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

Yeah, I’ve been accused, too, but I even use my own name, I’m a known RD, etc. Their just friends of FM or other cheaters.

wow! those are great shots of him stretching off to side! can't wait to hear what the next excuse is.

Old School... wrote:

I love it that Frank says: " I’m pretty old school", after all his sophisticated cheating, wearing two watches and meticulously judging his timing mats.

By old school perhaps he means he cycles between his segments on a Penny Farthing...

He cheats on a fixie.

I am increasingly convinced he has an accomplice. He can't run fast enough to hit any of the splits and hitting the non-photographed checkpoints would exponentially increase him logistics. Easier for him to concentrate on getting himself from A to B to C to D and having someone else take the chip over the non-photographed splits.

Part of my thinking stems from my surprise that he showed up on the outside of the course in my earlier post. If you were jumping around to hit points on a course that is basically one big curve I'd expect you'd stay on the inside of it.

So why didn't that hold for 10km?

2 possibilities.

1. He was never on the course until 10km. His accomplice held his chip over the start line, through 5km and met our hero at 10km.

2. FM started the race but immediately gave his chip to his accomplice and left. If you look at the course:

https://www.lamarathon.com/event-info/the-course/course-map

...and if you've got someone else to hit 5km for you, the easiest way to get from the start line to 10km is to walk across the top of the out and back, across Angelino Heights. Other quantum leaps my need a car or a bike but that one's an easy walk/jog - especially in all the craziness around a race start.

Now, if FM is waiting at 10km for an accomplice and plans to give his chip back immediately after the mat so he can get to the 20km mark, that accomplice has two options: (1) leave the course at 9.9km and meet FM at 10.1 or (2) run through the line - if he doesn't have his own chip what does it matter?

Who is this?

https://www.finisherpix.com/gallery/singlephoto/en/usd/3017/3017_046300

She runs through 10km around 41:30 - 23 seconds behind FM. She has a gPS watch but is running with her phone (which, for 42km, sucks). She is overdressed for the marathon but arguably not for an early morning 10km or 15km. She has no visible number and doesn't show in the elite or open results (I checked the leaderboard at 10km and can easily find 131 and pink).

Deduct the 50 seconds from his 10k split (through heavy traffic..) --what is it..about 39:30..

again, great post. there's another runner b/f runner 1228 that is photo'd w/ fm in the background (i.e., frank spent some time stretching on the sidelines).

here's a photo of runner 18476, with frank in the background. this runner is b/f runner 1228.

https://www.finisherpix.com/gallery/singlephoto/en/usd/3017/3017_046213

link to page of pictures

https://www.finisherpix.com/gallery/photobrowser/en/USD/3017#All/All/2889

derek, hopefully you're working on the next article with these additional finds!

frank, i know you're reading this message board. come clean, so we can all go back to our day jobs.

that looks a lot like Cambria Wu. I've seen her in a lot of local races.

I googled her and I think you're right. I can't find her in the results so not entirely sure what she was doing there but unless she recently married into the Mezas this is probably a red herring.

Apologies all.

yes, Cambria is a very talented runner.

I'm absolutely convinced she is not complicit in FM's cheating.

I too think there’s an accomplice. Why else, other than relaying his chip, has he sometimes had it on a string and not in his laces? They hand it off. But he’s worried it won’t register unless it’s low to the ground so he drops the string out when going over mats.

I’d do a lot of legwork before trying to identify someone publicly though. No sense in roping innocent people into this mess.

One big question though; Does his son really believe that dear old dad is one of the fastest age-group marathoners ever? Or could that explain why he starts so far behind gun time? He doesn’t want to start around anyone he knows and later claims he passed them in the pack and they didn’t see each other?

Frank's excuse from the article wrote:

I do this for fun

So "for fun" you've habitually cheated dozens of events for 10 years or more and in the process shafted dozens of legitimate age group runners?

OK then Frank.

If you'd stepped off the course just before the finish line and not recorded a finishing time the "for fun" bit may have some credibility, otherwise...

Sorry for the bold, I'm just hoping Frank sees it and comes clean.

