When I started my blog in 2015, I had no idea my site would gain so much attention. I thank all of you for contributing, sending tips and sharing my posts.
Within the last year, I have had several inquiries from race officials to work with me on a more formal basis. I believe the time is right and important to launch the Marathon Investigation Partner Program. This is designed for the race officials who want an in depth analysis of their event results and also the public partnership with MI. This program is also for individuals and running clubs who want to uphold the no-cheating philosophy and show their support of these type of investigations.
If you are an individual/blogger that has already contributed the required amount and wish to show a badge, please contact me at derek@marathoninvestigation.com to request your supporter badge.
I am happy to share with you the MI Partnership Program. Please share the links with your fellow runners, clubs, stores, and race directors. Space is limited on some levels and will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Individual and clubs may immediately join by clicking the links below the Support badge from the page linked below.
https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/partnership-program
Thank You
-Derek
Yep, sooner or later, this was going to happen! You didn’t start this because numbers are your hobby or you wanted to find cheaters. You wanted to find a way to combine things you love-numbers and running! Now races will pay you to look for cheaters!
It’s fine, but don’t blow smoke up people’s asses and say you have a holier than thou reasoning for doing these investigations!
This is simply a way to ensure cooperation with races. By partnering with races and having a commitment from the races to share data, I can more efficiently and effectively analyze results. My site has been up for over two years. I have only recently begun excepting reader contributions. I never envisioned this site would become as popular as it has. In order to continue to spend as many hours on the site as I have been, and I felt I needed to take this step. I feel this is the best way to move the site forward and have the largest impact in stopping cheating in races.
See the thing is when you were doing this without any profit motive, it seemed like your motivations were good even if you possibly might be overzealous, quick, or possibly wrong in your public pillory. Now it seems the motivation is profit, hard to untangle altruism and profit. So when you say contributions go to people that gather data, that is to you right? Not saying you are doing anything wrong but it is a difference. Your wife probably is right if she says your job is to make $ for family not fall down the rabbit hole chasing mad hatter cheaters. Good luck, it definitely is an interesting site.
I don’t scrape the data. Part of the contributions compensate those that do. There are costs associated with paying for server space, help with site maintenance, etc. My motivation is the same as always. If I don’t partner with a single race, I will still continue with the site.
Whether Derek gets paid or not, his work provides an amazing service to the running community. I don’t recall him ever saying anything about having a holier than thou reasoning for doing these investigations. I think it’s a bit crazy to post negative comments just because he might make some money based solely on the concept of supply and demand. He provides an amazing service. If he can continue doing that and make some money, God bless him!
Agreed. Any quality product or service is going to have a price and a cost involved.
If Derek is good at what he does and fairly and accurately exposes and shines a light on cheaters in our sport he deserves to be compensated accordingly.
It appears he’s found a market for his services so kudos to him for capitalizing on it and providing a service for those of us that value fair and clean competition.
You people, lol. Who cares if he gets paid? Cops get paid to investigate crimes, no one is questioning their motives. He is providing a service, one the industry lacks. Kudos to you for finding a way to combine your interests.
Lol at anyone inclined to give Derek crap for building a business doing something he’s passionate about, and is a public service to boot. But then again these are probably the same people that think nonprofit staff should be underpaid too.
Great idea. I can’t believe anyone has a problem with this. How would you have expected this site to grow as it has – who knew there were others with this obsession? Kudos to you and thank you for your hard work!
Congratulations! It’s a wonderful thing to be able to take something you enjoy and turn it into a way to support your family. Best wishes for the future!
Thank you! Still a long way to go. This is the first step.
I’m happy that you get a reward for all hard work that you do. There is definitely a need for someone like you, unfortunately, due to the uptick in cheating. Or maybe it was always there? I hope everyone knows from sea to shining sea that there’s a new Sheriff in Town and his name is Derek Murphy!
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