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

Rossi responded to Runner's World. The article has been modified.

In an email to Newswire, Rossi reiterated the sentiments he made in May, writing, “The latest ‘article’… contains nothing new and features the same unfounded accusations and inaccurate analysis of the evidence that launched the original investigation. These allegations against me were fully investigated by the Via Marathon who found no evidence of any wrongdoing on my part.

“Many of the people behind these allegations are anonymous posters on a notoriously biased and sensationalist website,” Rossi continued.

Rossi said he has returned to light running after he spent 12 weeks rehabbing a torn gluteus medius tendon prior to the Boston Marathon in April.

Hey Mike, how about your anonymous posts. I'd love for the Brojos to now provide the IP address information they have showing that the vast majority of pro-Mike posts came from the same IP address.

LoserMikeRossi wrote:

somebloke wrote:

Please don't say tomato.

Wow, like you people have never had autocorrect on your iPhones screw you over?

More quotes from Kenny:

June 15 – "I am old and fat. I do not run. You're gonna have to read a little if you want to know why I'm here.

Sorry to inconvenience you."

“As I continue my rehabilitation, I hope to increase my running, and I look forward to one day running at my pre-injury level,” Rossi wrote. “I believe I will have no problem posting similar times.”

Rossi did not say whether he would accept the challenge from LetsRun.com, and Johnson said Rossi has not yet reached out to him about whether he intends to take him up on the offer.

Do you notice how Rossi has never said, "Hey, I ran the whole race, this is such bs". I don't think he has eve claimed to have run the whole race. He always states there are photos of him at the start and finish, and that he finished the race, and that LVM did not find evidence to DQ him. Has anyone found a statement he made saying he ran the whole race?

What Rossi meant to say: “The latest ‘article’… contains many of the same well-founded accusations and accurate analysis of the overwhelming evidence of my cheating that launched the original investigation. These allegations against me were fully ignored by the Via Marathon who found no evidence of any running at the 2014 race on my part, except at the very end. Nonetheless, I had my buddy who is a lawyer send them a threatening letter and they crumbled like a week-old cookie."

“Many of the people behind these allegations are anonymous posters on a website dedicated to runners, although some have identified themselves and are quite open about the fact that they know I am a cheater and a liar. These people are really smart, much smarter than the folks at the Via Marathon. I wasn't counting on getting this much scrutiny when I posted my letter to the principal (you saw the letter, right? It went viral!!!). Now, don't ask me anything about the $100,000 challenge, I don't want to talk about it.”

The race officials told the media that they would interview runners (watch the video posted above) but then did not do so. In the release they make it clear that the had no received any reports of wrongdoing. I called them liars. Perhaps that is harsh. They said they WOULD do something and then did not. Regardless, I will not share with Ken or anyone else the names of people I corresponded with. Call me a liar if you wish. They all told me that they didn't see Mike Rossi on the course at any time. Unfortunately they did not see him jump out or back in and it was clear that was the type of eye witness testimony the race officials wanted, so I moved on. These people don't need to be hounded, so the names will remain private.

However, here is an example of what I was told:

"I wish I could be more help (I'm familiar with the controversy and would love to see this guy get nailed), but I definitely didn't see anything as blatant as somebody slipping onto or off of the course. I do feel like I started out in a fairly open part of the pack, so I'm surprised that he registered the same start time as I did.

As you're probably aware, the first few miles of the course are basically just neighborhood streets with no barriers, so there would have been plenty of places someone could have snuck out. They didn't even forbid street parking on the course (I was not impressed with the race's organization).

I've seen Rossi's "finishing" photos and there was definitely nobody dressed like that anywhere near me..."

The most important thing and fact is whether any racers were in fact contacted by the Committee, which I know the ones I was privy to, none had been. Also, there was also a relay marathon going on at the same time so it would have been much easier to hop out and back in at the last relay point without raising any suspicion.

I don't think he's ever said that.

"These allegations against me were fully investigated by the Via Marathon who found no evidence of any wrongdoing on my part" means "I didn't get caught."

If you ran a marathon without cutting the course and were then accused of cheating, wouldn't you say something like, "I ran the entire distance?" Wouldn't that be the first thing most people would say?

An inquiring mind wrote:

As a final comment, the question isn't, as LVM frames it, whether "Rossi's time in the 2014 race is inaccurate," the question is whether Rossi ran the entire 26.2 miles of the 2014 race. If you are too dumb to know what the question is, you are highly unlikely to stumble upon the correct answer.

They aren't dumb. Reframing is a common political strategy.

One question returns a safe, reliable answer, the other has the possibility of creating more work and negative press. Of course the former will be chosen over the latter.

This is America at its finest: shortcuts, cheating and meager profits.

He is wrong. Their statement never said no evidence was found of any wrongdoing on his part. They said no conclusive evidence was presented that his time was inaccurate. In fact, they have some conclusive evidence of wrong doing because they also said that if ADDITIONAL conclusive evidence arises....

abingtonrunner wrote:

He is wrong. Their statement never said no evidence was found of any wrongdoing on his part. They said no conclusive evidence was presented that his time was inaccurate. In fact, they have some conclusive evidence of wrong doing because they also said that if ADDITIONAL conclusive evidence arises....

Actually on that one I think they simply forgot to add a comma. The statement should have read "Unless additional, conclusive evidence arises". I don't think they had any "conclusive evidence" in their possession. And by conclusive I mean evidence they deemed conclusive. I think the evidence presented so far is way beyond reasonable doubt let alone preponderance of evidence in the eyes of any rational human being. Some of thes rational human beings are willing to bet $100K on it.

