Fitness Pro Alyx Ulbrich Disqualified From Decaman USA

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Alyx is the owner of FirePower Fit and FirePower Apparel. Her profile below is from her website Firepowerbody.com

Alyx is a Doctor of Naturopathy who’s sole focus with her clients is a mind and body connection that heals the individual, while creating the desired performance and aesthetic goals. She is a military spouse, clinically certified nutritionist, and certified personal trainer with over ten years of hands on experience as a coach. She is an Ultra Runner, WBFF Fitness Pro Ranked 5th in North America in 2016 and 11th in the World in 2016, and Ironman Triathlete. She believes that anyone can accomplish anything if they set their minds to it and are willing to put in the work.

On her Instagram page she also claims “1 x continuous 1406 miles 🇺🇸US Women’s Record 🧜‍♀️🚴🏼‍♀️🏃🏼‍♀️” referencing her Decaman result.

She has over 311,000 Instagram followers. She makes her living in the fitness industry. She was actively posting her progress on social media, and is now promoting her finish as The U.S. Women’s Record.

Decaman USA

The Decaman USA race was held in New Orleans and began on November 6th and lasted for 13 days. The “Classic Deca” which Alyx participated in consists of:

  • 24 mile swim
  • 1120 mile bike ride
  • 262 mile run

1406 total miles.

There were 16 athletes that entered the race, 10 were listed as finishers, until it was announced that Alyx was disqualified.

 

It was alleged on the thread by a race official that she was witnessed cutting the run course multiple times without completing full laps. The run course is just over 1 mile per lap on an out and back road. The course was changed due to rainy weather. Alyx reported that as a slower competitor, she ran the entire race on pavement, while faster competitors initially ran on trail. Edit: I have confirmed with multiple sources that the course change took place prior to any of the Classic Deca participants reaching the run portion of the race. All competitors of this race ran the road course the entire time.

I have been in contact with another competitor. He relayed that suspicions began when it was noticed that while other runners kept moving, that Alyx spent more time “sleeping or sitting on her phone”.

It was reported by this competitor that one runner became so suspicious that they took time to observe her and caught her almost immediately. A race official was notified, and she was observed shaving a lap again.

Earlier in the race Alyx posted about possible rule infractions along the bike course. “in a 1120 mile bike race drafting isn’t legal (but it doesn’t stop some people)”

I was actually familiar with Alyx when she reported apparent misconduct by another athlete a few months ago.

In a profile in Stars and Stripes, she stated her goal was breaking the U.S. Women’s record for The fastest Decaman finish. She finished as the 2nd place female, over two days  behind New Zealander Christine Couldrey. She was the only US Women’s finisher.

Alyx Responds

Alyx responded to the disqualification on Facebook:

I chatted with Alyx on messenger. She was adamant that she did not intentionally cut any laps.  She does concede she may have missed the one lap.

I think I probably did screw the one lap up, otherwise I cannot imagine all the drama from the drunks

 

Alyx informed me that they had come to an agreement and that Alyx would run ten extra laps without crossing the timing mats in order to earn a finish time. She says that she completed those laps as per the agreement. As per the race’s statement they re-evaluated this agreement and decided that it was appropriate to issue a disqualification.

In her statement, she puts up her Strava as evidence. In our conversation she said she wasn’t as particular about ensuring that her GPS was accurate until after the incident with the race official. She says this incident occurred at 7:30 am Sunday after she had a short nap. Her Strava does show a 30 minute gap before beginning a lap at 7:35 am on Sunday.

I did check her  Strava in as much detail as I could. There were a couple of notes about missing a few miles due to her watch dying or forgetting to start it.  But, Alyx said she felt that her Strava was 90% to 95% accurate.

