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

Does Bart Yasso still work for Runner's World? Can the Brojos please send him an official interview request? I would like to hear his thoughts. If Yasso doesn't care about cheaters and only wants races to make money for charity, fine, but I'd like to know that upfront so I can avoid any races he is associated with.

Bart Yasso has really gotten a pass in this whole fiasco.

No shortcuts wrote:Ken is definitely unstable, but Rossi has problems of his own. Awhile ago, Cecily Tynan's tweeted that someone set up a fake Facebook account using a female, Latina persona for the sole purpose of posting nasty messages to her page. Without using his actual name, she make it quite clear who she thought was responsible.

Every time Rossi has an opportunity to take the high road, he doubles down on being an a-hole. He loves the attention, even if it's negative. He just can't help being a childish self-absorbed jerk.

I've almost come to sympathy for him a few times, but he does something to reinforce that he's an a-hole.

wejo wrote:

Thread restored.

I had no idea it was gone. We may lock it at some time but for now it is open, registration required to post.

Just have to make sure Ken doesn't come back, and this thread can live forever.

somebloke wrote:

wejo wrote:

Thread restored.

I had no idea it was gone. We may lock it at some time but for now it is open, registration required to post.

Just have to make sure Ken doesn't come back, and this thread can live forever.

Agreed. Everyone must promise not to tip off Ken that the thread is back. Please, please, please!

Is not Barb McKeever the RD and would have authority as such to DQ without committee or anyone else's input? I know they want no one to be held accountable but she IS responsible as the RD.If Yasso wants to still praise her then he is an idiot; I don't think he is so what else is going on.

rexthebex wrote:

Does Bart Yasso still work for Runner's World? Can the Brojos please send him an official interview request? I would like to hear his thoughts. If Yasso doesn't care about cheaters and only wants races to make money for charity, fine, but I'd like to know that upfront so I can avoid any races he is associated with.

Bart Yasso has really gotten a pass in this whole fiasco.

If Bart wanted Mike Rossi to be DQ'ed, it would have happened.

Sure Barb is incompetent. But she is some peeon RD at a backwater marathon with a joke of a course that no one really cares about.

Bart Yasso promotes himself as an "Ambassador of the Sport" or whatever and gets paid speaking gigs at marathons all over the country.

If Bart Yasso as even 2% of the backbone of Hal Higdon then Mike Rossi would have been DQ'ed long ago and we would have all forgotten about it by now.

At this point, it's actually worse for Mikey that he wasn't DQ'ed. Now it never dies.

Has this been mentioned yet? LVM numbers were down this year.

2015 Finishers

Marathon - 944

Half Marathon - 894

Marathon Relay - 177

2014 Finishers

Marathon - 1065

Half Marathon - 1003

Marathon Relay - 231

338LM wrote:

Has this been mentioned yet? LVM numbers were down this year.

2015 Finishers

Marathon - 944

Half Marathon - 894

Marathon Relay - 177

2014 Finishers

Marathon - 1065

Half Marathon - 1003

Marathon Relay - 231

interesting data. another big race happened on the very same date, Erie. I wonder if that one saw an increase in the number of participants.

Whyamihere wrote:

wejo wrote:

Thread restored.

I had no idea it was gone. We may lock it at some time but for now it is open, registration required to post.

You might want to check up on your mods from time to time, Rojo. They are ruining this board.

I seriously consider writing my second screen scraper for this forum just to prove a certain mod's behaviours.

(My first was a one-page-per-thread a blocker that didn't gain traction.)

Erie Marathon - marathon only in 2015

2015 Finishers

Marathon - 1521

2014 Finishers

Marathon - 959

Half Marathon - 1967

Don't know that it is a good comparison, but I would say LVM definitely didn't pull the potential half participants from Erie.

338LM wrote:

Has this been mentioned yet? LVM numbers were down this year.

2015 Finishers

Marathon - 944

Half Marathon - 894

Marathon Relay - 177

Total = 2015

2014 Finishers

Marathon - 1065

Half Marathon - 1003

Marathon Relay - 231

Total = 2299

2013 Finishers

Marathon - 1363

Half Marathon - 895

Marathon Relay - 258

Total = 2515

Dropped from '13 to '14 also. Wouldn't attribute drop to Rossi issue.

Agreed, but there were people who posted in this thread stating that LVM would go up in numbers because of the publicity, albeit negative. The fact is that the race has been in steady decline. I do wonder how much affect the Rossi issue had, if any in the continuation of that.

elephino wrote:

338LM wrote:

Has this been mentioned yet? LVM numbers were down this year.

