Anita Carcone – Interview yields some answers, but raises additional questions

By
derek
-
42
26812

When I wrote the article on Anita Carcone, I focused on her over the top reaction to being disqualified from The San Diego International Triathlon. The story was less about the actual disqualification as it was her response.

Disqualified Triathlete Reported by “Race Buster”, Her Reaction is Shocking

“…I hope that place blows up in flames! F*** YOU CALIFORNIA!!!!!!!!”

“…I understand all shooters of all the mass shooters of all the mass shootings now.”

 

Since I wrote about Anita Carcone over 5 months ago, I would receive emails out of the blue from her friend Bill. (I do not know their exact relationship).

I chose to ignore the messages. See below:

A couple weeks ago, I received an email that was purportedly from Anita.

It simply said:

While the tone was the same, I replied and invited her to come on the podcast. I’ve always said that I will give anyone that I profiled on the site an opportunity to respond. It just so happened that we were planning to record an episode that night and had no guest booked. Anita did not reply to my email, but co-host Scott texted the # and they agreed to come on the show.

When we called, we got Bill instead. You can click the below link to find it on iTunes or you can find it on most podcasting platforms. This post is meant to summarize the podcast. If you want to hear Bill yell for most of an hour you can listen as well.

Disqualified Triathlete – Anita Carcone on iTunes

The intent with this call was to let Anita tell the whole story. Without Anita we were left to try to learn something from Bill.

We did learn two important things:

  1. Bill conceded that Anita did not do the 2nd loop. He says that Anita did not attend the pre-race meeting and that she was misdirected. She biked the sprint distance. It is plausible that she missed the turn. I reiterated throughout the interview that I never called Anita a cheater.
  2. I asked about the Facebook comments. When I asked about Anita writing this statement, Bill immediately said that he made the post.

After the emails I received and after listening to Bill for an hour, IU have no doubt that it was Bill behind these statements.

What we did not learn was what led to the editing of Anita’s Garmin data, and why suh harsh reactions to the disqualification if they now concede that she did not complete the second loop.

After The Podcast

The next morning I received additional emails – these were much more reasonable than the communications I had prior. I believe these were from Anita.

Anita asked if I would be writing a follow up article explaining that I did not feel that she cheated. I told her I would concede that it is entirely possible that she cut the bike ride short inadvertently.

I also had some key questions regarding why the reaction to her disqualification was so harsh given the fact that she did miss a loop. I also am left wondering which statements were made by her and which ones were made by Bill. Looking back through the Facebook posts, it is easy to see the quick changes in tone and I can easily believe that the posts were a mix of Bill and Anita.

I asked these questions to Anita below and she seemed receptive.

Derek,

This sounds good to me. I will answer the questions soon I am back home recovering from a tough ride earlier today😃👍

Thanks

Anita

On Sat, Dec 1, 2018 at 9:47 AM Derek wrote:

Bill did say that you were misdirected. As such, you won’t get your results back since you didn’t do the full distance – even if it was no fault of your own.

Getting misdirected does not make you a cheater. In my opinion you should just be removed from the results with no note of ‘disqualification’.

It was the aftermath of the disqualification that led to this going viral. If you answer these questions honestly, I think it can go a long way…

  1. The initial reactions after you were DQd. About hoping California burns and understanding mass shooters and suicide. Was that you or Bill?  It’s hard to take those comments back. But any statement you wish to make about those post may help you.
  2. When did you realize that you may not have biked the full course? I understand the anger more if you didn’t realize until after you were DQ’d.
  3. The Garmin connect entry was modified to try to show the full distance. Did you modify it? Did Bill?

I ask these questions because I am looking for context. 

Here is what I think happened:

You had thought you did the full course and all of a sudden Race Buster started coming after you and got you DQd. You were angry thinking this was completely unfair. You had argued for so long that you did the full course that when you realized you unintentionally missed the 2nd loop, you didn’t feel you could then admit that you didn’t bike the full distance.

I thought we were making progress and would be able to get her final statement out. However, just minutes later, I received this response:

Hey I thought u said this was over yet you still keep going I don’t get it? I thought you said there was closure on this thing?

Let it go!!!!! 

If you don’t want to let it go, step up to the plate, call Bill and talk to him about why you want to keep this going.

It would seem that Bill hopped in to the conversation. I never did get an answer. I emailed once again just prior to making this post to offer the opportunity for Anita to respond, but received similar a similar reply.

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42 COMMENTS

  1. Why is he responding to emails when there are earthquakes going on and people going hungry in the third world? Doesn’t he have anything better to do on a Monday morning! 🙂

  2. I believe the worst decision Anita made was to have that Bill guy defending her. I still can not believe that at the end of the podcast he realised he is not talking to the “Race Buster”.

  4. I’m almost as disturbed with Anita seemingly allowing “Bill” to use her e-mail and Facebook, as the originally posted tirades… if she even voluntarily let him do this. Is this an abusive, controlling relationship? I never saw a “Bill” mentioned anywhere in any of her Facebook posts, all the way back. Your follow-up e-mail exchange initially seemed to indicate some rationality in her, but then it reverts to rants. WTFO? (Unless this a true Jekyll and Hyde scenario!!! That’s even MORE scary!!!)

