Frank Meza 2:53:10 at LA Marathon (70 years old) unofficial time (just finished)

The horse has bolted, but some damage control could be exercised by coming totally clean.

Rinse and repeat. wrote:

He could even ride over it lol, why go to all that trouble.

With a timing chip on a lanyard just to be sure it gets close to the mat.

Quick Question wrote:

Great thread. Sorry for what is probably a dumb question but just to help my understanding of all the discussion... How close does a chip need to get to a timing mat in order to register? Does the chip need to pass directly over the mat or just pass within a certain proximity? Thanks.

They are 'passive' chips, i.e. need to be energised by the antennae in the mats, and need to be within about 3m with the highest signal (right over mat) taken as the read point.

You have to be visually near mat as a runner.

Rinse and repeat wrote:

Definitely him. So in the pic he's cycling up to just before the next mat (which is?), gets the trackie pants off, runs over the mat, pulls off the course, runs back to bike (what, 300/400 yards all up?), rinse and repeat.

Definitely his MO in this case, but in the case of LAM 2019 from the 18.7km entry (plus stationary time) to 20km mat , I would give Lance's other ball if he was able to stand around, shuffle to 20km, shuffle back and then ride to next split in time to repeat

Definitely has to have a car and driver waiting

Derek at Marathon Investigation, hold the press because there's another killer photo to add to that article.

I Am Sam wrote:

Rinse and repeat wrote:

Definitely him. So in the pic he's cycling up to just before the next mat (which is?), gets the trackie pants off, runs over the mat, pulls off the course, runs back to bike (what, 300/400 yards all up?), rinse and repeat.

Definitely his MO in this case, but in the case of LAM 2019 from the 18.7km entry (plus stationary time) to 20km mat , I would give Lance's other ball if he was able to stand around, shuffle to 20km, shuffle back and then ride to next split in time to repeat

Definitely has to have a car and driver waiting

Agree, horses for courses, this one seems to be bike friendly, so could bike it most of the way without having to run hardly at all, but Frank's fairly eclectic when it comes to cheating in marathons so it's a case of whatever gets the job done is OK with him.

Frank on a bike? wrote:

Picture of Frank on a bike? Just for the heck of it, I picked a race from Derek’s list of Frank’s finishes that I had not seen a lot of analysis on: the 2014 San Francisco Marathon where he had a chip time of 2:59:41. I looked at pictures of runners who had approximately the same clock time. I came across this picture of runner 185, who had a clock time of 3:05:52 compared to Frank’s clock time of 3:04:00. Take a look at the biker in the background. Green socks like Frank wore in that race. Shoes look similar. Hard to tell on the hat.

Great find, probably the most iconic shot so far.

Some keen-eyed people will notice that he is not accompanied by an entourage of accomplices, body doubles and RFID-cloning equipment and all of a sudden a bike will seem plenty fast enough. Still as evidenced in the Litton thread, not knowing the exact model of bike and its tyre pressures will be a deal-breaker for many.

His accomplice is in the pic too.

RUNKONARUN wrote:

Local news... wrote:

...(ABC 7) reported that Loyola said Frank stepped down in June as assistant coach for "health reasons" and that Loyola had "no comment" because this wasn't Loyola related. Or something like that. Also, Aztlan Athletics CEO Jose Zavalos was in the piece supporting Meza...Zavalos is not convinced Meza cheated because of how good Meza is on the trails. Almost got seasick watching doubler's Skype interview. The report mentioned that Meza's Phoenix marathon is being looked at. Frank's "team" says that all of the allegations will be responded to in due time, but now's not the right time lol.

https://abc7.com/sports/70-year-old-record-setter-disqualified-from-la-marathon/5376169/

”The performance was astonishing - so much that marathon investigator Derek Murphy took a closer look. He says he found video that shows Meza leaving the course.“

When did Derek Murphy say he foudn video that shows Meza leaving the course? I thought he only found videos of Meza getting back on the course, but never finding video of him leaving the course.

"Until I get more deeper understanding I support Frank," said Jose Zavala, head of Aztlan Athletics.

What other deeper understanding is Joe Zavala looking for? Does he want the sleuths of Letsrun to dig deeper into Meza? There are plenty of evidence that Meza cheated in many marathons. If he wants us to dig deeper, be ready for an even bigger surprised!

"He says he's not yet convinced Meza cheated."

Delusional I would say.

"Based on when I see him running on the trails, based on his training - he's fit, he's in incredible shape."

Meza's team issued a statement saying in part: "In due time he will set the record straight and address all of the allegations. Now it's just not the right time."

Whose on Meza's team? I would distant myself from him! What trail running and training has he done? Figuring out where the timing mats are and bike around? Now's not the right time to admit your guilt, maybe next week?

That’s my Golden Boy! (Bib)

http://d35l3oybk21k7h.cloudfront.net/photos/photos/6555945_race_0.5948109768047379.original.jpg?1406636962

Previous bike evidence:

Misc wrote:

Looks like Frankie used a bicycle to cheat for this race. He has velcro keeping his right pant leg tight to the leg, just as you would if you where riding a bicycle with bagging pants one.

Furtive Frankie. wrote:

Seems 3:19:59 2009 Pasadena is the earliest of his fraudulent marathons to be covered by a photo company.

As usual Frank is overdressed compared to everyone else and 3:19:59 is damned impressive even for a shorts and singlet wearing, skinny, highly trained 60 year old, so definitely not ligit coming from Frank.

If it's possible for the super sleuths to scrape MarathonFoto's for off course shots of Furtive Frankie this would be a good early one to start with:

https://www.marathonfoto.com/Proofs?PIN=T48R36&lastName=MEZA

Frank Meza Report wrote:

Frank on a bike? wrote:

Picture of Frank on a bike?

http://rm.gamefacemedia.com/races/340/embed

His gray long sleeve shirt from the bike photo is now wrapped around his waist in the finishing photos.

the one on the bike has gotta be worth a hi res copy so it can be blown up and cropped for all to see

hi res available? wrote:

Frank Meza Report wrote:

His gray long sleeve shirt from the bike photo is now wrapped around his waist in the finishing photos.

the one on the bike has gotta be worth a hi res copy so it can be blown up and cropped for all to see

When hi res is available, MI will need to contact marathon RD for the DQ.

Frankie is going down.

I woke up around 3:30, checked my phone and saw an email from Frank on a Bike? I added it to my article, and cut out some of the extraneous stuff. The photos are the story.

I am convinced it's Frank on the bike, but can anyone actually tell his sock colors from the photo. I don't see where any hi-res photos are publicly available.

I have had prior contact with SF race director. It's possible that I can get something of better quality.

If nothing else I want to get the guy that found the photo the coffee mug with the photo on it.

doubler wrote:

I am convinced it's Frank on the bike, but can anyone actually tell his sock colors from the photo. I don't see where any hi-res photos are publicly available.

I copied and pasted the largest format of that photo into Paint Shop Pro, zoomed in and yes those socks are bright green.

If you open the posted photo above, then click on it you can see the green of his sock on his right ankle, then of course there's the grey top that's wrapped around his waist in the finish photos.

Yes. The doubler dude initially didn’t even believe he had cheated.

It took a lot of convincing.

A google search of “Meza” brought up the usual pictures , including what entity, like LA Times, People. etc. ...included was Runner’s World about 45 minutes ago

Frank's 20274