Date Start time Total Time Mileage Finish Time gap until next entry
11/13/2018 1:41 PM 1:03:00 5.15 2:44 PM 0:06:00
11/13/2018 2:50 PM 0:33:38 2.11 3:23 PM 2:45:22
11/13/2018 6:09 PM 2:42:00 12.45 8:51 PM 1:06:00
11/13/2018 9:57 PM 1:44:00 5.16 11:41 PM 4:52:00
11/14/2018 6:33 AM 3:34:00 9.5 10:07 AM 0:24:00
11/14/2018 10:31 AM 0:53:14 2.29 11:24 AM 2:52:46
11/14/2018 2:17 PM 2:41:00 9.42 4:58 PM 2:32:00
11/14/2018 7:30 PM 0:39:45 2.11 8:09 PM 0:12:15
11/14/2018 8:22 PM 0:59:05 3.04 9:21 PM 9:59:00
11/15/2018 7:20 AM 4:07:00 12.59 11:27 AM 0:31:00
11/15/2018 11:58 AM 3:20:00 10.43 3:18 PM 0:47:00
11/15/2018 4:05 PM 1:52:00 5.22 5:57 PM 0:30:00
11/15/2018 6:27 PM 0:36:33 2.09 7:03 PM 2:17:27
11/15/2018 9:21 PM 2:06:00 6.25 11:27 PM 1:19:00
11/16/2018 12:16 AM 1:21:00 4.04 1:37 AM 5:39:00
11/16/2018 7:16 AM 4:28:00 15.63 11:44 AM 0:35:00
11/16/2018 12:19 PM 2:46:00 8.31 3:05 PM 0:13:00
11/16/2018 3:18 PM 1:52:00 9.36 5:10 PM 1:54:00
11/16/2018 7:04 PM 1:12:00 3.16 8:16 PM 0:24:00
11/16/2018 8:40 PM 0:50:59 2.04 9:30 PM 0:48:01
11/16/2018 10:19 PM 0:21:35 1.03 10:40 PM 0:22:25
11/16/2018 11:03 PM 2:02:00 5.48 1:05 AM 0:23:00
11/17/2018 6:44 AM 2:40:00 7.6 9:24 AM 0:08:00
11/17/2018 9:32 AM 1:52:00 5.55 11:24 AM 1:20:00
11/17/2018 11:30 AM 1:05:00 3.32 12:35 PM 1:43:00
11/17/2018 12:44 PM 0:48:04 2.15 1:32 PM 0:45:56
11/17/2018 2:18 PM 2:16:00 6.55 4:34 PM 0:56:00
11/17/2018 5:30 PM 2:09:00 6.51 7:39 PM 0:40:00
11/17/2018 8:19 PM 0:26:26 1.18 8:45 PM 0:54:34
11/17/2018 9:40 PM 1:53:00 5.41 11:33 PM 0:55:00
11/18/2018 12:19 AM 1:27:00 4.23 1:46 AM 3:35:00
11/18/2018 5:21 AM 2:57:00 8.65 8:18 AM 0:13:00
11/18/2018 8:31 AM 1:06:00 3.25 9:37 AM 0:13:00
11/18/2018 9:50 AM 0:36:17 2.16 10:26 AM 0:07:43
11/18/2018 10:34 AM 0:15:50 1.04 10:49 AM 0:19:10
11/18/2018 11:09 AM 0:58:31 4.31 12:07 PM 0:08:29
11/18/2018 12:16 PM 0:36:36 2.1 12:52 PM 0:13:24
11/18/2018 1:06 PM 0:42:53 2.18 1:48 PM 0:06:07
11/18/2018 1:55 PM 0:32:56 2.04 2:27 PM 1:38:04
11/18/2018 4:06 PM 3:01:00 9.37 7:07 PM 0:28:00
11/18/2018 7:35 PM 1:20:00 4.11 8:55 PM 0:05:00
11/18/2018 9:00 PM 0:34:43 2.06 9:34 PM 0:05:17
11/18/2018 9:40 PM 0:19:24 1.01 9:59 PM 0:33:36
11/18/2018 10:33 PM 1:05:00 3.07 11:38 PM 0:08:00
11/18/2018 11:46 PM 1:04:00 3.16 12:50 AM 0:11:00
11/19/2018 1:01 AM 0:24:01 1.02 1:25 AM 0:37:59
11/19/2018 2:03 AM 0:52:28 2.36 2:55 AM 0:21:32
11/19/2018 3:17 AM 1:02:00 4.67 4:19 AM 0:17:00
11/19/2018 4:36 AM 0:44:47 2.21 5:20 AM 0:13:13
11/19/2018 5:34 AM 0:56:56 3.24 6:30 AM 0:08:04
11/19/2018 6:39 AM 1:28:00 7.17 8:07 AM 0:08:00
11/19/2018 8:15 AM 1:37:00 6.11 9:52 AM

For the run, she logged a total of 254 miles. Taking into account the extra ten laps, she should have logged over 270 miles.

