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

What's going on with this article? It's like a broken English translation of Derek's original article.

"There have been different races with asymmetric pacing, and restricted pictures, however now not sufficient direct proof was once discovered, in my view, to write down about Frank till now."

Late start, eh? wrote:

OK, I only compared gun and chip times for first 100 finishers. Scanning the entire list of finishers, I do see 1:20 or so maximum difference. Still, Frank starts quite a while after.

Apart from Frank, amongst the top ten finishers the biggest differential was 20 seconds, Frank's was 2 minutes 22 seconds. Funny that. Doesn't seem to be official on course photos anywhere, but those would be par for the course too if there were with not too many of Frank.

BrokenEnglish wrote:

What's going on with this article? It's like a broken English translation of Derek's original article.

"There have been different races with asymmetric pacing, and restricted pictures, however now not sufficient direct proof was once discovered, in my view, to write down about Frank till now."

Someone took Derek's article and ran it through an article spinner, a program that replaces words with synonyms based on various rules in order to avoid plagiarism detection. If you assign essays to students, you learn to recognize the signs of it. The linked site may have no human writers or readers at all. All of its content may be stolen from other sites based on health-related keywords. The site may only exist to direct Google traffic and collect ad revenue.

Also, here's another reason FM may be starting races minutes after the gun goes off. In a small race where he's in danger of a podium finish, there might be bicyclists assigned to the first few male/female runners. Last year I ran a small marathon in a time close to FM's record, finished 2nd, and had a guy on a bicycle riding 25-50m ahead of me the whole way. If I had tried to cut the course, it would have been obvious. Starting slow gives FM a chance to see what security measures are in place. If there's a 2nd place or 3rd place bicyclist, he has to be sure not to finish ahead of them or get anywhere close to them, otherwise he's cooked.

frenetically striated wrote:

...

Also, here's another reason FM may be starting races minutes after the gun goes off. In a small race where he's in danger of a podium finish, there might be bicyclists assigned to the first few male/female runners

....

If there's a 2nd place or 3rd place bicyclist, he has to be sure not to finish ahead of them or get anywhere close to them, otherwise he's cooked.

Go back to page 39, 40, 41 where cyclists are discussed. Look closely at the photos. In particular, look at the cyclists huddled together in the background watching him finish. They can be found on Strava. Did they know but not say anything?

The Long Beach mystery....

some of the photos MI had of runners have been replaced with ad photos

BrokenEnglish wrote:

What's going on with this article? It's like a broken English translation of Derek's original article.

"There have been different races with asymmetric pacing, and restricted pictures, however now not sufficient direct proof was once discovered, in my view, to write down about Frank till now."

It’s a crap site, takes the feed from my article and post them as their own. I need to change my RSS feed settings to prevent this.

Par for the course. wrote:

Apart from Frank, amongst the top ten finishers the biggest differential was 20 seconds, Frank's was 2 minutes 22 seconds. Funny that. Doesn't seem to be official on course photos anywhere, but those would be par for the course too if there were with not too many of Frank.

same with SCM 2013, 2min40secs diff, 7th, others max 9sec

Frank started so late at the Santa Clarita 2017 Marathon that he started last by a good 30 seconds. 201 Carol Tang Culver City, CA 219 5:31:58 12:40 F 55-59/9 F-55 56 5:33:16 49.47%

