Yes, very similar aspects with the Donald Crowhurst story! I highly suggest watching the documentary on youtube, Deep Water. I only learned about it after Frank's death and have watched it then.
I too agree that the Frank Meza story is worthy of a story similar to the one about Kip Litton or this one about Julie Miller -
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/sports/julie-miller-ironman-triathlon-cheat.htmlthough I disagree on waiting several years. This is what I've been advocating for and have started writing my own which I will try to get published as an opinion piece somewhere if and when I actually complete it.
With regards to Smoove's statement above - "At some point, the further condemnation of Frank became pointless. We reached that point long ago, no matter how much triathlete guru and some others try to rationalize their way to validate continued efforts on this front." This statement coincides with others questioning why this thread continues on or should be allowed to as people have called for it to get shut down.
There is a narrative that has now been accepted in the MSM, Frank Meza was cyber bullied to death by the running internet mob. Many who have bought into this narrative believe Frank's claims to have only left the course to pee. Anyone who objectively looks at the evidence know this is patently false. Others say that Frank was DQ'd from the 2019 LA Marathon, that should have been enough. What most people don't comprehend is the elaborate and likely decade long cheating that Frank had entangled himself in. Derek states as much in his recent post "What got lost by posting the evidence across multiple articles was the scope of the story. The story of Frank Meza covers many races over many years. Many casual readers do not realize that this story began well before The 2019 LA Marathon."
So, if things are left as is, we have Frank's family left to believe he was bullied to death over the 2019 LA Marathon from which he was unjustly disqualified. We have 90% of the public believing he might have cheated in one marathon, but that he was disqualified from it and the bullying is what pushed him over the edge. When in reality, the story which has not been clearly told is that Frank Meza entangled himself in a web of lies going back a decade or more and unfortunately saw no way out. Rather than the "bullying", it is likely the shame from the truth coming out that drove Frank over the edge.
We can take two different paths here. We can accept that a false narrative has won out and out of respect for Frank's memory and the feelings of his family let them believe the false narrative. Or, we can continue to examine what happened with the hopes that the narrative will get set straight with an article as pointed out above.
Why does it matter that the narrative get set straight? With the false narrative, we have Tina Meza pushing for an anti bullying law to get passed. With the correct narrative, maybe race directors will realize that results do matter and that steps should be taken for runner accountability. That a quick a decisive decision to DQ over timing anomalies might be the better decision than long drawn out decisions to DQ. Or perhaps a national governing body could step up with some type of solution? Perhaps a consortium of races and timing companies?
Maybe someone should write an article about the LA Marathon, what culpability do or should they have in this debacle? They had more than enough evidence to issue a DQ of Frank in 2015, but failed to do so. What does it say about a race that when actually going through their 2019 results to DQ Frank, they have to also retroactively remove the 4th place finisher from the age group as well? Do they care at all about results? It cost's $180 to register right now for the 2020 LA Marathon. A through examination of one age group, the men's 70-74 found two in the top 5 that didn't belong!
Have people asked the question, what if Frank had been clearly DQ'd for cheating and wasn't given the wiggle room that he was? On the day he died by suicide, his family still believed he hadn't cheated. If the LA Marathon and Phoenix Marathon had released clear statements that Frank had cheated, perhaps those closest to Frank could have intervened in his life?
Or should we bury our heads in the sand?