2009 Northville MI Solstice run 10K - Full Report (6/27/2009)

Race in June, 2009 & Disqualification in February, 2011
(Please see Race Director, Alan Whitehead's note below)

Northville, Michigan (6/27/2009) Official Results - http://www.runmichigan.com/results/full.php/2009/06/27/2009-solstice-run.html

Kip's photos can be found on pg3 here (no bib showing)http://www.runmichigan.com/photogallery/09/solstice10k_062709jb.php?198

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alan Whitehead <awhitehead@mi.rr.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 7:51 PM
Subject: 2009 Solstice Run 10K - Finish Results for Kip Litton
To: befreetoo@hotmail.com


Kip,

I am the Race Director for the Solstice Run in Northville, MI and many of my fellow running and community friends have brought to my attention the results of the 2009 Solstice Run 10K race event where you were credited with a finish time of 37:14.

I have evidence with videos and pictures taken at various stages of our 2009 10K race on the course and it is apparent you did not run the entire 10K course in the chip time recorded.

One example is a picture of yourself finishing:http://www.runmichigan.com/photogallery/09/solstice10k_062709me_window.php?31

We took note and recognized your tee shirt was dry on such a tough course & high temperature day. You & I know you easily shortcut the course.

My responsibility to the Solstice Run event is to conduct an organized, fair and professional race event with accurate finisher results. Therefore with the evidence in hand can you explain your appearance & lack of previous race times that would support such a solid 6 minute pace on our hilly 10K race event in Northville?

I am prepared to officially "Disqualify" your finish time in 2009 at the Solstice Run dependant on your response and explanation to the evidence received. Please respond by this Sunday, February 6th with your comments and feedback or I will need to make a decision then to process a Disqualification on your entry and finish-time in our 2009 Solstice Run 10K race.

Regards,

Alan Whitehead
Race Director
Solstice Run
www.solsticerun.org

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Kip (black) appears to be over the shoulder of the yellow shirt guy

http://www.runmichigan.com/photogallery/09/solstice10k_062709jb_window.php?62 

Direct verbatim from an email we received:

Solstice 10K 2009 Map (thanks to a reader who sent this in)

2009 BayShore Marathon Full Report

Full Report & Objective Assessment of 2009 BayShore Marathon  - 5/23/2009
Traverse City, Michigan

I noticed that I have yet to write up a full report on this one. The folks over at LetsRun reminded me. So here it goes.





official results are located here: http://dev.bayshoremarathon.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67&Itemid=51
race photos are located here: http://www.backprint.com/view_event.asp?PID=bp%18yG&EVENTID=50179


Step 1: Copied & Pasted race results where Kip came in 2nd in his age group. Notice a 2min 41 sec chip/gun difference. The other top finishers in his age group took at most 0min27secs to cross the starting line, but it took Kip 2min 41secs. Also notice that Kip ran the first half in ~1hr 30mins and ran the second half in ~1hr 22mins. Is it possible that Kip got off to a slow start because he started so far back behind slow people, but then he managed to speed up to 6:19/mile over the 2nd half?


Male 45 to 49             
Place Overall Plc Name Age 1st Half Rnk 1st Half Time 1st Half Pace 2nd Half Rnk 2nd Half Time 2nd Half Pace Chip Time Gun Time Diff Pace
1 20 Mitch Hartnagle 45 3 1:26:55.95 6:38 2 1:26:02.17 6:34 2:52:58.12 2:53:03.02 00:04.90 6:36/M
2 21 Kip Litton 47 7 1:30:13.44 6:53 1 1:22:45.49 6:19 2:52:58.93 2:55:40.07 02:41.14 6:36/M
3 22 John Niven 45 1 1:25:36.38 6:32 3 1:27:42.00 6:42 2:53:18.38 2:53:45.62 00:27.24 6:37/M
4 36 Dana Fluet 47 6 1:28:30.17 6:45 4 1:30:30.51 6:55 2:59:00.68 2:59:04.88 00:04.20 6:50/M
5 40 Larry Gutierrez 48 5 1:28:11.46 6:44 5 1:32:44.79 7:05 3:00:56.25 3:00:59.02 00:02.77 6:54/M


Step 2: Checked out Kip Litton's photos at http://www.backprint.com/view_event.asp?PID=bp%18yG&EVENTID=50179 and here's what came up. All of the photos only show Kip right before the finish. Why is this?

