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

TrailGirl wrote:

My thoughts are as the deadline gets closer, he will resort to what we all know he has done, and that is to cheat again. He could even mod the GPX data to supply as back up.

Exactly as I thought. The closer we get to the deadline the more desperate he is to cheat. He tried today, but failed terribly. The question was asked "Why start at the back of the pack" Simple-to cheat. If you have confidence in your ability, or are going all out for your PR, you line up in the front.

He will get more daring as the end of the year draws near. If he gets caught, big deal-everyone already knows his as a cheater, but if he can do it without getting caught...In his simple mind that is redemption for his 3:11. We all know it is not. All these failures simply add the evidence that he cheated.

Their are two things very odd about his race. He posted a twitter picture at the start and he was about 10-15 rows of people deep, definitely not 40 seconds worth of time at the start. Second that he has a 40 sec gap between gun and chip when everyone else has 8 at most, many are 2-3 OR ZERO!

I used to time races. One theory I have is that he has someone else hold his chips, he could take them off his number or not wear them on his shoe. Since he is training and knows how fast he can run a 5k (he seems to do one every other day in training.) he tells the person to go by the mats at a set time after the start.

The issue with this is, is as a timer, you set a point where you give generic chip times for a starter (I waited 10 seconds after the last person in the starting group crossed the start line (this was so that if anyone came really late, couldn't run the fastest time and win versus someone who actually led the whole race, and argue that their chip time was fastest even though the awards said based off gun time.))

When the generic chip time is given, the timer will still register you as starting but give you a chip time start that is actually not the time you started, the timer is also not in finish mode yet as to not count that person crossing as a finisher, but still a starter.

If this occurred, the person who has his chips could cross the line after a minute 15, but the chip time only shows it was after 38 seconds.

Its also odd that he posted a picture of him finishing and said results soon. If you are running for time, you would bring a watch to make sure you were on pace. His twitter posts leaves me feeling he wasn't sure what his chip time was really going to be.

There's a 42 second gun/chip differential for Mikey.

Check the gun/chip differential for the LAST 10 finishers (basically walkers).

734 - 52:16 53:01 = 45

735 - 52:23 53:08 = 45

736 - 52:28 53:11 = 43

737 - 52:39 53:24 = 45

738 - 55:08 55:44 = 34

739 - 55:12 55:44 = 32

740 - 57:09 57:46 = 37

741 - 57:38 58:22 = 44

742 - 57:51 58:33 = 42

743 - 57:52 58:33 = 41

Going any higher in the finishers there are quickly many with differentials more like 10-20 seconds. It was a very deliberate effort to take 42 seconds to get across the start line.

VERY Kipspicious

If this is the map, plenty of ways to cheat. That difference between chip and clock time screams cheater. I'd expect nothing less from our hero. Or would that be nothing more?

Ha ha ... He deleted his Results soon' tweet. He thought he had it. Another miscalculation Mike!

Mike already deleted the finish line pic. I bet he seriously didn't know what his chip time was until results were posted. Since he didn't run the route and all.

Actual LOL!

Holy crap, this guy is an even bigger idiot than I imagined. Not only did he try to pull off another "slip out and in" race cheating effort, but he misjudged the timing again. You can't get more stuuupid than this guy.

One thing also that doesn't sit well with me, he never announced he was running this race, the LRC found it.

The Kip style start is weird and I think cheating is highly likely.

If this was an all out effort which it may have been given all the Twitter crap Mike has posted in the last week or so. This is game set match.

But I said earlier in the week that if he could break 20:30 he had a shot. I stand by that but I would put the odds at 1:5 vs the nearly impossible before today.

The question is really did he hit is VO2 Max today. Mike if you felt sick at the finish you probably need to admit defeat, but if not you can maybe knock a little more time off.

This is all assuming you didn't cheat today, and no offense but 40+seconds looks weird as hell in chip/gun difference.

If Mike you want to settle this with no doubts, tell the owners of this site you will accept their challenge and run the 5K on a track with them there.

