but if i was her and my finish was legit id sign up for an ultra with a truly competitive womens field and validate the Badwater result.
This is the approach I might have taken if I were Derek. Mark her down as a “person of interest” Maybe privately ask her for GPS data. And then keep an eye on her in future events, maybe getting some insider contacts to put some extra game-day scrutiny on her.
Build up a body of work. Play the long game.
Instead he went immediately public.
It has been mentioned before but here it goes, Derek may have intentionally jumped the gun trying to flush out more evidence. A calculated risk of eating crow to try and protect the integrity of the event.
I equate those of you that blame Derek for the suicide to a patient that blames the doctor for diagnosing him with cancer. Let’s not forget that there was free will and premeditation to act deviant to society. A choice to avoid the consequences and end ones life is the afflicted’s own alone.
No, he chose to commit journalistic malpractice here for what I don’t know. Kiss up to some pro athlete he’s fond of. He willfully chose to invade someone’s life without any evidence whatsoever, heck most of the people he goes after should have their results DQd but should never have to suffer him going after them. You spoke about choice, well Derek needs to shut down that facebook page and website. If you don’t think him diving into Frank Meza’s life had an impact on that man which pushed him to those choices, then you’re not doing the math right. Frank still made a choice, but Derek directly contributed to that choice.
True. And if I remember correctly there weren’t any real evidence against Frank to begin with.
An old person on a bike with a race bib and some similarities to Frank, sure, but nothing that would hold up in a court of law.
As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I participated in the effort to prove that Frank Meza was a habitual cheater and I would like to add a few points.
Meza was caught cheating twice in the California International Marathon and was banned for life.
Meza’s performance in L.A. in 2015 was questioned by the race organizers. They asked him to run with an observer in the future, but apparently never enforced that request.
In 2019, when Meza ran faster than Ed Whitlock had in the 70-74 age group, the effort to prove that he cheated was on. Even people like Amby Burfoot (Boston Marathon winner and long-time editor of Runner’s World were questioning the performance. He would later write an article posted on Derek’s site saying it was time for Meza to prove his ability by running a monitored race.
Meza responded with denials, accusations, and threats. He enlisted the help of other coaches and a deputy district attorney to help paint himself as a victim and the accusers as a mob of internet bullies.
His response was almost taunting, in a strange way. I recall feeling like it was a game of “catch me if you can.”
When photos of him leaving the course were found, he claimed he had left the course to find a bathroom and re-entered the course at the same place (while setting a world record). Similar photos were found from several of his races.
Photos from other races showed him entering and leaving the courses, stretching along the side of the road (to re-enter undetected) and even running along the course in the wrong direction.
When the photo of him riding a bicycle was discovered ( https://www.lamag.com/...frank-meza-marathon/ ), it was over.
Meza held a prominent position in the medical community and his blatant dishonesty was likely going to be a problem for him professionally.
While Derek gets much of the credit (or blame) for catching Meza, it was largely the crowdsourced effort that found the smoking gun photos.
The L.A. Marathon reversed its decision and disqualified him.
Then media outlets like Inside Edition and the L.A. Times, and local nightly news journalists started knocking on his door. Good Morning America mocked him. People magazine ran a story on his disqualification. He was asked to not return to his coaching position.
Then he took his own life.
Was this a tragedy? Yes.
Would I blame Derek for it? No, once the thread started on LetsRun he was going to be caught. Why blame him any more than the media outlets that ran with the story after it was proven that he was a cheat?
Should we stop trying to catch cheaters because of this incident? No.
I also participated materially in the Meza thread. I’m prepared to wrestle with my culpability. Derek and you are not. The fact a bad outcome may have been inevitable doesn’t excuse anyone’s responsibility for contributing to it. Reasonable people can differ on how much responsibility you, me or Derek may bear, but we bear some. I’m not prepared to sign off on a blanket statement like “we should stop trying to catch cheaters because of this incident” but I full support “we should think very carefully about inciting 10,000 post mostly-uninformed internet investigations into people who might be cheats no matter how annoying we find their conduct.”
Imagine an alternate scenario where Derek spoke to Camille, did real journalistic legwork and spent as long as it took to fully source all his allegations before going public. He wouldn’t have had the benefit of the internet mob working for him but them’s the breaks. Then he goes to the RD and publishes one of two articles “Here’s conclusive proof Ashley Paulson cheated and the RD didn’t do anything” OR “Ashley Paulson was just been DQd from BAdwater and here’s the investigation that convinced the RD.” This would have been over within 48 hours, the psychological impact on the individuals involved, guilty or otherwise, would have been minimal and Derek’s actions would have been beyond reproach. It boggles my mind that he’s still going a different route.
So does this mean that ANYONE “ratting” anyone else out is now culpable and responsible for whatever happens after to that person? That’s ridiculous. So if I were to write an article in my spare time that ends of taking down a CEO of a company and that CEO goes on a shooting rampage and kills a bunch of people, I would be responsible/should feel guilty?
He can do whatever he wants in his spare time. If it ends up maliciously smearing someone and they can prove he was wrong, there are tonne of outlets at their disposal to solve that. His investigation wasn’t malicious in any way (imo).