I am now certain Mike will go to his grave - probably the same as his peer Rosie Ruiz (and others) - never coming clean. He is a disgusting excuse for a human being and a discredit to his gender.That said....Mike wins! I hope he enjoys a lifetime of being pointed out at races as The Cheat he is...if he ever "runs" one again. Perhaps he should investigate a racing wheelchair and go for the sympathy angle, start a foundation and spend the cash on more personalized Boston gear.

GregTR wrote:

abingtonrunner wrote:

He is wrong. Their statement never said no evidence was found of any wrongdoing on his part. They said no conclusive evidence was presented that his time was inaccurate. In fact, they have some conclusive evidence of wrong doing because they also said that if ADDITIONAL conclusive evidence arises....

Actually on that one I think they simply forgot to add a comma. The statement should have read "Unless additional, conclusive evidence arises". I don't think they had any "conclusive evidence" in their possession. And by conclusive I mean evidence they deemed conclusive. I think the evidence presented so far is way beyond reasonable doubt let alone preponderance of evidence in the eyes of any rational human being. Some of thes rational human beings are willing to bet $100K on it.

could get good wrote:

Imagine Rossi gets testosterone and EPO prescriptions, trains his ass of and runs 3:11. It's definitely possible. What would happen to this thread if he ran 3:11 and collected $100k while clearing his name? I reckon several of you would commit suicide (certainly Ken), as your lifes work will be all for naught. LetsRun would then be down $100k and facing lawsuits. It could mark the end of the website.

NOT possible. If he took testosterone and EPO and trained like crazy his man boobs would get even bigger, his hair plugs would fall out, and he might get down to 7 minute pace which isn't even close to the 20 minute 5K for $10K. He'll write a book "Never a Runner".

Speaking of noticing stuff, notice how long it takes to scroll through the page numbers on mobile? Definitely need a way to abbreviated that brojos.Back to our regularly scheduled riot...

Rossi is correct; he did nothing wrong.

Read the Lehigh Valley Marathon rules, and tell me where it says that a participant has to actually run every bit of the course, from start to finish, in order to be counted as a finisher, and to receive a finishing time.

Sure, we all ASSUME that you would have to run the entire course on foot, under your own power, to be counted as a finisher.

But by the letter of the Lehigh Valley Marathon rules, nothing prohibits activating your chip, hitching a ride to the finish line, and crossing the line to register a finishing time.

(Something that would prohibit this "course-cutting" strategy would be a phrase somewhere, ANYWHERE in their race documentation, that says something along the lines of "Participants must cover every inch of the course, on foot, under their own power, in order to be credited with finishing the race, and to receive an official finishing time.")

The wording of all of these statements continues to be carefully chosen, to avoid saying things like "ran the entire distance" because:

1. Rossi knows that he didn't actually run the entire distance. (Hence, the "no evidence of wrongdoing" statement, which sounds authoritative, but ultimately is vacuous, since cutting the course can't be "wrongdoing" if there's no rule against it.)

2. The Lehigh Valley Marathon knows that they don't have a rule that explicitly prohibits what Rossi likely did. As ugly and as wrong as it sounds, a shrewd lawyer (which Rossi may or may not have) could very well argue that no matter how Rossi managed to cross the finish line, he was still listed as a finisher, and received an official finishing time, which is all that really matters, in the absence of specific rules prohibiting certain means of achieving a finish.

To be clear, regardless of the legality of this, in my opinion, neither party is taking the moral "high ground" on this issue.

And that's the part that's infuriating everybody, that's generated 12,000+ posts about this.

But, like it or not, both Rossi and LVM are legally in the clear, and have no motivation to do anything differently than they've already done . . . provided that nobody can come up with a way to "shame" them into it. (What the BroJos have done as far as the reward money is a start, but not enough on its own to change anybody's mind about this.)

I bet if you ask the LVM, a reasonable, fair question about this, that they'd respond you have to run the entire course under your own power.

Oh for crying out loud. This is dumber than Ken's accomplice theory. The race is sanctioned and run under the USATF rules. The waiver states that the runner knows the rules and will follow them. It also states that the RD can disqualify anyone for any reason.

Roric's left toe wrote:

Oh for crying out loud. This is dumber than Ken's accomplice theory. The race is sanctioned and run under the USATF rules. The waiver states that the runner knows the rules and will follow them. It also states that the RD can disqualify anyone for any reason.

THIS!

this is the key wrote:

Rossi is correct; he did nothing wrong.

Read the Lehigh Valley Marathon rules, and tell me where it says that a participant has to actually run every bit of the course, from start to finish, in order to be counted as a finisher, and to receive a finishing time.

Sure. Right here on the waiver that Rossi signed:

"I agree to abide by any and all rulings of event officials, even if such ruling results in my disqualification. I have read and understand the rules set forth by the USTAF pertaining to long distance running and agree to abide by them."

What do you think the rules say about long distance running?

If you want to make a reasonable argument and tie it to the rules and the waiver, at least say that if they DQed Rossi he could pressure them to DQ a massive number of people for violating these rules:

"I understand that headphones, animals on or off leashes, bicycles, skates, skateboards, baby joggers/strollers, and bandit pacers are prohibited and violation will result in disqualification."

Note that it says, "will," and not "might" or "could." The headphones alone would allow him to review the photos and demand they DQ X number of runners.

But this is all nonsense and I'm sorry I got dragged into it.