M60 winner of NYC Marathon grateful fraud was exposed
Alan still hopes to break 3 hours in the marathon in his 60s.
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Alan Miller lives in the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Cooper City, but last Sunday he was clicking off 7-minute miles on the way to a 3:08:03 finish at the New York City Marathon. Pretty impressive for a guy 60 years old. After the race, he saw that Ermes Luppi of Italy was the only age-group finisher ahead of him. “I knew the Italian guy was credited with a 2:39, as I saw it in the N.Y. Times and a few friends saw it too,” Miller wrote me yesterday. “They thought it was miraculous that a 61-year-old could do that. I was not suspicious at all.” But a fellow runner was. Alan takes up the story: “Then I got a call from Fred Stewart, who was the third-place finisher. He is the one who was on top of it because he looked up the Italian guy’s previous times. (The Italian) ran several New York Marathons but never broke four hours. Fred alerted the NYRRC and they investigated it by checking the videos. Apparently, Ermes Luppi gave his chip and number to a much younger Italian runner. He was DQ’d and I am now listed as the official winner for the old guys, 60-64.”
Alan continues:
Fred was moved up to his much-deserved second place. My reaction is that I am extremely grateful to Fred Stewart for his diligence and to the NYRRC for rectifying the situation. It all worked out and I am full of gratitude.
Now back home in Florida, Alan says he is thrilled with the first-place finish “and am still on Cloud Nine. But I was also thrilled with second place.”
The New York City Marathon didn’t have cash for older age-group winners, but did promise a prize — “a beautifully crafted silver item from Tiffany’s,” Miller says.
He offers these other details:
I called the NYRR club to see if I could pick up what I thought was my second-place award. They were extremely nice and stated that the scoring was still unofficial and they would mail it.
And Alan responded to my biographical questions:
I am an adjunct professor with Barry University. teaching “Understanding and Coping with Stress.”
I am also a certified ChiRunning instructor. I teach ChiRunning workshops based on the book of the same name by Danny Dreyer. I must say, that the ChiRunning technique certainly helped me through the marathon.I love teaching the course as it helps people avoid running injuries and enables them to enjoy their runs more.
I ran my first marathon in 1978 in Hawaii and did 3:18. My fastest is 2:38 in 1987 and 1992. I have a fantasy to break three hours one day again. I last did it in 1995 with a 2:52. But after this last one, I realize it will take a heck of a lot of work, especially in the last 10K.
Personally, I have been married to Ruth for 35 years and we have one daughter, Rachel. She is a materials engineer who works with the shuttle program at the Kennedy Space Center. I am extremely proud of her.
As for the Italian — his passing (or sale) of the bib number and chip amounts to fraud. Thank goodness the real winner was discovered and duly recognized.
Best of luck, Alan, and try running masters track sometime, too!
6 Responses
Ermes Luppi admits to giving his bib and chip to “a friend” in this posting:
http://www.podisti.org/webzine/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14386&Itemid=476
Furthermore, a posting today on the T&FN Message Board said:
“I can vouch for (Luppi) not running in NYC (I saw him on First Avenue as he stood there watching runners pass by), and I also know the guy who ran with his bib since we live like 50 miles apart from each other. The guy who did run the marathon was “looking for a race number” in the weeks coming into the race but I let him know via third party people “not to mess” with NYC marathon organization because I know they are strict about these fundamental competition rules (besides being obviously unjust to run essentially as a bandit), but he wouldn’t listen so now he made an a$$ of himself and disrespected the race, the organizers and its legit participants.”
First congratulation to Alan, that time at his age category is an amazing achievement. I come from the podisti.net forum, where the “problem” of Luppi running too fast was first exploited, and where he then wrote what happened.
I want just to witness the situation that often happens. I don’t agree to give the bib num to others, but is also true that to be part of NY, if you don’t are a good for age, as italian you have to pay around 300euro only for the bib. So people that cannot then participate end up trying to sell the bib. Obviously is not allowed, but I guess understandable. I would not do it, and it the case of Mr Luppi he must have take double care of not giving hib BIB to such a fast runner, that was nearly obviously going to “win” the over 60 category. I think that was a big mistake.
Said that I wish Alan can break the 3 hours soon, maybe at an inspiring Italian marathon, like Rome!!!
Hi, im ALANS brotherinlaw, living in England, hes great guy, and when he visits us his first words are , where can i go running.
I went to grammar and high school with Alan. He has been an inspiration to many for much of his life…..I won’t go into details, just to say that his spirit and generous nature are well-known.
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