Step 3: I checked the photos for the other top age group finishers and, not surprisingly, these runners appeared at other points along the race course (not just right before the finish line).

e.g. Mitch Hartnagle -1st place in Kip's age group

e.g. John Niven (3rd place behind Kip in Kip's age group)

e.g. Dana Fluet (4th place in Kip Litton's age group)

e.g. Larry Gutierrez (5th place in Kip's age group)

Step 4 - I looked to see what the last place finishers' chip/gun difference was. Remember that Kip's chip/gun difference was 2mins and 41 secs. So it looks like Kip started after some of these 5-6 hr finishers, yet he came in 2nd in his age group with a 2:52:58 official time. Maybe there's an explanation for this. I've heard that some marathoners running for charity raise money based on how many people they pass. Perhaps this is why Kip starts in the back. Or, more likely, it is because it allows Kip to stay unnoticed so that the top finishers don't notice him until the computerized official results are spit out at the post-race festivities?


So here are some finishers with similar chip/gun differences to Kip Litton's chip/gun difference: 


4 1367 Marcia Rignault 60 4 2:52:39.51 13:11 4 2:57:08.93 13:31 5:49:48.44 5:52:18.24 02:29.80 13:21/M


3 1374 Cathy De Leeuw 65 3 2:51:06.40 13:04 3 3:04:55.92 14:07 5:56:02.32 5:58:36.28 02:33.96 13:35/M


41 1377 Patricia Loyselle 51 41 2:46:01.19 12:40 41 3:15:39.65 14:56 6:01:40.84 6:03:54.12 02:13.28 13:48/M


76 1382 Judith Kendra 43 75 2:54:09.74 13:18 73 3:23:18.11 15:31 6:17:27.85 6:19:49.00 02:21.15 14:24/M


Step 5 - I tried to give Kip the benefit of the doubt. I looked at some of these last place finishers to see their photos in case it's possible that perhaps one possible explanation that Kip's photos only appear right before the finish is because Kip started so far back so the race photographer perhaps didn't bother taking photos of people who started this far back. So I looked to find photos of those with comparable chip/gun differences to Kip's 2min 41sec chip/gun difference.  Unlike Kip Litton, I found that these finishers with comparable chip/gun differences still had photos at various points along the course and not just right before the finish line!!!

e.g. for Marcia Rignault, who had a 2:29 chip/gun difference

e.g. for Cathy De Leeuw, who had a 2:33 chip/gun difference

e.g. for Patricia Loyselle, who had a 2:13 chip/gun difference

e.g.  for Judith Kendra, who had a 2:21 chip/gun difference

Step 6 - Based on the lack of photos of Kip Litton at any points except right before the finish along with a huge negative split and these other factors, I'm adding 2009 BayShore Marathon to one of Kip Litton's suspicious performances on the clickable map.


We'd love to hear any comments you have on this. Kip, if you're reading this and have some explanation, we'd love to hear it.

2010 Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon - Photo Sequence

Disqualified
vertical photo sequence:

High Resolution Photo here http://is200.imagesocket.com/images/2011/10/20/2344403-2dg5.jpg


http://is100.imagesocket.com/thumbs/2011/10/20/2344202-kd6b.jpg (horizontal full size JPEG)



Original report on Deadwood

Interesting LetsRun.com post from Informant "Ouch1000"

Deadwood, South Dakota Marathon - Kip Litton (black coat)
crosses the starting line. He tried to finish in 2:57 but was disqualified.

