running story, they could see about interviewing him. See what his answer to that is.

koyaanisqatsi3 wrote:

...I was particularly surprised to note that after running 32km of a marathon, this gentleman cranked out a low 36 min last 10km...

Well, glad for the DQ if that's true. I reported a Masters guy who ran a 5:58 min/mile 5k split en-route to a 3:12 marathon. The RD said "he could have been in that kind of shape". Sorry, a 3:12 marathoner does not drop 5:58 miles for 3 miles during a marathon. When you're a runner, you know how hard 5:58 miles feel like compared to 7:20/7:30.

Sure enough, doubler picked up this exact guy at another race DQ'd cheating into Boston, and posted on him in 2017! He left out his name, but it got him to stop. The guy never cut courses again. In this 2015 case, it was very obvious where he cut the course. He cut before mile 20 too. His result from this marathon still stands. I don't think it should, but it's not like he won the age group. Rare case where the runner learned his lesson.

Can you cut corners at CIM? If someone did cheat at CIM, it would be at the Litton level. Because that would require a bike or car/bus or outside aid. These cases are the most fascinating IMO.

Roderick is Roderick Powell on Athlinks and Racewire, a fast runner to most 60-64, but far from the many superstars I know. But hoping by staying fast to outlast my competition as I age. James d9 is what my cell puts as niet name so you can add about 5 posts. The funny splits are The biggest argument against the legitimaticy of these results. The biggest question is how would you cheat this many times and NOT get caught.

He did get caught, remember......2014 CIM.

Pay attention.

Hey, your real personality is showing. Frank DID NOT get caught at CIM, stupid. He was DQ'd for missing mats. There is no proof of anything else, stupid.

This is true. Runners miss mats all the time and don't get DQ'd. The mats could malfunction, etc.. It means nothing, could be bad luck.

When I said scrutiny is welcome, there was no accusation implied by me. It's a fantastic time, needs looked at.

So I looked at these 2019 results and photos and IMO it's legit.

He looks likes he's running the same speed as the other runners in the photos. The splits are rock solid.

Ed Whitlock was surprised more runners in their early 70s hadn't run sub-3. My last post here. Guy seems legit to me.

RI red wrote:

Roderick Powell wrote:

Frank ran a 39:35 10k last year. (at 69 years old) I thought at the time it was a tune-up race that was part of his training for an upcoming marathon.

Roderick, you have 13 posts so far in this thread, and you started it. Please tell us your connection with Frank and/or how you were so impressed with his performances? Do you train with him or race against him or know him personally?

Deer RI:

You have more than 100 post so far in this thread--a bunch of different names. Please tell us your connection with Scamwatcheroo. and you are so butt-hurt by this old man's performance?