‘Boston dad’ accused of cheating to get BQ

Pensylvania runner, Mike Rossi, the ‘Boston dad’ made headlines when, having received a letter from his children’s principal regarding their ‘unexcused absences,’ he responded with a letter of his own, outlining all of the educational aspects of his children’s trip to watch him run the Boston marathon.

Rossi’s response to the principal was shared over 32,000 times on Facebook. Evidently, many people out there share the belief that the Boston experience is worth a few days of missed school.

Shortly thereafter, Rossi was forced to experience the fickleness of social media — it can build you up as a hero one day and tear you down as a demon the next. As a result of his brief internet fame, attention was drawn to Rossi’s running background and suspicions emerged regarding whether or not he cheated his way into Boston.

In the interests of impartiality and bearing in mind that there has been no confirmation that accusations are true, here are the reasons why Rossi’s time has come into question.

1) Rossi’s Boston qualifying time (3:11:45) is not consistent with his other recent race results. His second-best marathon time is 3:43:52.

2) Rossi cannot be found in any race photos from the Via Marathon (the race in which he qualified for Boston) other than the start and finish. Yet, the runner who finished one place behind Rossi, was photographed four times on the course.

3) The Via Marathon has timing mats only at the start and finish, whereas most races feature multiple timing mats along the course. The Via Marathon also includes a five-leg marathon relay, meaning that people jumping in and out of the race are not uncommon.

4) To run a 3:11:45 marathon Rossi would have to run a 4:33/km pace. Rossi had never maintained this pace for more than 8K in any of his other documented races. His best half-marathon time was run with a pace of 4:46/km.

5) In Boston, Rossi ran a 4:01. Since coming under fire, Rossi has stated that he was suffering from a hip injury during the time of the race.