Quote from Ouch1000:
"The on-line tracking [of Kip at Boston'12] won't work, in my opinion. He has become very adept at finding the mats, somehow getting them to register his 
chip by running, biking, walking or driving over them (or near them) and then moving on the the next mat by his favorite non-running method.

The chip mats are quite sensitive. At Missoula, when I spoke with one of the organizers early on about my suspicion that Kip had cheated, he told me that the race announcer had taken a few unclaimed chips to the starting line to give to runners who arrived at midnight the previous night. All but one chip were handed out. When the announcer got all set up on the scaffolding catwalk 15 feet above the finish line and they turned on the chip sensor, the remaining chip in his pocket kept making the finish line mat beep any time he moved.
I think Kip knows that all he has to do is get near the mat to register his passage by that part of the course. At Boston in 2010, he registered at all the mats, but somehow managed to never be photographed (except when accidentally caught skulking slowly by one of the mats in a full black sweatsuit). At many marathons, including Thunder Road, which he may have used to qualify himself for Boston, it is insanely easy to cheat, as they advertise the locations of the mats: "Timing mats will be located at the start, 10K mark, 13.1 mile mark, 20 mile mark and the finish. Runners who do not register a split time at one of the checkpoints will be subject to disqualification." (Why use them as checkpoints if you're goiing to tell the cheaters where they are?!) In addition, the layout of the course is perfect for a cheater like Litton: http://www.runcharlotte.com/2010maps/TRM2010_MarathonMap.pdf
There are only two solutions to this problem at Boston, in my opinion. One is to connect with the BAA race organizers about the situation and have his entry rejected, given that he obviously didn't run any of the possible marathons he used to qualify. Surely someone monitoring this thread knows someone who has the ear of a BAA official. The second (much more difficult, if not impossible) is to locate him at the start or one of the early chip mats and follow him. 

Deadwood, SD Marathon
Kip Litton then crossing the finish (DQ)

The business of being a race director is obviously a thankless job sometimes. I have only organized a couple of very small races in Montana, and it takes a huge amount of work. But if I could be allowed to vent for a few paragraphs - I just can't understand the perspective that so many race directors have about disqualification.

Why go to all the trouble of having any controls at all if people like Kip Litton can make such a mockery of them. In 2010, I personally spoke with the RD's at a number of his marathons and the consistent reply to the overwhelming evidence (lack of photos and reports by finishers close behind that he never passed them) was "Well - I'm really suspicious, but he registered at all of the chip mats, so I can't disqualify him." Sure you can disqualify him!!

In the old days, when I was running races in the 70's and 80's, if your number wasn't showing, you'd be disqualified - end of story! I can recall lots of races when I'd pass by four or five volunteers during a race who were writing down numbers as runners passed by. Kip Litton doesn't show up in hardly any of the race photos (except at the finish line) for any of the marathons he's run, while other runners who finished near him show up in all of the photos. Runners near the front who have provided personal testimony that Kip never passed them have still not been able to convince RD's to remove him from the results.

At races I've helped with in Montana, we frequently use borrowed digital video cameras to tape the race. If there is ever a question about a runner, we always have the video showing who passed by a certain point in the course. Running a race is a privelege, not a right, and as such, RD's need to get their heads out of the sand and be willing to enforce higher standards. If you talk to any big marathon race director, he or she will tell you about the nightmare of runners cheating to qualify for Boston. The problem is far more widespread than the pathetic story of Kippy Cheaterpants. But nothing is going to change unless RD's are willing to get a bit more tough.

I'm a professor at a small college who deals with academic integrity violations four or five times each year. Students who are suspected of cheating have to prove their innocence beyond a reasonable doubt, not the other way around. I love the U. S. legal system, but in running and academics, the burden of proof is on the accused, not the accuser. I'm so fed up with our society's washed-out moral and ethical standards of behavior. If we all don't start holding ourselves to a higher standard, especially we runners, our future looks bleak indeed.There. I've said my piece."

