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

Reg Fields wrote:

abingtonrunner2 wrote:

Interesting...the reddit writer finish @ 21:34, right ahead of Rossi @ 21:46.

Maybe we can direct him to this thread to see if he had an interaction with Mike since they finished so closely?

Here was what the runner who finished just in front of Rossi said about whether he saw him on the course or not in an answer to my inquiry:

I didn't recognize him. There was one guy whom I thought might be him that was running ahead of me, but I passed him in the last half mile or so, but I wasn't 100% sure it was him, so I didn't post details. I might know better when I see the official race photos which are due to be released in about week.

abingtonrunner2 wrote:

Reg Fields wrote:

Maybe we can direct him to this thread to see if he had an interaction with Mike since they finished so closely?

I sent him a message on reddit, will let you know if and when I hear anything. It is an interesting read, as Rossi is referred to.

Actually it says he started in the 9 minute mile corral so he might have been behind him.

distance appears legit

https://www.strava.com/activities/432465477

That sounds like what I've got so far. The start and finish are nailed down. The pavement markings and signs are easy to see on the photos there.

On the tweet I quoted it looks like the turnaround is about 400m past W Girard, at just the other side of the intersection of Sweet Briar and MLK. If I use that as the turnaround it puts the course at 5090m. Which agrees with the GPS in that tweet.

BUT, if you ran on the bike path on MLK, [which doesn't follow the street nearly as closely as the bike path does on the Kelly Drive side] you could probably shave a decent bit of distance off the 5K

Also, with the bike path being open to racers AND locals out for their regular Sunday runs, no one would notice someone cutting the course a few yards away

bored troLLer wrote:

distance appears legit

https://www.strava.com/activities/432465477

That also confirms the turnaround to be at Sweet Briar Dr. So the 5090m I mapped should be pretty close.

(that strava map is cutting some corners pretty badly, must be a phone gps)

Just a thought here but don't you think if Mike Rossi ran that time he would've bragged about it on Twitter. Does anyone think that this was an imposter who registered as Mike Rossi just to rock the boat a bit and Rossi had no idea about this?

There is someone in background in all black pretty far back. Wonder if that is our boy.

Loofa Dog wrote:

abingtonrunner2 wrote:

Interesting...the reddit writer finish @ 21:34, right ahead of Rossi @ 21:46.

There is someone in background in all black pretty far back. Wonder if that is our boy.

There were a number of finishers between this guy and Rossi (two women and 4 men)

Reg Fields wrote:

Just a thought here but don't you think if Mike Rossi ran that time he would've bragged about it on Twitter. Does anyone think that this was an imposter who registered as Mike Rossi just to rock the boat a bit and Rossi had no idea about this?

Interesting thought. And that medal! Who wouldn't want to post multiple pics of that swag?

A tweet from Rossi the evening before the Rocky 5K places him in Miami, FLA. I'm not twitter literate... Can you set up your account so it places you in any city you choose? Rossi is one strange guy.

this one was measured on a Garmin 405... should be decently reliable.

the other was a Garmin 10.

http://www.strava.com/activities/433801517

There's a ton of flybys of other users you can view if you're a strava member. A few I've looked at all confirm 3.1 mile distance.

If it was chip timing, Rossi may have finished before this guy, or there may have been 100 people in between...

abingtonrunner2 wrote:

There were a number of finishers between this guy and Rossi (two women and 4 men)

Here's another interesting fact...The Rocky results say he's 48:http://results.active.com/events/rocky-balboa-run--2/5k/michael-rossiHis unclaimed Gobble Wobble last November 27th says he's 48 (and the year before that agrees since it's 47):http://www.athlinks.com/Result/Search#!athlete/mike%20rossiThat would make sense if his birthday is in the next two weeks, but it's in May:https://twitter.com/mikerossi22/status/72717985692913664https://twitter.com/mikerossi22/status/470296215759093760So, he's either trying to hide himself again (ala Mike Ross) or it was an impostor.

Reg Fields wrote:

Just a thought here but don't you think if Mike Rossi ran that time he would've bragged about it on Twitter. Does anyone think that this was an imposter who registered as Mike Rossi just to rock the boat a bit and Rossi had no idea about this?

He had tweeted back in August that this was to be his Disney cruise week. He also bragged about the possibility of getting another letter from the principal as a result of the cruisebefore taking it down quickly.

That would help explain if his location on Twitter came up as Miami. Reg it would also prove your theory that it wasn't him

SmartRunnr wrote:

rojo wrote:

Anyone know if the course is USATF certified?

Just as a reminder, rojo: your challenge said nothing about the 5K course having to be certified. A runner with less honor than Mike would take advantage of that, and have his neighbor organize a 2.7 mile long "5K" race.

We said we'd pay him 5k if he runs the time on a standard course (meaning not downhill). CI don't care if it's certified but it actually has to be 5000 meters.

If he ran 19:55, the first thing I'm going to do is ask to see the certification. If it doesn't exist, I'll measure the course. If it's not 5k, then clearly I'm not paying. He can't take advantage of anything. He has to prove he runs a sub-20 5 km race. The burden is on him, not me.

rojo wrote:

SmartRunnr wrote:

Just as a reminder, rojo: your challenge said nothing about the 5K course having to be certified. A runner with less honor than Mike would take advantage of that, and have his neighbor organize a 2.7 mile long "5K" race.

We said we'd pay him 5k if he runs the time on a standard course (meaning not downhill). CI don't care if it's certified but it actually has to be 5000 meters.

If he ran 19:55, the first thing I'm going to do is ask to see the certification. If it doesn't exist, I'll measure the course. If it's not 5k, then clearly I'm not paying. He can't take advantage of anything. He has to prove he runs a sub-20 5 km race. The burden is on him, not me.

#cheatersproblems

rojo wrote:

Reg Fields wrote:

21:46 is quite slow for a 3:11 marathoner. In fact is there any 3:11 marathoner who can't break 20, especially with 10K on the line?

Yes, but it's quite fast for Rossi. Rossi's pb was/is 21:52. So this would be a good result for him.... if it's legit.

He's never going to run 3:11. It's not physiologically possible for him. I mean come on but 3:25 is somewhat conceivable. Any PB by mike makes me 2% nervous I'll have to pay the cheater out.

I'm too lazy to go back, but didn't he a little while back only manage a slightly less than 24 minute 5k? If he didn't cheat, it's quite an improvement, but, it would also confirm that your money is safe. When people start training hard, they can make "big" improvements, but after the initial jump it gets harder and harder to drop time. If this is legit, then I'd guess he's made his jump, and now the real hard work starts. (Also, dropping from 24 to 22 is a lot easier than dropping from 22 to 20, especially for a guy pushing 50). He's got to lose almost two minutes at the hard end, and in a month? No chance. Well, if he's doping, but he'd need the good stuff, if he got his hands on some GW1516 and AICAR I'd give him a slim chance.

The sad thing, for him, is that it also just confirms he's a cheater and he can't actually brag about a new PB, because for a 3:11 marathoner, it's shite. If running three consecutive 7 minute miles is a PB? That's just telling the whole world that you could never have run a 3:11 marathon. A 21:46 5k is a tempo run, it's not race pace. No matter what he does, he just loses.

So Twitter posts from Miami

On a cruise.

No bragging about the 5K.

But who would race under the Mike Rossi name? Unless there is another 48 year old Mike Rossi in the area, I'm looking forward to the pictures to find the imposter Rossi.

You don't join the Rossi Posse without an invite.