Yeah, I overstepped. And apologies again to Ms. Wu if she should ever happen to wade through this thread. I had a theory that the photos might show an accomplice trotting through 10km a few seconds after FM and that runner stood out but it doesn't sound as though there's any connection at all.

Most of the theory still holds though. FM went over the line at 41:08 after stretching for well over a minute and inching his way back onto the course. I don't believe there would have been an easy way for him to navigate either side of the first 10km fast enough to carry his own chip over 5km and be waiting for 1:30? more? at 10km. Someone else is involved.

The picture of Frank Meza standing in the "B" corral is telling. He appears to be in a state of intense concentration and focus. The kind of focus that is a mismatch to starting a marathon in the "B" corral. More like the look of a professional criminal at the start of a tightly timed heist. This picture is at the start of the LAM 2018. https://www.marathonfoto.com/Proofs?PIN=04JH90&lastName=MEZA

For fun & profit, if not financial then fame, respect, sponsorship, or to lord it over the youths he “coaches.”

My bad wrote:

Yeah, I overstepped. And apologies again to Ms. Wu if she should ever happen to wade through this thread. I had a theory that the photos might show an accomplice trotting through 10km a few seconds after FM and that runner stood out but it doesn't sound as though there's any connection at all.

Most of the theory still holds though. FM went over the line at 41:08 after stretching for well over a minute and inching his way back onto the course. I don't believe there would have been an easy way for him to navigate either side of the first 10km fast enough to carry his own chip over 5km and be waiting for 1:30? more? at 10km. Someone else is involved.

I don't know that he would need a second runner. However, I agree about an accomplice. The whole scheme gets easier if he coordinates with someone in a car who picks him up and drops him off at predetermined locations. The road closure information is available for anyone who wants to study it:

They have updated the Canadian Running article by adding one small paragraph. Still no mention of the main smoking gun where Frank is caught entering the course from the bus stop, which was after the 1st "pee break" he tried to explain.

Typical slapdash reporting. For the L.A. Marathon, they make it sound like there is just one instance when he left the course that could be seen as a technical rule infringement.

Oh and I'm not sure what the "spouts" marathon is.

There’s also evidence that Meza cut the course at the 2019 Spouts Phoenix Marathon, hitting each mat in a believable time but disappearing from photographs in between mats. Murphy writes, “When I report on more of Frank’s results the pattern will become even more clear. Whenever Frank’s pace can be verified through course photos or video, his pace is significantly slower than his official splits.

I am working on an update.

Will be tomorrow or Friday. Waiting on some things.

I still think he does this alone. I’m not saying there’s no accomplice, but I don’t think it would be quite as difficult to navigate as some may think. Especially on a point to point course.

At this point, I don’t think I’d get approval, but I would happily go to L.A and try to replicate Frank’s run on my own but only if I can get race approval. Kind of like a company hiring a hacker to find weaknesses in their systems.

When I went to CIM to monitor the race and for my interview with ESPN, we were able to maneuver the course fairly easily. We were at the start, two intermediate points and the finish. At all points we were just ahead of the women elites.

Roderick Powell wrote:

The picture of Frank Meza standing in the "B" corral is telling. He appears to be in a state of intense concentration and focus. The kind of focus that is a mismatch to starting a marathon in the "B" corral. More like the look of a professional criminal at the start of a tightly timed heist. This picture is at the start of the LAM 2018.

https://www.marathonfoto.com/Proofs?PIN=04JH90&lastName=MEZA

Unusually for Frank the differential between clock time and net time isn't great, only 31 seconds, which means he strolled up to the start with "B" corral runners, stripped all that clothing off, including track suit top and bottoms, then set off 31 seconds after the gun.

Am I missing something, did someone else trip the start mat with his chip, did he hide his bib under all that clothing and walk up the outside and trip the mat that way and proceed to his car, bike, accomplice?

All very odd, especially the 31 seconds and all the clothing.

Did someone trigger you sweetie? wrote:

Yup...I'm dumb wrote:

yet here you are posting under Yup...

see the irony there, Mr. Cockroach?

Even though no one can see you, you're clearly a rather sensitive insect aren't you?

I'm pretty insecure myself and easily triggered----quite a fancy boy if you know what I mean? Call me, kisses!!!