Nick Willis in the NYC Marathon??

nice find. link?

Nick is running the Dash to the Finish Line 5-K the day before the ING NYC Marathon. He asked me if he could run with an Italian masters runner, Piergiorgio Conti, in the marathon the next day to pace him for part of the race. Apparently Piergiorgio befriended Willis in Italy when he used Spoleto as his summer training base.

Nick and Piergiorgio will start on the sub-elite start.

BTW, the ING NYC Marathon has a terrific pick-up system for elites that drop out. Nick will be picked up swiftly after he steps off the course.

David Monti, Professional Athletes Consultant

ING New York City Marathon

Since 2001

David Monti. wrote:

BTW, the ING NYC Marathon has a terrific pick-up system for elites that drop out.

are you referring to the MTA?

David Monti. wrote:

BTW, the ING NYC Marathon has a terrific pick-up system for elites that drop out.

NYCRunner wrote:

are you referring to the MTA?

Haha, nice

David Monti. wrote:

Nick is running the Dash to the Finish Line 5-K the day before the ING NYC Marathon. He asked me if he could run with an Italian masters runner, Piergiorgio Conti, in the marathon the next day to pace him for part of the race. Apparently Piergiorgio befriended Willis in Italy when he used Spoleto as his summer training base.

Nick and Piergiorgio will start on the sub-elite start.

BTW, the ING NYC Marathon has a terrific pick-up system for elites that drop out. Nick will be picked up swiftly after he steps off the course.

David Monti, Professional Athletes Consultant

ING New York City Marathon

Since 2001

David Monti...professional hack who is blurring the already muddy water between journalism and paid schill.

Scoop Jackson the Third wrote:

David Monti...professional hack who is blurring the already muddy water between journalism and paid schill.

"Schill"?

And what's the point of these negative comments? He answered a legitimate question in a helpful and factual way. Personally, I appreciate a real person contributing facts to any discussion on LRC instead of anonymous trash talk.

David Monti...professional hack who is blurring the already muddy water between journalism and paid schill.[/quote]

People who make comments like you discourage people deeply involved in the sport, like David, from posting here.

As a community, we need to be supportive of others involved in the sport. I think it's awesome that David took the time to answer a question in the middle of his busiest work week of the year.

We're all in this together.

I don't think you can be a shill if you are posting under your real name.

While appreciate the time Mr. Monti took...make no doubt he didn't do it out of the goodness of his heart. He's getting paid to promote the NYC marathon in every single form including twitter.

He was pretty terrible last year over the cancellation issue.

It's sad that we runners are so hungry for news on our sport that we can't even legitimately critize those who cover our sport.

Fact is Mr. Monti, is terrible for journalism. With respect to this and other race and marathons that pay him (which he rarely discloses) There is a huge conflict for him to "cover" the race with one hand and having his hand out to the NYRR on the other hand.

Sorry you don't like facts.

I heard he was running it on a track

okay shill.

don't worry, I'm sure the powers that be will end up deleting these posts as to to upset the egos of NYRR and Monti.

None of those are legitimate criticisms.

First, do you think reporters from Sports Illustrated and ESPN cover sports "out of the goodness of their hearts" or because they get paid?

Second, if you are waiting until marathoning becomes such a big deal that reporters from Sports Illustrated and ESPN will let you know why Nick Willis is listed for the NYCM, you will be waiting a long time.

Third, everyone understands that Monti is a publicist for the NYCM. You might as well complain that the White House Press Secretary isn't covering the White House objectively out of the goodness of his heart. Publicists provide information on behalf of someone else to the press and public. They aren't objective reporters and aren't supposed to be.

Give it a rest, dude... wrote:

None of those are legitimate criticisms.

First, do you think reporters from Sports Illustrated and ESPN cover sports "out of the goodness of their hearts" or because they get paid?

Second, if you are waiting until marathoning becomes such a big deal that reporters from Sports Illustrated and ESPN will let you know why Nick Willis is listed for the NYCM, you will be waiting a long time.

Third, everyone understands that Monti is a publicist for the NYCM. You might as well complain that the White House Press Secretary isn't covering the White House objectively out of the goodness of his heart. Publicists provide information on behalf of someone else to the press and public. They aren't objective reporters and aren't supposed to be.

As for your points.

One - people were saying what a nice thing it was that Mr. Monti responded in his "busiest' week. It' wasn't nice any more than ESPN covering the world series is nice. That's what I was referring to.

2nd - I don't know where you pulled that out of.

third- Mr. Monti also has a publication- that's the WHOLE POINT. Mr. Monti IS a part of the running press. In your example, it would be like the Press Secretary also running a magazine called White House Results Weekly. A huge conflict there. it's journalism 101

First, you sound like an angry person with no life. I hope I am wrong but I doubt it.

One -- You analogy is preposterous. ESPN is the world's largest sports media outlet. Don't you think that covering the World Series might be part of its daily coverage. Comparing that to the NYCM elite coordinator answering a question about the NYCM on a public message board is downright idiotic.

Two -- Your comment adds nothing to the discussion.

Three -- That's your own delusional point. For the rest of the world, which was wondering why Willis is listed as a starter for the marathon, the point was if that was for real. Monti's job is putting the elite field together so he is more qualified than anyone to answer the question about Willis, which he did on here under his real name. You analogy here also is idiotic. The fact that Monti also publishes RRW does NOT create a conflict in his ability to answer the very basic question of why Willis is listed as a starter for the marathon. The fact that you, and only you, thinks that that creates a conflict should tell you more about your own warped view of the world than anything else. How about you shut your trap and get on with your miserable life with no more moronic posts on here?

Scoop Jackson the Third wrote:

As for your points.

One - people were saying what a nice thing it was that Mr. Monti responded in his "busiest' week. It' wasn't nice any more than ESPN covering the world series is nice. That's what I was referring to.

2nd - I don't know where you pulled that out of.

third- Mr. Monti also has a publication- that's the WHOLE POINT. Mr. Monti IS a part of the running press. In your example, it would be like the Press Secretary also running a magazine called White House Results Weekly. A huge conflict there. it's journalism 101

One - you contribute nothing whatsoever to society so Monti still has you beaten

Two - who cares

Three - how huge of balls did it take you to post this criticism as "Scoop Jackson the Third"?

I lined up with him at the front -- We saw him in our warm-up tent and sorta wondered the same thing. Before the cannon he told us he was pacing through 5:38s for a 2:28 projection, so if anyone wanted to latch on they were welcome to.

He had a pretty huge group following him for a while but he was way under pace through ~15k, which was even more messed up considering the headwind. My guess is he was there for appearance reasons and needed to get in a long run =/. He dropped at mile 18 I think.