202 Boris Zhitomirsky Los Angeles, CA 254 5:32:15 12:41 M 50-54/18 M-51 146 5:32:43 41.66%

203 Haydee Sanchez Burbank, CA 452 5:32:49 12:42 F 40-44/7 F-40 57 5:32:55 41.95%

204 Robert Manon Chino, CA 134 5:33:06 12:43 M 45-49/20 M-47 147 5:34:00 40.15%

205 Christine Waldron Castaic, CA 236 5:33:56 12:45 F 45-49/9 F-46 58 5:35:01 43.97%

206 Rene Mendoza Los Angeles, CA 148 5:34:56 12:47 M 40-44/18 M-44 148 5:35:06 38.94%

207 Mark Michel Alta Loma, CA 152 5:37:38 12:53 M 30-34/15 M-33 149 5:38:21 36.46%

208 Daniel Jarashow Pasadena, CA 100 5:38:21 12:55 M 30-34/16 M-34 150 5:38:21 36.44%

209 Barbara Lomax Vista, CA 130 5:39:12 12:57 F 50-54/1 F-51 59 5:40:01 45.96%

210 Stanley Matalon Los Angeles, CA 140 5:39:39 12:58 M 70-99/2 M-70 151 5:40:00 48.89%

211 Szilard Gyalay Moorpark, CA 86 5:40:43 13:00 M 45-49/21 M-49 152 5:41:37 39.92%

212 Kaitlyn Bailey Granada Hills, CA 15 5:42:14 13:04 F 16-24/7 F-16 60 5:43:33 41.22%

213 Jade Chen Granada Hills, CA 40 5:42:14 13:04 F 16-24/8 F-16 61 5:43:33 41.22%

214 Tessa Lucero Canyon Country, CA 132 5:43:17 13:06 F 50-54/2 F-54 62 5:44:26 47.21%

215 Alison Koerper North Hollywood, CA 113 5:43:19 13:06 F 40-44/8 F-44 63 5:43:51 41.94%

216 Maria Cervantes Hesperia, CA 33 5:44:47 13:09 F 30-34/8 F-31 64 5:44:55 39.29%

217 Martin Zhang Oceanside, CA 253 5:45:49 13:12 M 16-24/10 M-19 153 5:45:51 35.56%

218 Miguel Garcia La Puente, CA 78 5:46:12 13:13 M 65-69/5 M-65 154 5:46:39 45.57%

219 Taylor Kellstrom Stevenson Rnh, CA 107 5:46:21 13:13 M 25-29/18 M-27 155 5:46:52 35.50%

220 Isa Tan Houston, TX 218 5:47:01 13:15 M 35-39/32 M-38 156 5:47:21 36.02%

221 Ronald Eichler Bakersfield, CA 6 5:48:04 13:17 M 70-99/3 M-71 157 5:48:27 48.23%

222 Carol Wolfe Ridgecrest, CA 458 5:49:07 13:19 F 55-59/10 F-57 65 5:50:34 48.33%

223 Raymond Zaragoza Azusa, CA 250 5:49:54 13:21 M 40-44/19 M-41 158 5:50:24 36.38%

224 Salya Mohamedy Los Angeles, CA 154 5:52:37 13:27 F 50-54/3 F-52 66 5:53:39 44.78%

225 Leilani Wrbanek San Marcos, CA 244 5:53:22 13:29 F 40-44/9 F-40 67 5:53:22 39.51%

226 Larry Harris Chatsworth, CA 460 5:54:36 13:32 M 45-49/22 M-45 159 5:55:07 37.09%

227 Jaymeen Desai West Hills, CA 58 5:55:45 13:35 M 40-44/20 M-40 160 5:55:45 35.54%

228 Christian Powers Quartz Hill, CA 179 5:56:04 13:35 M 25-29/19 M-26 161 5:56:45 34.53%

229 Hara Sahani Valencia, CA 195 5:56:16 13:36 M 35-39/33 M-39 162 5:56:16 35.27%

230 Romeo Jr De Guzman Los Angeles, CA 450 5:56:38 13:37 M 25-29/20 M-26 163 5:57:30 34.48%

231 Lora Tanner Lancaster, CA 220 5:56:44 13:37 F 35-39/9 F-35 68 5:56:44 38.25%

232 Astrid Arostegui Sn Bernrdno, CA 470 5:57:23 13:38 F 50-54/4 F-53 69 5:57:30 44.76%

233 Vasilios Mantis Santa Clarita, CA 135 6:04:46 13:55 M 50-54/19 M-53 164 6:06:08 38.62%

234 Leo Lucido Sylmar, CA 133 6:05:07 13:56 M 35-39/34 M-38 165 6:05:25 34.23%

235 Darryl C Davis Cincinnati, OH 51 6:12:49 14:14 M 65-69/6 M-65 166 6:14:20 42.31%

236 Anise Evans Sherman Oaks, CA 67 6:14:10 14:17 F 55-59/11 F-55 70 6:14:10 43.89%

237 Autumn Chenette Thousand Oaks, CA 41 6:15:30 14:20 F 16-24/9 F-19 71 6:16:19 36.16%

238 Kristi Chenette Thousand Oaks, CA 42 6:15:31 14:20 F 45-49/10 F-49 72 6:16:19 40.49%

239 Jose Ma Perez San Marino, CA 447 6:26:17 14:44 M 50-54/20 M-50 167 6:27:47 35.52%

240 Selene Perez San Marino, CA 446 6:27:00 14:46 F 45-49/11 F-47 73 6:27:47 38.36%

241 Mary Jellison Newhall, CA 451 6:27:42 14:48 F 55-59/12 F-59 74 6:27:42 44.75%

242 Steven Reti Santa Clarita, CA 435 6:31:05 14:55 M 50-54/21 M-54 168 6:32:20 36.35%

243 Armando Soto Granada Hills, CA 212 7:19:31 16:46 M 70-99/4 M-73 169 7:19:43 39.18%

244 Rachel Zuluaga Canyon Cntry, CA 467 7:26:25 17:02 F 30-34/9 F-30 75 7:26:27 30.34%

245 Alex Cervantes Gardena, CA 34 7:51:23 17:59 M 16-24/11 M-17 170 7:52:20 26.30%

246 Linda Burrows Valencia, CA 258 7:53:54 18:05 F 60-64/5 F-63 76 7:54:18 38.79%

247 Rawlins Jordan Santa Clarita, CA 5 7:53:54 18:05 M 70-99/5 M-74 171 7:54:18 36.87% Marathon (Frank Meza details)

Runner Details Race Results

Bib: 151

Name: Frank Meza

Gender: M

Age: 68

Hometown: South Pasadena, CA

