Posted by Glenn Ribotsky on November 14, 2005 at 06:45:23:
In Reply to: Congratulations posted by nick drake on November 13, 2005 at 13:19:13:
As is evidenced by the previous post, many are aware that Tony LaRocca did not run the NYC Marathon this year, despite having been awarded a registrant's number, and, that as a photo in the Staen Island Advance makes evident, Luis Oyola ran with that number on race day, garnering a finishing time that is listed as belonging to Tony.
I mention this here to bascially end the discussion on this, but also becasue nobody has had the courage to mention it publicly until now--and I am damn sick and tired of the practice in the SI running community of being catty and cutting--as somebody said, like a batch of junior high school girls--instead of direct and forward about issues that are important.
Contrary to popular opinion, there is no personal ax to grind here. But to give someone your number on race day, or to sell it, considering the value of/restriction on NYC marathon registrant numbers, is tantamount to larceny. Not to mention the issue that it threatens the integrity of the sport. Not to mention the personal moral issue.
As I will be having a meeting with Mary Wittenberg in the future about a number of issues, I will be sure to mention this in passing.
If I were the officers of the running clubs these peopel beling to, I think I would be quick to disavow any knowledge of this. I believe there is a provision that if this is done with the knowledge of consent of a club to which the individuals who perpetrate it belong, the clubs themselves may face sanction.
And, in keeping with the usual modus operandi fo the SI running community, I would not be in the least surprised if this post generated more controvery than the original inicident. And to do so would be continued evidence that the majority or runners on SI either feel the need to be silent on these issues and only talk about them out of earshot, for fear of being ostracized, or put personal loyalties, and the dislike of controversy, ahead of doing/saying the right thing.