Greg Chrisman wrote:
Deadesc is the Roger Federer of sleuthing. Incredible job. The LAM 2017 find is priceless and hopefully can lead to another LAM DQ. The Long Beach shots are perhaps the most impressive. Great job, everybody!! Looking forward to the Derek articles and his assumed accompanying emails to the race directors which have more gravitas than the average lrc poster's.
Thanks, Greg. I have a hell of a backhand. So, let me use it here....
Someone was asking how early Frank started all this. I can’t say for sure, but I can tell you this post will give a little more insight….
Los Angeles 2014, Frank recorded a 2:59:10. I went through all the 10K photos, and it was bugging the hell out of me that I could not see any photos of Frank wearing his white Aztlan singlet like so many other photos. I saw the runners who crossed right at the same time as he crossed 10K, and I saw no Frank. Did he have a bib mule? He certainly finished in that singlet. How did he do it? Well, this series shows how.
https://imgur.com/a/RWRkaQvHe wore a blue t-shirt over his singlet, raising it just enough to show his number to a photographer just before this one, cover it up, and then tip his head down. But it’s clearly #1073, Frank Meza. And it occurred to me after watching Sherlock Holmes the other night that I must widen my gaze….I should be looking for a guy in a short-sleeve blue t-shirt, too.
Now, this series by itself proves nothing beyond a reasonable doubt. Lots of people run in warmer clothes at the beginning of races. But the photo series prior to the 10K mat that I reviewed had no trace of Frank, either in his white singlet or his blue t-shirt. He wasn’t on Rodeo Drive at all, either. Or near Beverly Hills city hall. So, I got to thinking why….
Then it hit me. In 2014, they only had mats every 10K. Frank didn’t need to show up anywhere in between the 20K and 30K mats, where Beverly Hills is. And he could leisurely get from mat to mat, because there were half as many in 2014 as there are now. As far as I can tell, LA Marathon 2014 didn’t have any photographers at 20K, 30K or 40K.
So, with more cameras and more timing mats, the cheating gets harder, but his process has evidently evolved over time. I gotta hand it to Frank—what he has been doing is not easy from a purely logistical standpoint. Yeah, running a sub-3 marathon in your 60s is pretty damn hard, but what Frank has been doing in making it look like he's running sub-3 is hard, too.