Martin Franklin - is he back?

Interestingly enough, there was a "Mark Franklin" from Bremerton, Washington (same city as Martin Franklin) who ran a couple of marathons in 2002 in the 3:00 time range.

The Ottawa site lists "Mark"'s best as 2:18 from 2000, and does not give a city of origin. The MarathonGuide.com website database does not list any M. Franklin running a 2:18 (or anywhere close) in 2000.

I think I'll send a quick e-mail of caution to the race director.

"I think I'll send a e mail of caution to the race director?" ... to tell him what... you googled "M Franklin" and didn't get much in terms of results?? What are you,

the seeding police? Get a life. Talk about having a little too much free f*cking time on your hands...

If there is a fake taking elite travel money then I think sending an email is a worthy cause. It takes no more time than posting on this website. ScottB, you must have too much time on your hands...

ScottB wrote:

"I think I'll send a e mail of caution to the race director?" ... to tell him what... you googled "M Franklin" and didn't get much in terms of results?? What are you,

the seeding police? Get a life. Talk about having a little too much free f*cking time on your hands...

Well, I live in the same area as Martin Franklin, I know that he's raced under the name of Mark Franklin, I know that he has cheated in races that I've been in (like the 1/2 marathon he finished in under 1 hour--luckily the race director was savvy and disqualified him). I have a bit of a vendeta against Martin Franklin.

I'm not the seeding police, but I don't like Martin Franklin, and I want to make his choice to cheat at races more difficult for him. I don't know if the Mark Franklin at the Ottawa race is the same person, but if it is I'd like to make his attempt at fraud (especially if he's getting travel/hotel money) more difficult.

I sent the elite athlete coordinator a short e-mail with what I know about Martin Franklin, and just said that if Mark is from the same area he may want to look in to his credentials a bit more closely. Thats it.

Martin Franklin and Mark Franklin are one and the same. He used to (and maybe still does) live in Washington State (Bremmerton).

I have not seen his name in race results in Western Washington for about a year. He is a 1:22-1:20 (1/2 marathon) guy when he runs the whole race. When he starts early or only runs part of the course he is capable of 2:15 (NYC) or 1:05-1:08 in a few local 1/2 marathons.

By all means, let the race director know if he might be getting expense money. Maybe he thinks if he "lies " low for a while everyone will forget his cheating ways.

Bump

No No No....be a man about this. Let him show up.

Let's get some good Canadian Letsrunners to either:

(1) Show up and pummel the bejesus out of this asshole.

Or

(2) Ride along side of him on the bike and make sure that he doesn't get on the subway/bus/tram or whatever they have in the good city of Ottawa.

Jason

I won't call this a bump....My terminology is a "worthless attempt to elevate the status of this topic."

Jason

After a couple of e-mails back and forth with the elite athlete coordinator at Ottawa, including some links to photos....

He's determined that this is the same Martin Franklin.

We'll see what happens.

How can a race director not know about this guy? Sometimes I get the feeling that road racing is more of a joke than boxing. I hope Mr.Franklin isn't getting any freebies from the race, other than the publicity he already stole.

Does anybody know anything about his guy personally? Does he have some sort of mental condition?

From what I've read and heard about him from reliable sources, Martin Franklin is obsessive/compulsive about

being an "elite" runner.

I think that we are all a little bit mad, for example,

I think that I am an elite oral-sex administrator to

Asian women.

Martin, though, needs help. There is a place for

everyone in the great egalitarian sport of road racing.

If he could somehow find the great enjoyment of just the

agonizing yet somehow enjoyable act of running at his

own personal pace for 26.2 miles, he will find some

inner peace.

Of course, if he cuts the course and tries to claim

some prize money, we need to put a serious goddamn smackdown on this asshole.

jason

Sorry I am clueless. So why can't they arrest or sue this guy?

Ok, ok...I was going to go home this weekend, but I think this is more worthy of my time. I go to school about 1 1/2 hours from Ottawa so I will make the trip up to see the race. Please send me any links of pics for this guy. If you happen to find out his bib number let me know that as well.

here ya go:

http://www.letsrun.com/2001/franklincheat.html

Thanks. Anyone have any more recent pics? I'm guessing he's smart enough to alter his appearance in some manner.

hey don't forget that you cheated in your race in china. i cant believe that you started in the front row with all the marathoners when all the half guys started behind. i dont care if you were going for a time or not, you got an unfair advantage. and then taking the track suit, what a cheat!

I heard he grew his hair long and bleached it white to look like Gandalf the White...you can't miss him...

NY runner wrote:

Thanks. Anyone have any more recent pics? I'm guessing he's smart enough to alter his appearance in some manner.

Thanks, had some myself. I am glad you got in touch with the race director.

If I remember correctly, didn't Martin "run" the Green Bay Marathon and not get caught? Same year as he "ran" NYC? I wonder if he used his time from Green Bay to get seeded status?

I do think we need to keep this poor boy on the straight and narrow. I have run an a few races with him where he has run the whole race. If he trains hard and runs the whole way I believe he is capable of 2:50. That is a worthy goal for him!