Given the size of the field and the course, what would that first mile look like starting at the very back? Lots of weaving around folks or even possible to get around all the over 7 min/mile folks?

Well done Mike. We are confounded by your antics.

Mike wins!!

rexthebex wrote:

Mike already deleted the finish line pic. I bet he seriously didn't know what his chip time was until results were posted. Since he didn't run the route and all.

Actual LOL!

I guess Mike doesn't understand that most runners can ballpark their time within a second at the end of a race. You start your watch when you cross the start line, and stop it when you cross the finish. Works every time, even if you start an hour after the gun goes off. But as you said, I guess not actually running the race is what's confusing him.

Mike, you are driving out to New Jersey to cheat at a turkey trot. You gotta get a life, man.

I'd love to hear from some of the finishers around him to see if they saw someone jump back in the course. It's close enough to race day unlike LVM where someone might remember it.

Someone needs to email the RD of this race today and let him know that there are suspicions that a certain runner cheated in his race. There may be ways he can look into it and the sooner he starts that process, the better.

Epic FAIL Cheater Mike!

You gotta cheat mo bettah!

DELETE DELETE DELETE

If I were Mike, I wouldn't even bother with telling the owners of the site. I'd go to a track with my kids in tow and have them chase me on a bike with a video camera for 12.5 laps. This way, rather than have the running community mock me every time i publicly fail in an actual 5k race, I can try as many times as I want and then post the one time that I succeed. There would be no questioning the video. Of course, this is what I would do if someone was offering me $10k and I was capable of running a 20 min 5k. If I wasn't, I 'd probably cheat, by being one of the last people to cross the start line, step off the course and then wait 19 some odd minutes, step back on the course and then cross the finish line.

The fact that he actually thought he had it at the end, pretty much guarantees that he didn't run the course. With a watch and km markers, it would be easy to know at 4 different locations whether you were ahead or behind (4:00 min/km), nice round numbers and easy to calculate. That he was 25 seconds off at the end and didn't know it is very telling.

I agree with all the above. Aside from being pathetic, his antics today give a lot of insight into how he cheated at Via and why his math was similarly off on that day.

This whole escapade increases the likelihood he may have someone coordinating his cheating efforts with him or he is simply slipping off the course ala Kip. This illustrates the importance of actually having someone from the LR community run these races alongside him or notifying race directors to his presence ahead of time - while he clearly is struggling to get his math correct during these cheating efforts at shorter distances, he's also growing increasingly desperate and driving all over the region in order to try and get the Brojos' cash. It's sad, in a way, but he's put such a public (and pathologic) face, smearing people from the get go, starting with his letter to the principal, that he knows time is running out and the LR cafeteria is preparing to serve crow.

No shortcuts wrote:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/us/golden-triangle-nj/haddont-towsnhip-turkey-trot-route-1251768

If this is the map, plenty of ways to cheat. That difference between chip and clock time screams cheater. I'd expect nothing less from our hero. Or would that be nothing more?

Crystal Lake looks like a nice little shortcut.

No shortcuts wrote:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/us/golden-triangle-nj/haddont-towsnhip-turkey-trot-route-1251768

If this is the map, plenty of ways to cheat. That difference between chip and clock time screams cheater. I'd expect nothing less from our hero. Or would that be nothing more?

This seems to be this years' course: This guy finished 2 places behind our hero.

"Great 5K in my old hometown. Rough start. Shoe malfunction. Made up some serious time. Turned ankle after race. Ugh "

9:45 AM - 28 Nov 2015

Shoe malfunction! You blowhard, I'm starting to think your name isn't even Mike Rossi. Do you EVER tell the truth?

Uzhorod wrote:

No shortcuts wrote:http://www.mapmyrun.com/us/golden-triangle-nj/haddont-towsnhip-turkey-trot-route-1251768

If this is the map, plenty of ways to cheat. That difference between chip and clock time screams cheater. I'd expect nothing less from our hero. Or would that be nothing more?

This seems to be this years' course: This guy finished 2 places behind our hero.

https://www.strava.com/activities/440809758

We can officially disregard the whole "this is a hilly course" stuff.