Table of Contents

With the independent investigation announced by SKINS, I'm probably signing off here for now.  Just to summarize things for new readers, the independent investigators should they find this site useful, or anyone else, here's something of a table of contents for the blog:

• The Case Against Robert Young - guest post by LetsRun user Hiro, executive summary on the whole topic
• Desert Misadventure - Rob Young's impossible 34 mile desert run
• Desert Misadventure - Attempt to Delete Evidence - ...and his attempt to hide GPS evidence of car travel
• Missing Strava Data - Visualization showing the wide gaps of data for the unobserved, suspicious portion of Rob's run
• Was A Bike Used To Cheat? - Strava "run" activity is really cycling
• Yet Another Bike Ride - Another Strava "run" activity is really cycling, this time with a portion that completely lacks running coverage
• Analysis of Running Video - One of the only videos of Rob actually running is qualitatively and qualitatively analyzed
• Rob Young Uploads Driving GPS File, Deletes It - A missing Strava file shows the GPS watch was really in possession of the RV driver
• Strava Data Analysis - A global look at data from Rob's Strava account, with comparisons to other multi-day running efforts.

Strava Data Analysis

Here I'll apply some simple analyses, at a global level, to Rob Young's Strava data.  We'll demonstrate impossible speeds, done only at night when he was unobserved, and how his performance is so off the charts compared to other high and elite-level efforts that it cannot be real.

Speed Histogram - Rob Young pre/post observation vs. others

Rob Young Uploads Driving GPS File, Deletes It

A file uploaded to a Strava account under Rob Young's partner's name, which was subsequently and rapidly deleted, had been reconstructed by users over at LetsRun.  The file shows a 1:56 mile and suggests the RV was forced to travel too fast due to a lane closure.

Acceleration at end of lane closure section, followed by attempted backtrack

Analysis of Running Video

While this is a bit more qualitative than my other posts, I couldn't resist.

Yet Another Bike Ride

Further analysis shows another bike ride has been passed off as a run by Rob Young.

Was A Bike Used To Cheat?

Rob Young's Facebook video upload today confirms a bicycle was used to move the TomTom GPS watch.  How many other of his activities are really bikes?

Missing Strava Data

Strava Heat Map

Using a Chrome plugin, I've obtained the raw files for Rob Young's Strava uploads, current as of 6/26/16.

Here's a heat map, made with GoldenCheetah, to visualize the large gaps in the data released thus far:

GoldenCheetah Heatmap of Rob Young's Strava activities

Desert Misadventure - Attempt to Delete Evidence

Rob Young has cropped off a portion of a critical run preceding his presumed hitchhike from Bannock to Laughlin.  That cropped portion? By simple math, it was 1.1 miles covered in 1 minute, 28 seconds.  It seems perhaps the vehicular assistance occurred even earlier than predicted, and Rob had to try and cover it up:

Run from broken down RV: Strava vs. TomTom

Desert Misadventure - A 34 Mile Impossibility

Background

Robert Young is a UK ultrarunner attempting to break the world record for the fastest crossing of the United States on foot.  His run has raised much suspicion, especially in the early weeks as he amassed a string of unrealistic daily mileages and paces.
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Robert's crew is in an RV, in which a live tracker has been recording (albeit with low resolution, one update every 12 minutes when moving).  Investigators have archived the tracks here: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1LT0f678T-ThFL9IhgrtywaDU9Ig.  This tracker is always on Eastern Standard Time.
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Robert claims to additionally wear GPS watches, and has uploaded evidence of these activities in the form of photographs of a TomTom website to his Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/marathonmanuk.

Purpose

Here I will utilize available data sources to analyze Robert's movements on May 18.  On this morning, Robert's RV became stuck and his travel from that point forward is highly suspicious.

A couple of the observations are my own, but this is largely a synthesis of information gleaned from the hard workers over at LetsRun.com.  Markus Mueller, team1.kml, 113, and other posters long questioned and analyzed Robert's run and the events of this day.  A crowdsourced effort is underway here.

We will show that:

• Robert Young would have had to travel 34 miles unsupported in less than 4:33.
• Robert Young would have had to travel 12 miles in no more than 52 minutes.
• Robert Young hitchhiked 12 miles up Hwy 95.

Summary of evidence