I see your point: you were penalized for a rule which did not have a bearing on the outcome of the race.

The idea that rules are immutable and finite is silly, especially in triathlon. Some rules are laid out as a way of organizing, others as a guideline for the enforcement of method, and still others as an issuance of warning for potential punishment.

The "rack your bike properly" rule is clearly levied to prevent rack hogs and keep everyone organized in transition. If someone can explain to me how Zach's bike being out of place threatened the integrity of the organization system in T1, then please do, because I'm not seeing it thus far.

I'm certain this is a circumstance where a rule was meant to bend and is not steadfast like the no drafting rule.

Once you bend one rule, you might as well throw the book out!!

Remember that gal who was swimming in the Oly trials, and I thought was the world record holder in the event. Well, she missed toughing the wall or something by a little, and was DQed. Tough call, but rules are rules. I know if I get caught making a mistake, the first thing I do is say yep, I screwed up and will learn from it. Never to I try to justify breaking a rule since we are responsible for knowing them all. We all see top folks make mistakes once in a while. But, none of this stuff is life or death. How one handles adversity shows ones true character!!! (And I know I am far from perfect!!)



Dave

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Maybe I can shed some light on this a little. We (The Muncie Endurathon) assign each athlete a spot on a bike rack. Each spot is designated with a label. We have seven bikes per rack, four on one side, three on the other. We generally have two of these racks side-by-side. We lay out transition and allow a couple extra rack spaces for the elites who register late. We had one bike on the "second" rack that was next to the rack Zach was on. He put his bike to the far outside of that "empty" rack, away from the other bikes, because in his opinion he didnt have enough space and other people's things were in his way. (Zach, correct me if I am wrong). So he did break rule 7.2 in my opinion, and I agree with decision USAT made. Was I happy about it? Absolutely not. I told the head official I did not like it at all. It had no bearing on the outcome of the race, and I do not feel Zach received any advantage from his switch. But we pay the officials to enforce the rules....

It sucks. I hated telling Zach that he had a penalty for this violation after such an awesome race. Blake Becker moved into first after the penalty, and was tough for him to deal with as well. No athlete wants to win that way. So bottom line in my mind, Zach broke rule 7.2, was caught, and penalized. Its difficult to swallow because the win was taken from him for something that did not give him an advantage. But I do support USAT's ruling and agree that it was an infraction.

Thanks for posting, Your post is what it sounded like. Even the person who "won" feels bad so everyone loses. But, either the rules at a USAT race are followed, or they are not. Just like the person who got DQ'ed not wearing their bike helmet going back to their car.

Again, thanks for posting. Isnt being an RD fun? :o) Thanks for putting up with us. Without folks like yourself, we would have no races to complain about. :o)



Dave

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

So then would not putting individual slots alleviate this problem? Is this done due to high number of athletes, and wanting to make sure everyone is on a rack? I don't know how big an event you run, but I've done two and seen a third inside the transition area, and other than a length of rack being for a specific age group I have never seen individual spaces. Just curious as to the rationale behind it.

Thanks for posting the recap. Not saying Zach was lying, or ever misrepresenting things, it's just nice to hear from the RD on things like this.

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"I can endure more pain than anyone you've ever met. That's why I can beat anyone I've ever met." Steve Prefontaine, Without Limits

Its fun sometimes. Lot of work but when the race goes off like it did today it makes it worth it. I thought today went incredibly smooth. The only downer was the penalty, but that's racing I suppose. Yeah, we had two DQ's for no helmets before the race started. Those are tough too, athletes hate them! Clean race, thanks to all who participated.

Wow, USAT really did follow the rules. DQing before the race for helmet is something a lot of folks on ST did not realize, even though a lot dont like that rule either.

How was the issue with head sets? I really see the races I do struggling to get it under control.

Dave

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

It's not a question of distance from your sticker. All of the stickers, taken together, VERY clearly define each rack spot, it's a lot like the lines in the parking lot. You can't park in a handicap spot, and claim that you were in the spot 2 down from the handicap slot and say that that slot extended to where you parked. Get a clue, and quit whining.

I keep trying to see if I am missing something. It seems so clear he made a mistake, was caught, and welcome to rules. But, he is fighting so hard that I must be missing something. No one would fight this hard on such a black and white rule that looks like was broken.

Dave

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

He is desperately grasping as straws and is working hard to rationalize away his mistake.

Wish I were that good to have the issue he is dealing with. I am just happy at my age to be racing at all and finishing the race.



Dave

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

What is there to pick apart. The USAT rule has to be vague to cover all the possible types of racks and transition areas. The RD made it very clear where you bike had to be racked by placing individual race number stickers on the racks. The stickers clearly define your individual bike corral. You have to follow the USAT Competitive rules and the directions of the RD, you did not. Sorry.

Bump for the Late Night posse..

So in other words, at a race like an IM where there are rows of racks for a certain range of numbers and each race number is assigned by sticker to a certain spot on the rack, if mine happens to be in the middle and/or is too crowded, you think I should be able to rack anywhere else on that rack that is open?

So you agree that he was on the proper rack...but in the wrong space on the proper rack? Seems to me that maybe next year you can space the labels more, or possibly do what Tommy Z did at Orlando and just put 501-515 or what ever numbers at the end of the rack and solve this possible issue.

I know that this is not at all on the RD, but I have been at a number of races where folks like to think that the bike rack is a walk in closet and want to have about 5 feet of space for their gear, towels, shoes, bottles, and on and on and on....that can (and has in races I have done) taken the proper space of others who are polite and just move their bike a bit.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

thanks for a great race, it was a great day in Muncie - will definitely return

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kangaroo -- please do not read or respond to any of my posts

So, if rules are rules. Techically, shouldn't the guy that was covering up Bigzachs spot have been penalized as well?

Yes, the other athlete(s) could get penalized for not keeping "their equipment confined to such properly designated areas." But more likely, as people have mentioned, if Zach had bothered to ask an official, the official would have moved the other athlete's gear out of Zach's space.

No one was in Zach's space, so no one else to penalize. Everyone has the same size space, and we feel it is adequate. We have never had a complaint on the size of our rack spaces....

[reply]This reminds me of the time KJGrog got 4 minutes for cutting his race number.[/reply]

what do you mean? I always cut my bike race number and tape it to the frame. is that a problem?

Keep the assigned spots, it allows for a predictable, less hassled, pre-race routine. Compared to the free for all of unassigned rack spaces, I'll take your method every time.

In Zack's case if it were old school rules he wins. The sport outgrew those rules some time ago, in some cases this is often good, in this one, not so good. Yet Zack has to bear some responsibility. He seemed to know even in the moment that he was marginal in his decision. We've all made those kind of decisions n our lives, rarely is a race win at stake.

On officating, if given the opportunity and only the head ref would know on this one, do you act like Barney or Andy? If you had time to get this corrected, you blew it. No you would not owe it to an athlete to inform them of a rules violaton but its the right thing to do if given the chance. If you did not have the time to get this corrected...I don't know ~ did Zacks racking decision give him an advantage?

If he were in an open space, one could say he gained an advantage because he wasn't dealing with getting his stuff from in between bikes in T1. If he had a wide open area it makes life easier. I know that for a fact. Of course, it was cause pretty much everyone was gone by the time I got out of the water...:-(

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"I can endure more pain than anyone you've ever met. That's why I can beat anyone I've ever met." Steve Prefontaine, Without Limits