Took me a while wrote:
Look, I am asking for definitive proof. Absence of positive evidence does not definitively prove cheating.
Okay Took Me A While--I'll give it a go. My entire intent in doing all of these was to provide some solid background for a disqualification of FM’s claimed 2:53:10 at LA Marathon 2019. If after this mountain of evidence and the evidence in this post, Frank is not disqualified from LAM 2019, then shame on the race promoters. They’re encouraging this conduct by failing to condemn it. And shame on you, TMAW, for pulling the race card.
This is a long read, so grab a drink and follow along. TMAW, you may want to find someone to explain it to you if you don't understand.
Let’s start early in the race. There was a photographer stationed at the elite aid station, right near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. It’s an unmistakeable building designed by Frank Gehry. This is between miles 4 and 5.
https://imgur.com/a/8Z6P4MRIn the third row, note runner #40874. I picked him for two reasons. First, he’s easy to pick out of a crowd in that bright green shirt and blue hat. Second, his finish time was 2:53:35, 25 seconds slower than FM. I’ll call him “our good friend”.
Frank tripped the start mat at 6:55:48 a.m., and our good friend #40874 did so at 6:55:18 a.m. So, over the course of 26 miles, Frank made up a grand total of 55 seconds on #40874. Their time-of-day splits were as follows—I’m using those to have an apples-apples comparison rather than calculating based on gun time:
5K
FM: 7:15:50 a.m.
40874: 7:16:01 a.m.
10K
FM: 7:36:07 a.m.
40874: 7:36:48 a.m.
15K
FM: 7:56:40 a.m.
40874: 7:57:00 a.m.
20K
FM: 8:18:01 a.m.
40874: 8:17:30 a.m.
25K
FM: 8:38:03 a.m.
40874: 8:37:54 a.m.
30K
FM: 8:59:26 a.m.
40874: 8:58:30 a.m.
35K
FM 9:20:10 a.m.
40874: 9:19:23 a.m.
My point? At every timing mat above, Frank was no further away from 40874 than 56 seconds, which occurred at the 30K mat.
In the contact sheet above, our good friend runner #40874 comes into view at the end of the second row. Remember, Frank was ahead of our good friend #40874 by 11 seconds at the 5K, and behind our good friend #40874 by 41 seconds at 10K. So, if this was a legitimate variance, Frank would have gotten passed somewhere between 5K and 10K, and somewhere either before or after the Walt Disney Concert Hall. So…he SHOULD be on camera there. He is not.
Moving down the race course, the El Capitan Theatre is between miles 11 and 12 of the race. There was a photographer there, and Frank did not pass in front of that camera as best I can conclude.
https://imgur.com/a/ZBywdMsSo, it stands to reason that at the El Capitan Theatre, located between miles 11 and 12 (or around 17km and 19km), where these photos were taken, Frank should appear somewhere between 20 and 30 seconds ahead or behind our good friend #40874, given the fact that FM was ahead by 20 seconds at 15K, and behind by 30 seconds at 20K. I’m ignoring the anomaly of FM losing 50 seconds in 5K for now, but yeah….math is hard.
Just checking my math, though, runner #22940, the runner in the photo immediately before our good friend #40874, hit the 15K and 20K at 7:56:33 a.m. and 8:17:22 a.m. respectively. The runner after him, #43057, hit 15K and 20K at 7:56:29 a.m. and 8:17:47 a.m. So, if Frank was running relatively even pace, as his splits reflect, he should have been in this photo sheet. Again, he was not.
Now, here’s where it gets good. Let’s look at this sheet:
https://imgur.com/a/RRmFD3zI started with the same guy as the last sheet. Long hair, white singlet. Can’t see his number, but the same guy. This series was taken in front of Madame Toussaud’s Wax Museum on Hollywood Boulevard. Significantly, this location is less than a block away from the El Capitan Theatre in the second sheet above. it is before the El Capitan on the course.
If you put these two sheets side by side, the runners are pretty identical. With one notable exception. Frank. He appears in this series. Right after runner #19087, and before #1083. Go back to the sheet in front of the El Capitan a block later, and look who shows up between those two runners. It’s not Frank if you were wondering. It’s no one. #19087 and #1083 are consecutive.
So, if I read this information right, Frank ducked out at Hollywood and Highland and headed to the next timing mat. He must have known from past LAMs that there would be a photographer in Hollywood, but unfortunately for him, there were more than one. Could the El Capitan photographer have missed Frank? Was Frank on the other side of Hollywood Boulevard? Sure….I’ll concede that. But the fact that Frank is missing at the Walt Disney Concert Hall photo spot belies that theory.
Our good friend #40874 is at the end of the sheet, so he’s now behind Frank by quite a bit down Hollywood Boulevard. Looks like he made it up, though, because he was almost 30 seconds ahead of Frank by the 20K mat less than a mile later.
Oh, and by the way, runner #19087? She finished in 2:52:32. That’s 38 seconds in front of Frank. But she hit the 40K mat at 9:37:33 a.m. Frank hit it at 9:39:57 a.m, more than two minutes behind her.
She finished at 9:47:39 a.m., and Frank finished at 9:48:58 a.m. So, for the last 2K, #19087 ran 10:06. Frank ran 9:01. Hell of a kick there, Frank.
And to end this little story, I offer this.
https://fp-zoom-us.s3.amazonaws.com/3017/3017_192605.JPGOur good friend #40874 is in the same photo with Frank, right near the finish.
Happy ending for all. Except Frank. The moral of the story?
Don’t piss off the internet. It will mess you up.