Thomas -
I'd say I get it, but I don't think I really can as I've never done this for a living and never had a race win or place taken away from me for a stupid penalty. But I kind of do. This shit still gets me pissed just as an athlete in the sport. And when I read about ZipperGate it got me thinking about another one of these idiot calls and it got me all fired up and pissed off as hell about it the last week or so and this one happened almost 15 years ago.
We're hijacking this off onto all sorts of tangents, but fuck it this my thread anyway, so I'm entitled! I'm guessing being from the midwest and this was during your prime you probably recall it. I'm guessing it was somewhere circa 2010 - Daniel Bretcsher, an up and coming pro from Indiana had what was apparently his first decent pro win - the old Muncie Endurathon which is now Indiana 70.3 I believe. He wasn't DQ'd, but lost the win due to a 4 minute penalty for having his equipment out of his assigned slot in the transition area. Pics of it showed his running shoes were about 6 inches into the slot next to his when he started. The kicker though, was that slot was empty - the pro assigned to it was a no-show that day, and that was known by all well before the start. His shoes were still 3 feet or whatever away from the next slot that was actually being used, and nowhere near in his way. But some ref decided to take the win from him. I recall he classily issued a big apology on social media (as you said you had to in your case) and I was just so pissed that he did, as I'm sure he must have been beyond infuriated about it as you were, (and in my opinion rightfully so) but that's what you have to do to be a good little soldier so your sponsors and all the high-minded folks on Slowtwitch won't tear you a new one even though you were the one who got fucked in the ass.
The part of it to me on this one and what infuriated me even more (and as you can tell still does to this day) is that if you look at the transition area in most any USAT tri anywhere after the race, tell me how many people don't have some bit of clothing or equipment they threw off that isn't six inches out of their slot? I'm guessing they could penalize 80% of people at every race if they wanted to be pricks about it. Nah, they won't do that, but we'll just ding the pro for one end of his shoe being in a slot that wasn't even in use that day.
I love this sport, but shit like this is still incomprehensible to me after all these years.
I'd say I get it, but I don't think I really can as I've never done this for a living and never had a race win or place taken away from me for a stupid penalty. But I kind of do. This shit still gets me pissed just as an athlete in the sport. And when I read about ZipperGate it got me thinking about another one of these idiot calls and it got me all fired up and pissed off as hell about it the last week or so and this one happened almost 15 years ago.
We're hijacking this off onto all sorts of tangents, but fuck it this my thread anyway, so I'm entitled! I'm guessing being from the midwest and this was during your prime you probably recall it. I'm guessing it was somewhere circa 2010 - Daniel Bretcsher, an up and coming pro from Indiana had what was apparently his first decent pro win - the old Muncie Endurathon which is now Indiana 70.3 I believe. He wasn't DQ'd, but lost the win due to a 4 minute penalty for having his equipment out of his assigned slot in the transition area. Pics of it showed his running shoes were about 6 inches into the slot next to his when he started. The kicker though, was that slot was empty - the pro assigned to it was a no-show that day, and that was known by all well before the start. His shoes were still 3 feet or whatever away from the next slot that was actually being used, and nowhere near in his way. But some ref decided to take the win from him. I recall he classily issued a big apology on social media (as you said you had to in your case) and I was just so pissed that he did, as I'm sure he must have been beyond infuriated about it as you were, (and in my opinion rightfully so) but that's what you have to do to be a good little soldier so your sponsors and all the high-minded folks on Slowtwitch won't tear you a new one even though you were the one who got fucked in the ass.
The part of it to me on this one and what infuriated me even more (and as you can tell still does to this day) is that if you look at the transition area in most any USAT tri anywhere after the race, tell me how many people don't have some bit of clothing or equipment they threw off that isn't six inches out of their slot? I'm guessing they could penalize 80% of people at every race if they wanted to be pricks about it. Nah, they won't do that, but we'll just ding the pro for one end of his shoe being in a slot that wasn't even in use that day.
I love this sport, but shit like this is still incomprehensible to me after all these years.