    • Perhaps Bill is Anita. Perhaps Anita is schizophrenic or has multi-personality disorder. Perhaps Bill is Anita with Anita soundly knowing this, but using “Bill” as an excuse for her horrific, poor, ugly behavior.

  5. Are we now just glossing over the fact that she (or Bill), was bragging incessantly on both FB and Strava specifically about the bike split!? She also insisted she did both loops and the full mileage BEFORE racebuster busted her. As a “semi-pro” cyclist, she would probably realize that 16mph and getting passed by almost the entire field on her first and only lap was not the top split of the day or anywhere close to the male pro. There is trying to see her side if it, and then there is siding with a cheater.

    • Those are really good points. It is incredibly annoying that instead of responding to exactly those types of points, Bill resorts to launching a counterattack of nonsense like genital size or whatever else he can think of. Why didn’t anyone talk about the importance of keeping integrity in our sporting events and that it matters to everyone out there participating who came in after her. Nothing better to do? Ummm, some actually take these things very seriously! Anita takes it seriously enough to claim her false bike split. She takes it seriously enough to wear a Garmin, upload to Strava, etc. I love that someone is out there doing this and removing this nonsense!

      • That’s called deflecting. Any psychologist will tell you this is not the behavior of an innocent individual, but rather a classic case of a reaction by guilty party.

  6. I still don’t understand how an experienced athlete could not know intuitively that they were 5 1/2 miles short on their bike ride. And wearing a GPS device as she was, she would have known immediately. If it was a few tenths of a mile short, that could be chalked up to GPS differences. Therefore, I’m not buying that this was not intentional. Maybe she was really misdirected but to not immediately (like before starting the run) address it sounds fishy. Then you add in the edited Strava data . . .

    • Go look at her strava its quite comical she blames tech all the time for being faulty. Half her runs are I ran so and so pace why is strava and garmin telling me I ran something else. Because thats what you ran crazy lady. She truly is delusional or thinks she is faster than she is.

  8. The emails Bill sent you Derek are disgusting. In my experience, these are the kinds of emails that get people fired regardless if they were sent during work or personal time. If I was sent an email like the ones posted above, I would consider figuring out who he is and sending them to his employer or at least his mother.

  9. Is there any chance Bill and Anita are the same person? There are very inexpensive apps that can change someone’s voice. Bill seems to express how Anita really feels.

  10. Anita rides with a Bill most days according to Strava. No idea if this is the same Bill, but there is also a Bill by that name that appears to also be a school teacher in Scottsdale, which might be the most frightening thing about this Bill. Could all be a coincidence and not all the same person…

    • Bill left his last name a comment on Race Buster’s article. A simple Google search of that last name and the first name “William” in Scottsdale gives you his name, his relationship with Anita, his age, LinkdIn profile, etc. Not the sharpest tool in the shed if he’s trying to fly under the radar.

    • From Race Buster – same mature dialogue Bill had w/ Derek… LOL

      “Bil Wilkey
      November 20, 2018 at 8:37 pm

      Man, you really have nothing to do, there, whoever you are. You obviously can’t swim either. So add that to your sad running repertoire. You can’t run and you can’t swim! Good job there ASSHOLE! PLUS, YOUR DICK IS SO SMALL WE WOMEN NEED A MICROSCOPE TO SEE IT! THE ONLY PLEASURE YOU CAN GIVE A WOMAN IS DEGRADING and DEMEANING HER! GOOD FOR YOU YOU PIECE OF SHIT! ROT IN HELL!”

      • Anyone notice that it says “WE WOMEN NEED A…” Conclusion: Bill = Anita

        Maybe Anita is posting as Bill instead of the reverse.

  11. Bill needs help, if he really is a teacher then this is disturbing, the question is how much Anita is complicit in what he has done and said.
    It is very difficult for me to believe that anyone could delude themselves having been passed by virtually everyone on the bike leg that exited the swim behind her that they were only just behind the elite men then accidentally alter the Garmin data innocently.

  12. I am hardly an experienced athlete, but even i know how long I’ve been riding / running. The idea that an experienced athlete could completely miss a loop by accident is plausible – I suppose it could happen (except it doesn’t appear to have happened to anyone else that day, IIRC?). But an experienced athlete completely missing a loop and not realizing it? Sorry, that’s laughable – if that had happened to me, even I would know immediately that something was wrong because my pacing would be completely off!

    I think you are giving Anita far too much of the benefit of the doubt on this – and even if we give her the missed loop as an accident, every single action she’s taken afterwards is indefensible. I give her no pass for ‘oh that’s Bill not Anita’ – she’s letting him post on her behalf on her FB account. She can see what’s posted, she can see the reaction to it. It’s on her.

    In the podcast I kept waiting for Bill to bring up an ill / dead parent. He didn’t disappoint.

