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| Robert Johnson, Co-Founder - LetsRun.com |
Robert Johnson:
"Wow. This is starting to anger me. Before, I cared very little about the Kip Litton story and paid almost no attention to it but 100% know he cheated.
Now there are deniers years after the fact?
I wonder if it is reputation.com. It's almost laughable. The guy made up a full marathon and even created a website for it. How is that defensible?
Lots of people have offered to watch him race - he's never done it - but now people are saying, he's racing in secret."Your name here wrote:
Kip has done many races in the last 3 years, and he is actually faster than before the witch hunt started! He has just kept off YOUR radar by using aliases. Those of us who train with him know exactly which ones.
"A five year old could make up more believable lies than that.
Everyone who doens't know the story, needs to read this http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/08/06/120806fa_fact_singer?currentPage=all
and this:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3863010
Lastly, to 'Reality in perspective'. If you are a real person (i've pasted your post below), please tell Kip I'll pay $1000 for him to run a marathon in 2014 as long as he starts and runs an official 26.2 marathon and as long I am told what marathon it will be at least 14 days in advance and am allowed to walk/ride next to Kip and film the whole thing.
I'll pay an extra $1000 if he breaks 3:30."Reality in perspective wrote:
This is an open letter to all those who have kept tabs on this debacle. It is the closest thing to truth and reality that you will ever read. The reason for this is that it is coming from those that are closest to the actual events, unlike the predictable regurgitated crap on Lets Run that comes from odd-balls who have little or no connection at all to Kip. I am one of a number of Kip's friends who have had extensive group discussions with Kip, his wife, his kids and fellow runners. He has also shared with us emails and an audio recording of his interview with Mark Singer. The vast majority of what we have read online is inundated with glaring errors, deception and misinformation. The reason for this, in large part, is simply because the online point of view is coming mainly from people who have never even had any meaningful contact with those involved.
From the beginning Kip has been steadfast that he has nothing to hide and would talk to anyone about anything. His only condition was that it was not in a forum where people could remain anonymous. When we hear things like "Kip isn't talking", it is 100% false- he has always been open and forthright. We have grilled him and his family on many of the issues raised here on Lets Run. He has been open and transparent with all explanations, and his family has independently confirmed them. Just because YOU have not been present for these discussions does not mean they DIDN'T happen. Also, Lets Run management has done a major disservice to the quest for truth by deleting many posts that are indicative of his innocence. This is deceptive and manipulative in and of itself. It is sad to see an entity that is supposed to be unbiased purposely skew the truth. A cheating scandal of this magnitude could never have been pulled off without the aid of either a car, a bike or other accomplices. His family confirmed that he never had access to any of these things. Some races don't allow vehicles and some have so many road closures, navigating around is impossible. These factors at Boston plus 9 timing mats have eliminated cheating for times in the sub-3 range. And yet Kip ran Boston 8 straight times without issue.
For those that claim that the evidence that Kip has presented is not sufficient enough are failing to understand one thing- that is you CAN NOT prove a negative. Cheating can be proven, but NOT cheating can not be proven. Guess what? There are no other runners (aside from those with a video cam on them from start to finish) who could prove they didn't cheat either! Kip actually has much more evidence in his favor than the vast majority of other runners- in addition to the testimony that he had no car or bike, he had family confirm he was at random spots (plus all the timing mats) along many of the courses where he handed them excess gear or was given drinks. Mark Singer had access to this info but chose to not use it. Why would he- his story would have imploded. Remember, he writes for the same New Yorker that fired writer Jonah Lehrer for fabricating info the same week that Mark's fairy tale was published. Uncanny irony.
Kip was running decent times and winning races and triathlons for several years before anyone ever tried to claim cheating. How does one win a race or triathlon and cheat undetected? Ridiculous! Still to this day, there is not even one person who has even ever said they saw him cheat in any of his 200+ races. Ridiculous! One of Kip's training partner's confirmed with us and Mark Singer that Kip's reported finish times were all within his capabilities. Ridiculous!
Kip has no interest in a lawsuit despite his wife being an outstanding attorney. He has a lifelong spotless ethical track record, many friends and a community that loves him. He has nothing to gain by wasting his time in court. Again, you can't prove a negative. The Lets Run post that stated that there is a disconnect between perception online and that in reality couldn't have been more accurate.
I am defending my friend because when you see a friend get painted falsely, that's what friends do. And what are most of the sick people here doing? Let me sum up this absurdity- long after the issue was DEAD, you are STILL here in a forum that Kip DOESN'T even use, relentlessly bashing him over UNCONFIRMED claims from amateur races from YEARS ago, when you DON'T know him and have NEVER even questioned him!! And if this isn't malicious enough, you do this to someone who has a young child with a terminal illness. Just despicable.
