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

I've run this half 4 of the last 5 years. It would be so easy to cheat. They have a relay and the relay exchange zones are easily accessible by car. The last one in a park. That was probably his re entry point.

geetar wrote:

Way to go LR

I freakin HATE a cheater, especially one that heaps that much attention on himself.

What? Internet fame is a win!! Details, shmetails.

We need another letter that ignores basic rules. He did it for the Nike and God and Country and Thomas Jefferson or something...

This guy's story arch is the perfect metaphor for America in 2015. Just perfect.

Checked the LV marathon photo lost and found and didn't find him there either.

I hope Allentown is watching and will invest in another timing mat or two.

The Allentown course is not fast. Much of it is on dirt and a lot of that is on double track fire roads. Boston even on a warm day was quite a bit faster for me. This looks more than suspicious and the lack of photos seems to nail it.

Yet the race site claims it's "second fastest marathon in the country", and something like 20+ percent of runners qualify.

Wondering how many take a highway. This is bush league.

Like most runners I know, if anyone ever questioned my marathon times, I'd have the splits, photos and GPS file as proof. I'd post them first-thing on my blog rather than turn my blog private and delete comments. Especially if I were in the national media. End of discussion.

Sure, GPS watches can malfunction/die, timing mats can fail, photographers can have problems. But it's pretty rare for all three to just happen to occur at the race of your life.

If he cheated, I wonder what he told his friends and family when he "qualified" for Boston and how he could live for months having people pat him on the back. And then, as others said, to invite scrutiny by sending your letter to the principal to the media.

From a Facebook group he is in:

Mike Rossi: These allegations are completely FALSE. I battled through several injuries in the past 2 years and trained extremely hard throughout to overcome these injuries and keep running. My biggest problem was trying to run too many races in short periods of time, without ever properly recovering. My times suffered. But during the summer of 2014 I concentrated solely on training for Lehigh Valley (with the exception of a couple 5ks). It was literally the only major race I have done where I was 100% healthy. I am proud of my accomplishments. I am not going to get into a back-and-forth battle with a blogger and a few anonymous people on some message boards who want to play internet detective and make conclusions without knowing me or being around me every day to watch how hard I trained and worked to get that BQ. This is all I have to say on this issue.

If he trained soo hard he should show us at least one run prior to the marathon where he ran further than 5k at MP...literally Dbags like that don't delete there date for no reason and todays watches will store years worth of runs..

Dude is a POS and no way did he run 3:11...

He just needs to show some runs that even compare to the training required to run a 3:11... He won't because he doesn't have any.

I honestly think it would be easier to cheat at a marathon than to somehow run the entire race and not show up in at least one picture somewhere along the course, with the exception of the start and finish lines.

If you weren't purposely avoiding the photographers, the odds would be astronomical for there not to be a picture of you running the race. Even if your number was obscured, you would show up in another runner's picture. If you were avoiding pictures on purpose, you would have to know where every photographer was and jump off the course to avoid them, which is completely nonsensical.

He must have cheated.

Total BS.

...if he'd have anything else to say on this matter if the mainstream media, which he clearly cannot get enough of, starts knocking on his door.

Let's see the GPS files showing how hard he worked. If there weren't any races that indicated he could run 3:11, what about workout data? When he wants to prove he's a bad a-- standing up to a school principal, he gives the media a copy of his letter and a copy of the principal's letter as proof. When he gets asked about an extreme outlier of a race result, he plays the injury card.

"If you weren't purposely avoiding the photographers"

I could see this guy hiring his own photographers to be on the course before ever trying to avoid a photo op.

Yep...can't stand this cheat.

IFartinYourGeneralDirection wrote:

From a Facebook group he is in:

Mike Rossi: I am proud of my accomplishments. I am not going to get into a back-and-forth battle with a blogger and a few anonymous people on some message boards who want to play internet detective and make conclusions without knowing me or being around me every day to watch how hard I trained and worked to get that BQ. This is all I have to say on this issue.

Good find.

No way. Someone with a GPS watch/Nike plus, Twitter, and active blog would have way more evidence and defiance. If you were in the shape of your life, you would have had way more talk about your BQ race way before and after, especially with a huge gap above the minimum qual time. Your family and any training partners, or those that listened insufferably during the training cycle, would be there to defend you. No way would you call Philly a "Great day" 2 months later when it was half an hour slower than your BQ. No way would you post Philly split results and then just a one-line twitter response when you actually BQ'ed.

This has more of a direct effect on an average recreational runner than a winner doping because it most definitely takes a slot away from a qualified person.

The wording of the above post, and Twitter language, suggests a person who has reconciled his own lies in rationalization: Hey, I finished Boston, so it's all good.

You are not part of the tribe.

Link to his twitter if you'd like to blow it up with cheating allegations

https://twitter.com/mikerossi22

Reading this just makes me want to see his world come crashing down even harder. Something tells me that his kids are about to learn a life lesson way more valuable than their Boston trip. This guy has no concept of what his cheater did and how he stole a spot from an actual qualifier.

He Must have forgot about the ODDyssey 1/2 marathon he ran in June 2014 in 1:47:03, almost a full minute slower than his BQ at Lehigh.

You don't need a good memory when you tell the truth....

[quote]IFartinYourGeneralDirection wrote:

From a Facebook group he is in:

Mike Rossi: But during the summer of 2014 I concentrated solely on training for Lehigh Valley (with the exception of a couple 5ks).

Check out the comments from the philly.com article below (keep up the great work LRC!!!):

It appears (but is not guaranteed) that Mike may have cheated and not actually run the qualifying time that got him into Boston. None of his other race results suggest anything close to a 3:11 marathon is possible, and unlike almost any other competitor there is only one picture of him running on the course (near the finish). I guess it is possible he ran a time that no other race he's ever run suggests is possible and all the photographers along the way missed him, but it seems awfully fish.

Mr. Rossi you are a fraud who should be ashamed of himself for being such a poor role model. You are an embarrassment to your family and a disgrace to runners everywhere. Cheating gets you nowhere and until any evidence is provided you are a complete fraud. Everyone who has ever loved you is wrong.

Please provide proof that you legitimately qualified for Boston. We have been in contact with race directors and they are also investigating into the matter.

There is absolutely no chance that Mr. Rossi legitimately qualified for the Boston Marathon. he claims to have run the pace for 42km, which he can only hold for 5km. It is sad to see someone cheat their way into a "lifetime opportunity"

Mike, you took my spot at Boston by cheating. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Not cool dude. Could you respond please???

Your story on Mike Rossi is very puzzling he got his Boston Qualifying time from 2014 Lehigh Valley Marathon which he ran a 3:11 the only problem is there is only pictures of him crossing the finish line none on the course with his fast time he ran there should be over a dozen or so pictures of him throughout the corse ( almost all the runners who ran the course have over a dozen or so pictures ) plus the major problem most fast runner are looking at his past race times on

http://www.athlinks.com/athlet

... the math does not add up , if you show any coach or fast runners his past race times they would say NO WAY

he a cheat and attention seeker trying to be in the spotlight