  13. Is it just me or is it difficult to believe and accept that Anita would WILLINGLY let Bill W. speak for her, and in her defence in this manner? Would any of you freely tolerate this behaviour and not distance yourself from anyone standing up for you in this way – especially in the public eye in this day and age when this sort of thing is readily accessible by anyone – including those close to you?

  14. 1) If you want Derek to let it go, don’t email him out of the blue 6 months after the event telling him to call you.

    2) If Anita is so innocent, why do stuff like brag about being just 3 minutes behind the top male pro (super unlikely), or fake the data after the fact?

    3) Bill didn’t even answer a single question, and consistently brought up stuff that didn’t matter. He also contradicted himself at nearly every turn.

    4) Scott is a saint to put up with that shit.

  18. To add a little context to Bill and Anita. I know Bill from back in the early 2000s when he was a pretty decent ultramarathon runner. He worked at Runner’s Den in Phoenix at the time and I did a few runs with him. Let’s just say that my wife and I didn’t like him. He is not a nice person and talked very unkindly about one of the people who worked there, a man who is incredibly kind and generous to the community and loved by everyone. I ran into Bill again several years later when I was working at the language department at Arizona State University. Anita was a graduate student in French in that department and they were dating or were engaged (I don’t remember exactly). Hearing about how he is acting with Derek is not a surprise because he really is a very unkind human being.

    • Did he go by “Bob”. I found a Bob Wilkey on FB who’s friends w/ Carcone w/ a road bike as his profile pic. I also found a William P Wilkey on FB who seems to have an extensive background in the education field (and attended same AZ college as Carcone).

  19. When I read the article awhile back, I thought it was funny Anita called someone a “Polack”. I hadn’t heard that derogatory term in years but heard it all the time growing up in Milwaukee (Germans hate the Polish). Then I hear Bill on the podcast and immediately identify his voice as a Wisconsin, probably Milwaukee, accent. He even says at one point he was from Wisconsin.

    So much crazy in that interview, but Bill’s voice and speaking style evoked nostalgic memories of growing up in Milwaukee.

  21. I love how Bill was adamant that Derek and Scott know nothing because they weren’t there. By that logic, how can anyone ever be arrested for a crime by an officer who wasn’t there? Has he ever heard of evidence? Police, prosecutors, lawyers and judges have to use it all the time.

    “You weren’t there!”
    “Good for you!”
    “Did you just say I’m stupid?!”
    Yep, angry 6th grader (or less) comebacks.

  22. I just listened to this episode of the podcast. Bill is a piece of work. He was more interesting in name calling and arguing than trying to have an adult conversation. He’s the one that is using her social media accounts and email to say horrible things. She’s getting the blame, which is really sad when it’s Bill that is the tool. Then he has the nerve to say that she doesn’t care about what’s posted, but then says to stop talking about it. He’s the one that stirred this up after months of nothing. Everyone else has moved on.

  23. What an absolute riot! It isn’t easy to listen through the podcast, as the Bill character is so insufferable. Other than not being quiet for more than a second or two, he employs all the classic mechanisms to avoid discussion. He was even able to sucker in Derek a couple times (but not too bad). Bill’s lack of self-awareness is a thing to behold.

    I do want to congratulate Scott, Derek’s co-host, for fighting the good fight and trying to keep things on track for the most part. He also succumbed to Bill’s tactics just a tad, but it’s a tough job. Scott’s experience with podcasting shows through.

    Being redirected on the course is totally believable. Happens all the time. This course in particular is confusing because it’s not a simple down and back twice. The second loop turnaround is in a different location. And certainly she may not have realized the error until the completion of the section….

    But… It doesn’t explain the bragging online about her time. I’m no expert, but I think I would know if I was moving that much faster than I normally do. I think the reaction to the DQ, which is what brought Derek to the incident to begin with, is Bill being Bill. He’s just that guy. Anita would do very well to take control of her social media (gps data, etc) and speak for herself.

  24. Public post on FB by Anita… she’s good with irony…

    Anita Carcone
    December 6 at 7:30 AM ·

    Do Apologies really make everything ok and better? I DON’T THINK SO!!! That’s all they do, is just say “I apologize” and all is fine…Shit no…..The problems are just beginning when they say “I apologize”!

    • Does she say when her apology is going to be forthcoming and hence “the problems” ? Entirely seriously her (or Bill’s) comments about mass murder should have got the attention of law enforcement if only to give a serious lecture on how you do not act like that.

    • Hi, Boston…: I noticed that, too. Felt it QUITE strange. With the podcast coming out, it “kind of” made more sense. But bottom line, no one but Bill or Anita should be apologizing. Not Derek, not Scott, not RaceBuster, not Long Beach RD, not all of us that eagerly follow the MI train wrecks. And, yes, Anita, an apology from you WOULD go a long way. A rapidly-issued apology (and acceptance of her responsibility) from her would have almost assuredly put it to rest… _I_would have let it go. And, note to Anita: back away from Bill, slowly… or better yet… RUN!

  26. Who do I talk too about buying the rights for an Anita/Bob screenplay. I’m thinking a “Hitchcockian” style movie!

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