2015 Finishers

Marathon - 944

Half Marathon - 894

Marathon Relay - 177

Total = 2015

2014 Finishers

Marathon - 1065

Half Marathon - 1003

Marathon Relay - 231

Total = 2299

2013 Finishers

Marathon - 1363

Half Marathon - 895

Marathon Relay - 258

Total = 2515

Dropped from '13 to '14 also. Wouldn't attribute drop to Rossi issue.

There was probably some minor drop off in numbers due to the Rossi controversy, but nothing significant or measurable.

I've never run this race, but just by reading the course description, I know it's a race I wouldn't run. First, it's point to point, which complicates getting to the start and/or back to the finish, and that's a hassle I'd just rather not deal with. For Boston, sure, but not a small marathon like Lehigh. Second, I know I wouldn't like the course: 13 miles paved road; 10.4 miles cinder trail; .40 miles dirt trail; 2.4 miles paved bike trail. Per the description, for some small portions, you actually have to run on the grass. Blah.

if you drive from the start to the end then all this concern about the surface is moot. right, mike?

rexthebex wrote:

somebloke wrote:

Just have to make sure Ken doesn't come back, and this thread can live forever.

Agreed. Everyone must promise not to tip off Ken that the thread is back. Please, please, please!

Indeed.

From what I can see, Ken told Mike to kill himself, said Mike's wife was a slut, and hoped Mike's kids would get bullied and have no friends in school.

Then he said was standing up to a bully.

This was all after the thread got shut down . . . he is still posting about Mike on a daily basis it seems.

If LMR ever tries to post here again, the mods have no good reason not to ban him for life.

wejo wrote:

Thread restored.

I had no idea it was gone. We may lock it at some time but for now it is open, registration required to post.

I find it hard to believe that you had no idea that the thread was gone - for an entire month, no less. It was consistently atop the forum for months on end. Also, every single thread where a poster so much as mentioned Rossi, even if there was no reference to him in the title, was promptly deleted.

I was looking forward to the build-up to this year's VIA Marathon, to see if there would be any antics put on by Letsrunners at this year's race. Were there any, by the way?

I'm also skeptical that temporarily taking down the thread will be a solution to the Ken Stillman problem. He is completely obsessed with Rossi and probably Googles this thread hourly to see if it's back up. I'm sure that he'll be back - possibly posting under a new user name, so as to avoid the permanent shutting down of the thread.

Wejo,

If you say that you may at some point lock the thread, you are giving Mike the opportunity to post about his own wife and kids, perhaps from different IP addresses, and torpedo the thread.

Based on his behavior over these past few months, we have every reason to believe that he would put his own ego above the welfare of his family. Nearly all posters have been respectful about not bringing up Mike's family and I would request that, if a poster does cross the line, you ban their IP rather than locking the thread.

If you lock it, Rossi wins.

This and the fact Rossi will try to encourage Ken to post about his family, which he was clearly doing on twitter. Mike wants to deflect from his cheating.

Fire Barb McKeever! wrote:

Wejo,

If you say that you may at some point lock the thread, you are giving Mike the opportunity to post about his own wife and kids, perhaps from different IP addresses, and torpedo the thread.

Based on his behavior over these past few months, we have every reason to believe that he would put his own ego above the welfare of his family. Nearly all posters have been respectful about not bringing up Mike's family and I would request that, if a poster does cross the line, you ban their IP rather than locking the thread.

If you lock it, Rossi wins.

338LM wrote:

Has this been mentioned yet? LVM numbers were down this year.

2015 Finishers

Marathon - 944

Half Marathon - 894

Marathon Relay - 177

2014 Finishers

Marathon - 1065

Half Marathon - 1003

Marathon Relay - 231

Across the USA, marathon entrant/finisher numbers are down 2015 vs 2014. The LVM seems to be pretty similar to what the industry in general is seeing. I only have stats through the end of June. At that time, 9 of the top 25 largest from 2014 had occurred, and 5 of those were down in numbers (Boston, Grandma's, RnR San Diego, Flying Pig, Austin) with 4 increased (LA, Disney, Houston, Bataan Memorial). Outside the Top 25, decreases are more dramatic, with 8 or the next 9 largest down. The RnR marathons were all down (San Diego, AZ, RnR USA, Raleigh, Country Music, Seattle) - not sure if their associated half marathons were down or up. LVM looks to me to be about average for numbers given the trend.