Overall: 3 out of 247

Men: 3 out of 171

M 65-69: 1 out of 6

Age/Grade: 89.85% Place: 1

Finish: 3:01:00 Pace: 6:55

Chip Time: 3:01:00

Gun Time: 3:02:49

Split Times

5.5 Mile: 36:05 Pace: 6:34

15.3 Mile: 1:41:51 Pace: 6:40

21.5 Mile: 2:23:35 Pace: 6:41

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Quote from TFBubendorfer from the website "BOARDS.IE":

"No, this is way worse. That guy is "running" age-group world records, receiving prizes for age group wins and possibly sponsorship money as well. All that should have gone to honest runners, not a fraud.

This isn't just some sad idiot cheating, this is a criminal in my eyes."

Long Beach Lead Female Cyclists wrote:

frenetically striated wrote:

...

Also, here's another reason FM may be starting races minutes after the gun goes off. In a small race where he's in danger of a podium finish, there might be bicyclists assigned to the first few male/female runners

....

If there's a 2nd place or 3rd place bicyclist, he has to be sure not to finish ahead of them or get anywhere close to them, otherwise he's cooked.

Go back to page 39, 40, 41 where cyclists are discussed. Look closely at the photos. In particular, look at the cyclists huddled together in the background watching him finish. They can be found on Strava. Did they know but not say anything?

The Long Beach mystery....

It's possible that a cyclist spotted something by accident, but it seems like they could easily have missed FM. The cyclist's attention is going to be directed forward most of the time, and after that checking back every so often to look back on the runner they're assigned to, and only noticing other runners after that. If Mary Akor and the cyclist passed FM at some point, he's just one more male runner crashing hard after going out too fast. As long as she doesn't pass him a second time, FM might go unnoticed.

Then again, the 10-second finishing differential might have gotten too close. If Mary Akor passed FM around 10K, and he finished so close behind her, she must have passed him shortly before the finish. In that case, there's a good chance of a cyclist noticing something was off.

Update from Derek

https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/2019/06/frank-meza-additional-evidence-la-marathon-course-cutting.html

Wow. Two episodes of Meza reentering the course shortly before consecutive timing mats (20k and 25k).

Is Derek eligible for a Pulitzer Prize?

OVERWHELMING! Let there be no question in anyone's mind now. Great work, Derek!

My offer still stands beyond the 2 first DQ's.

Damn, he almost took out that wheelchair athlete too.

The wheelchair almost took him out.

It is clear that objections are no longer possible and Derek did a fantastic job. In the video you can see the good doctor standing on the sidewalk, a bit hidden, and waiting a while, better said, he has all the time in the world (45 seconds in the video, just doing nothing) and enters the course again in a seemingly fitting moment. An impudence. No record is possible with such a behavior. LAM has to disqualify him. This is owed to all athletes.

Reposting from Derek's site a few things I spotted.

In the video he was stood there for forty five seconds before he started running and I notice that the competitors passing him have to take a wide sweep around the junction keeping to the right of the yellow line in the road.

Frank enters and completly cuts this corner running diagonally and saving himself maybe twenty metres. Not only that there are five marshalls stood right there. Four behind where he enters the course and one just after whom he runs towards and then past. How in hell didn’t that raise a flag? He obviously entered the race right under their noses.

Even if he hadn’t clearly just jumped into the race and cheated, he cut the course by missing that corner which everyone else had to navigate. Crazy.

doubler wrote:

The wheelchair almost took him out.

If only...

doubler wrote:

The wheelchair almost took him out.

Derek, does this put the good doctor in the No. 1 all-time spot?