So I assume youd prefer a race that coddles all participants, declares everyone a winner and overlooks rules just to make sure everyone feels they accomplished something even if they didn't do anything. In an era where the majority of triathletes pick a race based on if its wets suit legal or not and demand to be declared finishers even if they come in over 17 hours we need races like Barkley and people like Gary and Laz who understand what accomplishment means. If you think coming in 6 seconds after a race cutoff deserves to count as a finish then I don't know what to tell you. If I come in 6 seconds after cutoff in a race and the RD doesn't DNF me, I would DNF myself in a heartbeat. But if you wouldn't do this and can sleep at night then more power to you.

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2x Deca-Ironman World Cup (10 Ironmans in 10 days), 2x Quintuple Ironman World Cup (5 Ironmans in 5 days), Ultraman, Ultra Marathoner, and I once did an Ironman.

I was thinking 4th, but depending on the event they might send 2 or 3, so I get where you're going for

And, which would be further worse? Having the spot wrapped up and fading at the end to lose it, or busting your ass to get in and just barely missing it?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I get they want to stick to the rules....I just kinda laugh that this particular event with the unique setup (no official starting time......orienteering definetly comes into play), and it was a DQ of 6s (which now comes out that the way he finished meant he missed/skip part of it, so the 6s became irrelevant.

A race that is started by a lighting of a cigarette that is out in the wilderness and it came down to 6s, that was why I laughed that it was such a DQ by Laz. And I get it, rules are rules, I just laughed at this particular race where it's a part run race, part orienteering and "100" miles is a very liberal term that you have Laz there with a stop watch counting down the seconds. That is the part that was funny to me.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

This....exactly.

I have no business at this race. I don't have what it takes. I love that it exist for the majority of elite athletes that find out "they don't have it either..." Uncompromising!

Whooa, relax buddy! He was just poking fun at how the exaggerated ad-hoc, loose nature of the start timing and the course can still come down to a 6-second timing DQ. There whole event, is in its very, nature, absurd. Which has some humor in it. And the absurdity is also what makes it so great.

(And actually he wasn't DQed for time, he was DQed for not completing the course - even though his detour was longer). The 6-second thing went viral, but wasn't the official reason.

And I also find it ironic that you're agreeing with someone complaining about the "everyone's a winner" mentality and your signature line lists what appears to be finishes as your proudest accomplishments. (Maybe you won those things, but if you did, it apparently wasn't as important as finishing).

I'm more of a fish so I was talking about Olympic trials for swimming where the top two qualify (for track it's three, right?).

I don't know what would be worse. Maybe that's why I think Gary's experience is so compelling and raw. To get caught from behind is awful, but to be touched out after a late surge sucks, too. I'm not easily comforted by the whole "I gave it my all" mantra. To lose by such a slim margin makes you wonder what could have been...

At least there's next year for him...four years for the Olympics is just brutal.

He wasn't DQ'd at all. He just didn't finish.

"you have to realize that everyone there was totally exhausted.
barkley is 60 hours of relentless pressure,
(even for those not running)
if they got the initial report a little off kilter it is perfectly understandable.
that is really my fault
i know better than to comment on tangential details,
but it was not entirely tangential.
gary had been trying to got in under 60 hours for so long,
operating over the red line,
and off a single 15 minute nap
that objective was stuck in his mind,
even tho he knew that his error had certainly cost him the official finish
his autopilot remained set on that goal.

social media is the reaction of people who were not there.
i'm not sure if it possible to understand the event from a distance.

by the way, i also regret that people keep referring to it as a DQ.
DQ happens to people who pretend to have completed the race,
and get caught.
Gary never made any pretense about what happened.
He was not DQ'ed, he just missed the finish by a miniscule margin.
unfortunately, it is the difficult, even tragic, circumstances
that allow a man to show his true merit.

laz "

You're right. My bad. I read that same quote from the RD right before I posted too, so I have no excuse!

Mara Abbott's 4th place in the Olympic road race was pretty brutal. Not even getting caught out by 2 people or 5. But 3. The perfect, minimal # to knock her off the podium.

But this just shows that the experience of loss, victory, or pride in finishing is acutely personal. This podunk race is light years from the Olympics in so many ways, something known or cared about by a very few. But at that moment it was everything to Gary. You can see some of the essence of sport distilled to its purest form there.

Well, that does not always happen, either

Mike Rossi clearly didn't complete the Via Marathon, but [despite the fact the evidence against him is compelling] the RD never DQ'd him

I am certainly NOT comparing Gary Robbins to Mike Rossi*; Gary made an error, whereas Mike Rossi had a plan





* In spite of the Double Letter Cheater Identification Protocol

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

http://deadspin.com/...marathons-1794174086

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin