Just as a point of clarification, would it have been OK if they had helped him stand but not provided forward assistance? I know that forward assistance of any kind is forbidden, and it sounds like the spectators should have been made aware of that. But helping someone stand seems analogous to getting overwhelmed on the swim and having to hang off of a kayak for minute. Or is it that ANY unofficial help can result in DQ?

Anyway, it sounds like he should be mad at the cheerleaders, not the guy who won.

“You don’t run to the officials and complain for such a reason,” said Wojt. “Surely I was helped, but whether I gained or lost time is a separate question, and based on the rules I likely needed to be disqualified. I would have accepted that. But the race official did nothing until Markus H. complained.”

Wait, what? He agrees that he should have been DQ'd but blames the other guy for bringing it to the ref's attention? Sour grapes.

I don't see it so much as sour grapes but Wojt calling the eventual winner a tattletale. I read it as Wojt would have accepted a DQ no problem if the refs called it themselves.

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I'm not sure that I would have gone to the officials, but I certainly don't fault him for it. Surprised there's such an outrage. If someone breaks a rule, does it have to be directly in front of an official? I guess I can draft or cut the course as long as there's no official there? Does sound a lot like sour grapes.

This is the kind of shit that has made me visit this place pretty much every day for close to a decade.

Here's a question : USAT and ITU have rules that say crawling is a DQ. WTC allows it. Anyone know the German federation rules? If they disallow it too, then whether there was outside assistance doesn't matter.

I was wondering the same. The race website says here http://www.karlsfelder-triathlon.org/...c=Ausschreibung& that they abide by the rules of the German Triathlon Federation DTU. The DTU rules at http://www.dtu-info.de/...en/SpO%20V2%2011.pdf say (paragraph 49 a)) that participants can "run or walk", i.e., NOT crawl. As I don't think that a national federation would change the ITU rules, I would say that it's a DQ based on this.

ITU pissed me off this last weekend by not letting me use a pink flag in transition, I am for anything that is against them for this week.

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I'd be somewhat interested actually of the cheerleaders would technically even be considered outside assistance. Meaning - wouldn't they likely have been hired/retained by the race organizer - and thus in effect be race staff? How would that be different from a generic volunteer handing out water (which isn't considered outside assistance)?

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I think there's a difference of someone handing you water on the course and helping you move towards the finish line. Same as the WTC swimming rule: The supporters in the water are also part of the race staff, but they can't help you by pulling you forward.

You can find the rules of the German federation here: http://www.dtu-info.de/...ungen/ordnungen.html



I think it's pretty much the same as the ITU rules: Getting outside assistance is not allowed, unless otherwise specified.

Also, I don't understand how that makes a story here...

What about at swim exits when a race volunteer offers you their hand to help pull you upright/out of the water? Should that be a DQ?

This happens a fair amount in races local to me (can't remember if it did at my latest WTC race) and this thread has got me wondering....

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Sort of agree with the DQ. If the guy cooked himself and was physically unable to finish ahead of the eventual winner, then that's racing and he shouldn't have won anymore than a cyclist in a breakaway whose legs eventually pop and they get swallowed back up and passed by the sprinters. The problem here is that we will never know if he could have eventually dragged himself across the line unaided. The key point then is did he accept the help?

Tough day out, either way. You have to feel for both of them. If the eventual official winner managed his energy output better, or was simply better conditioned, then he deserved to win.

Tricksy.

Handing someone water does not progress them forward. I get the impression, based on the rules, that it doesn't matter the role of the person involved, no one can help an athlete move towards the finish line without consequence to the athlete.

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That is a very specific setup for all. Just like someone taking your bike to the rack at bigger races.

Spectator training seminars coming to a race near you....

I would have to be unconscious to refuse help, but where was the medical staff? He could have died of heat stroke right there in full view of a collection of pom-poms. How embarrassing.... Talk about a bad day....

-Robert

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