Read more: 


http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3863010&page=87#ixzz1ZWO9VNtN 

• at Thunder Road
• at Boston 2010

Kip Litton registered at Boston 2012: Likely used the Charlotte Thunder Road Marathon as a Boston Qualifier

Kip Litton is registered for the 2012 Boston Marathon. Kip likely used his performance at the Charlotte Thunder Road marathon on 12/10/2010 (finishing pic below) as his Boston Qualifier. We don't know of any other marathons he's completed recently that are within the 2012 BQualifying window (they have to be from 9/25/10 forward).

Boston Marathon photo credit - Google/Flicker pix

I guess it's safe to assume then that this performance has been accepted by the BAA, despite reports we've received that Kip had not actually completed the full distance (please see http://kiplitton.blogspot.com/2010/12/kip-litton-at-charlotte-marathon-dec.html). The Charlotte race director had questioned Kip, but decided that because Kip had crossed all the mats and had denied any wrongdoing, he would not be DQ'ed (full report).

Note that 3:00:24 was his gun time. His chip time was 2:55:20.

Kip last made the trip to Boston in 2010, where he completed the 2010 Boston Marathon in 2:52, despite an outfit change (see below). He also blazed the BAA 5K course the day before in 17:17 (5:34 min/mi), despite a 4:04 gun/chip differential and a photo showing Litton finishing stride for stride with 21min 5k finishers (please see this link for more info).

2010 Boston Marathon (outfit comparison)

2010 BAA 5K Finish

Update - Note We Rec'd on Kip at Charlotte Thunder Road Marathon

We received this note from a reader:

Hi,

So I'm attaching a couple of pictures. The first 1 is of me (wearing the black stocking cap) running with my friend Kevin Ballantine (wearing the white headband), who was trying to break 3:00 and finished with a 3:04, and our other friend Danielle Crockford (in red), the women's winner who ran a 2:59. The 3:00 pacer, Brian McMahon (wearing the yellow shirt in the Litton pic), told me Litton never passed him either.

I dropped off the pace of Kevin and Danielle around mile 5 and ran the half in 1:32:59 and Litton never came by me through 12 miles (where the half and full courses split off).

None of us recall being passed by Litton and yet note the picture of him, late in the race, past mile 20, where he has somehow gotten in front of Danielle and Brian.

Here are links to pics of Litton walking across the finish line at Charlotte Thunder Road:

http://webres1.brightroom.com/206/65101/648/65101-648-016f.jpg

http://webres1.brightroom.com/206/65101/648/65101-648-017f.jpg

I exchanged emails with the race director who confronted Litton about this race, but as Litton hit all the mats and denied cheating, the director did not have enough evidence to DQ him.

Kip Litton Cowtown Marathon Prediction Contest - List of Entries

- Race is tomorrow! What will happen?
http://www.dukerdog.com/kip.html

 mommy mommy DNS: other excuse
word yes sir DNS: other excuse
dontdonate DNS: illness
edumacator DNF: excuse of injury
VF Runner DNF: excuse of injury
friend of a friend 2:58:12
jerrry 2:59:09
chyeah man 3:02:00
WhitePony 3:02:08
 paulski66 3:04:22
Whoomp there it is 3:05:00
runnnerere 3:05:23
kirkaz 3:06:00
Kyp Lyttyn 3:06:42
TDF 3:06:45
long sox 3:12:52
Dan the Masters Man 3:13:08
GA runner 3:19:49
Just Wow 3:22:38
florida oldtimer 3:23:48
dd 3:47:00

Kip Litton's Cowtown - 6 days away

updates per letsrun.com discussion board

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3863010&page=71

KL Cowtown Registration	RE: Just Kip It. 2/21/2011 10:30AM - in reply to just kip it nike Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
	Per Cowtown registration confirmation database: Name: Litton, Kip Home: davison, MI Race: Marathon Bib #: 535 Registered: 1/21/11

rusty cage	RE: Kip L 2/21/2011 11:02AM - in reply to Clarkston Kent Reply | Return to Index | Report Post
	Mats are going to be at 10k, 13.1 miles, and 30k. This should be fun.