In the above Instagram post, she said that she was around mile 135 into the run. Her Strava to this point (as indicated by the Beer Miles label shows around 128 to 130 mles. So, it would appear that for the first part of the race she was actually fairly consistent in logging her miles. It was about 1-1/2 days after this when she was confronted by race officials. Below is the log that I put together from her Strava entries.

Alyx and her defenders referenced drinking by the timer, and other allegedly unprofessional behavior. But, the immediate issue here is whether Alyx knowingly cut the course. The argument of timing error in reference to what was witnessed when she was confronted is refuted by Alyx herself when she concedes that she likely screwed up the lap. Additionally, this ‘screw up’ was witnessed only after other runners were suspicious and only after she was reported by another runner.

In her response, she is leaning on The Strava data. Unfortunately there are too many holes in the data to be able to be able to conclude that she completed the entire 262 (or 272) miles.

Alyx mentioned her race history. Alyx recently finished 2nd overall in The Wildcat 100 mile race and was 1st place female in 8 Hours of Hell. Her results from 2017 and prior were more in the middle to the back of the pack.

There is likely much more to come out about this. Maybe other runners will  come forward publicly now that the race made an official statement. There has already been debate from both sides after The Decaman Facebook post.

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21 COMMENTS

  1. Derek, you failed to mention the impossible paces.

    11/15/2018 4:05 PM 0:21:36 5.22 4:26 PM 4:08/mile
    11/16/2018 3:18 PM 0:22:20 9.36 3:40 PM 2:23/mile

  2. Even her Instagram follower count is dishonest. Socialblade’s history tool has her account gaining a quarter million followers in less than two weeks in 2016 (which means they were bought).

    • Yep, you can also tell by the engagement per post. It’s more likely based on engagement that she has 30,000 followers.

  3. If you’re selling yourself as a doctor of naturopathy and using the dr preference it rasies red flags of honestly and ethics. So caught cheating doesn’t surprise me

  4. When you did the math on her Strava data, did you add the mileage or the laps they represent? None of the partial mileage recorded would count toward her total since it was a 1 mile loop. There are a few files that look like she forgot to start her watch so round those up, but not many.

    • I believe counting laps and not miles you’d be in the low 240s for all the data you have present. This is consistent with what I have heard from spectators that stated even after her extra 10 laps, she was still about 10 short.

  5. This is not surprising to those who have come into contact with her. She’s been kicked out of numerous sporting groups on Okinawa for her dishonesty and starting drama. She surrounds herself with weak-minded, unintelligent people whom she can easily manipulate. People on the Decaman FB page questioned her motivation for doing the race. The motivation is money, money and money. She’s a hustler. Bragging about a title gets her more customers for her “coaching business”. For the integrity of racing, I hope participants in the Wildcat 100 come forward to give an accounting of her “miraculous” win. I have no doubt it’s as fake as her “Dr” title and IG follower count.

    • I would love to hear more info on Okinawa races. Is there a group on FB that directly discusses this or an article I can read? FYI I was at USA DECA race, and I was a timer. Would be interesting to see how she has conducted herself in other countries, not just here.

    • While I don’t know the racer, or the course (other than the fact that it’s in Pensacola and probably not hilly), looking at her Javelina results (I ran it the same year), I can believe that she ran Wildcat 100 in the stated time. There really isn’t anything miraculous about her time for a flat 100, the win is probably due to the number of runners (and again, based on their results, she should have beaten them – assuming everything going well or equally bad for everyone).

  6. I get a kick out of how one second she posts this:

    “People are ultimately flawed, love them anyway.
    People will lie about you, hate you, judge you, and slander you, help them anyways.
    People will do the worst things imaginable to each other, be the better person anyways.”

    Then turns around and accuses the race official of being a drunk.

    Double standard anyone? Practice what you preach Alyx

  7. I can’t substantiate the information in the linked post, but one has to assume where there is smoke…fire

    http://www.fightergirls.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5397

    Different names, aliases, excuses, deflection…

    I guess if you flame out in one sport or industry, move onto another until you get caught? Maybe if it was one timing mat, once…but at this point and after all the posts in various groups about her attitude, dishonesty etc. where do you ask her to just move on and save everyone the hassle. How many people honestly get accused of integrity issues across multiple years and multiple sports and all of it be a coincidence?

Comments are closed.