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

Triathleteguru wrote:

Reported it to DQ Events, they are going to look into it:

http://imgur.com/WR8EkrP

DQ Events' first thought: "what kind of idiot would cheat at a stupid Turkey Trot?"

Multivitamin wrote:

Triathleteguru wrote:

Reported it to DQ Events, they are going to look into it:

http://imgur.com/WR8EkrP

DQ Events' first thought: "what kind of idiot would cheat at a stupid Turkey Trot?"

Answer: Not just any idiot...

I have to think that no race director wants to be lumped in with the inept Barb McKeever.

I also wonder how she remains relatively clean here. I refuse to race in any of her events.

LMR wrote:

Uzhorod wrote:

Part of the mismatch between you and this forum might be that people are not primarily interested in anything outside of his antics around running races.

Riiiiight. If you've been reading long enough you know this statement isn't entirely true. Long before I came along and during some of my sabbaticals from this thread people have made extensive jokes and comments about his DJing, family life, children, marriage, hair plugs, etc.

Maybe you missed the word 'primarily' here. It may be true that the conversation goes in certain directions when the amount of running-related news is limited. But your priorities become painfully obvious when Mike actually provides running-related discussion points. He runs a 5k, possibly cheats and still you manage to bring up his activities as a wedding-whatever.

I cannot put it any clearer. Hope you see the difference.

For anyone who wants to take a look at the full data set, I've posted a CSV version here:

http://pastebin.com/rn6rUMJt

Just download and import into your favorite spreadsheet. It shows every runner sorted by the difference between chip time and gun time. The first runner is the one who crossed the starting line last, 50 seconds after the gun.

That guy with the yellow shirt is the same guy behind who we think might be Mike on the other blog photos. However, in that picture you don't see the guy with the black cap and black shirt. If it was Mike then he moved up closer to the mat, not further back, before the gun went off.

I changed your time data to HH:MM:SS to make things a little easier

http://pastebin.com/Pm7eRkB9

In the photos facing the start line, there is a group of people in the background standing on some sort of hill... not unlike a grassy knoll. Just adds to the humor of the insane and ridiculous tale of Mike Rossi. If anyone could get ahold of video of that Turkey Trot, then add some Zapruder-like effects, I'd buy it. Consider this post my order for one copy.

+1You couldn't make this up right? At a turkey trot, all these antics...

No shortcuts wrote:

In the photos facing the start line, there is a group of people in the background standing on some sort of hill... not unlike a grassy knoll. Just adds to the humor of the insane and ridiculous tale of Mike Rossi. If anyone could get ahold of video of that Turkey Trot, then add some Zapruder-like effects, I'd buy it. Consider this post my order for one copy.

Trollminator wrote:

That guy with the yellow shirt is the same guy behind who we think might be Mike on the other blog photos. However, in that picture you don't see the guy with the black cap and black shirt. If it was Mike then he moved up closer to the mat, not further back, before the gun went off.

It's still a shame noone actually showed up that infamous Saturday morning to witness the whole thing.

That doesn't make sense for him to do though. But we are talking my about Mike here... so who knows.

SmartRunnr wrote:

ExpertKipWatcher wrote:

Q.E.D.

It is easy to spot when someone else does it isn't it ?

No, he wonders why you call your option 1 "crazy".

Actually, I am still hoping that LMR is a troll, and not the real Ken.

Call me an optimist, but the same hope goes for the guys here who engage in schoolyard games such as

"You are crazy/disabled/fat/gay/handicapped/an idiot/a retard/in therapy" - "no you are" - "no you are" - "no you are" - "no you are" - "no you are" ...

Or alternatively one can only hope that they are really just 12 years old.

Ken posts the names of young children and studies their pictures.

He is an online predator.

Uzhorod wrote:

It's still a shame noone actually showed up that infamous Saturday morning to witness the whole thing.

On October 24, 2015, Mr. Rossi participated in the Brain Injury Challenge: Race for Recovery 5K (let the puns begin), with a time of 23:51. This is the race in which he said it was the first race in months, claiming 1st in his age group and 9th overall. Yeah! Atta boy.

He tweeted his bib# for the NYC Marathon and proceeded to make provoking tweets about the NYC Marathon. After much speculation and stupidity, he did not show up and attributed it to an "injury" and that he hadn’t really trained or run much all fall due to the so called injury.

On November 14, 2015, he again participated in another 5K, the Rocky Run. In this race, his gun time was 21:49 and net time was 21:46, a mere 3 second difference.

Two weeks later, on November 28, 2015, he participated in the Haddon Heights 5K Turkey Trot (Turkey puns anyone?). In this event, his gun time was 21:07 and net time was 20:25, a 42 second differential. At the finish, in an anticipation of the sub-20 time, he began his provoking and triumphant tweet(s). Oops…he did it again, when the official times were posted, he predictably deleted his tweets immediate post-race tweets and then changes his tune and claims that he had a shoe malfunction (along the lines of wardrobe malfunction) and for his uniformed followers and KoolAid drinkers, went the sympathy root and claimed he sprained his ankle (more puns here) post-race. How convenient. Oh yeah, he then locked his tweeter account confirming that he can dish it out and but he can't take it. So sophomoric, petulant and elementary schoolish.

By the way Mr. Rossi, how did you sprain your ankle? Let me guess, you won't share that information.

That sums it up.

His post-race tweets indicate he doesn't understand and/or can't calculate clock/chip timing. I can't wrap my head around that. It's the easiest part of the plan.

No shortcuts wrote:

His post-race tweets indicate he doesn't understand and/or can't calculate clock/chip timing. I can't wrap my head around that. It's the easiest part of the plan.

Yep.

Uzhorod wrote:

It's still a shame noone actually showed up that infamous Saturday morning to witness the whole thing.

I was seriously going to go, but it was too cold that morning and decided to stay in bed. I was nice and warm and comfy under my blankets when I found out Mike blew it. And then I went back to sleep for a couple hours. I'l bet Mike cried all the way home. $10,000 down the drain. HA!

A friend of mine who lives not too far from there was going to run it but bailed out last sec with the flu. Lets just say he's no longer my friend :)

Uzhorod wrote:

It's still a shame noone actually showed up that infamous Saturday morning to witness the whole thing.

LMR wrote:

I was seriously going to go, but it was too cold that morning and decided to stay in bed. I was nice and warm and comfy under my blankets when I found out Mike blew it. And then I went back to sleep for a couple hours. I'l bet Mike cried all the way home. $10,000 down the drain. HA!

Inspirational story of yours.

However I don't think he blew $10K as I can't see any possible way that Rojo/Wejo or any reasonable person (the usual legal test) would pay out without advance notice and witnesses.

Cheat Lie Repeat wrote:

By the way Mr. Rossi, how did you sprain your ankle? Let me guess, you won't share that information.

I think in a different tweet or FB post, he claimed to have stepped in a hole. Not buying it myself.