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"Half Fast"
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So I have decided that it is done - there will be a prize and a very nice one at that for the person who finishes dead in the middle of Rockman. The winner will be the person closest to the middle of the time of the winner compared to the 8 hour mark (official cut off). If all people finish before 8 hours we will use actual time for the prize. The round off will be to the slower person of the two in the middle of the race....the prize will be worth well over $1,000 and will be awarded to the person as long as they are at the awards....


BUT....would the "Half Fast" prize offend you? Do you think coining the phrase "Half Fast" would offend the people who are BOP (I am thinking the answer is probably yes)....


What say you?

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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You could call me "Slowest Ass Douche Bag" for $1000, Chip! Sounds like a good plan to me!
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Re: "Half Fast" [Rahzel] [ In reply to ]
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It is not the person who is the MOP that I am worried about, it is the folks behind that person....what are they going to think if I call the MOP "Half Fast"? (Half assed is how it sounds)

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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The "BOP" people are time challenged athletes.
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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Whole-Last?

maybe you should base it on median placing instead of time.

__________
there was no one chasing us... distance is its own reward.
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Re: "Half Fast" [Ross] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
The "BOP" people are time challenged athletes.
Not a person who is 60 or has a disability or is working on a weight problem or... or.... or....

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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As a bit of a newb myself, I certainly would not take offense at a "half fast" award. I'd probably be a FOBOP type myself. Hell, I think its awesome that there would be awards and/or prizes for MOP'ers as opposed to nothing but FOP types. I love the idea.
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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"Half fast" sounds too much like half assed and that is pretty bad. Even though I am one, I don't want to be called a half assed athlete.

I'm too tired from my swim and run tonight be come up with something clever but I'll do some brainstorming for alternate ideas of you are open to changing it.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
In Reply To:
The "BOP" people are time challenged athletes.
Not a person who is 60 or has a disability or is working on a weight problem or... or.... or....
When I was a runner almost everyone I knew, when they were asked how good they were would answer "half-fast" (I didn't know very many good runners). It is a "fun" way of saying I am not going to win and I am doing this to have fun. I simply think it sounds like you are to worried about this stuff. Didn't I hear in the last thread where you brought something like this up that you ran your race dressed in a clown costume? I would be really surprised if anyone would take it the wrong way and it will be a fun way for you of recognizing one of the "average" people, the person who is truly "half-fast" in the race. I think I would also make sure they got a diploma they could frame. If I won that award it would be something I would cherish.

I suspect if you play this right that this award, whether a large prize is associated with it or not, could be something that people remember about your race. It certainly would be unique. If it doesn't work out right based upon feedback (I would be surprised if you got 2 or 3 "negative" comments based upon what you have said so far) then you can abandon it next year.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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I bet you could "spin" it so that the BOPers perception of the award is the same as the normal age group awards. I.e, perhaps announce the half ass winner right before/after the AG winners or whatnot so that the half ass is just "another winner" in the eyes of the BOPers?
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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Grerat idea, but you may consider that some clever participant(s) could figure out (after the winner finishes) the difference between the winning time and 8 hours and camp out near the finish to claim the prize. Actually it could be interesting if a whole bunch did and tried to jam across the line together. Talk about a finish line photo! They better not bring kids and dogs ;-)
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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Color me completely unimpressed.

Take that thousand clams and make the AG prizes go deeper and cover guys and girls who are finishing 8th and 9th who are not used to getting a prize and then I give the RD a pat on the back. What your doing amounts to a raffle, or even worse "be average and you WIN a prize!". It's called a race for a reason. No offense intended, can't fault an RD for giving away more stuff, I just think deeper AG prizes and not RANDOM AG prizes fits better in a "race".
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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Here we go again. Another shining example of rewarding mediocraty. I just hope the winner gets more than the middle man/women.
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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so i could just use it as a training day and make some cash........

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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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I'm not sure about the large monetary reward, but I think that recognizing the middle of the pack is a fun idea.

If the reward is worth shooting for, then people will find a way to game the system. As one poster pointed out, this could result in a mad wait/dash at the finish line. Even a median place reward could be worked out with spotters and result in a comical finishing chute pararde amongst those motivated enough to figure out they are in contention.

One idea could be to reward the person who finishes half the half, in half the winning finish time, where "half the half" is defined as the midway point of the bike course. Looking at your results last year, this rewards the 40min (swim+T1) person who rides 19mi/hr for the first half of the bike ride which is a pretty fair representation of the MOP. Participants won't know the winners finishing time at that point, so short of paying a ringer to win the race in a certain finishing time, they couldn't rig their result. If that is a concern, you can put a timing mat somewhere in the middle of the bike leg but not the exact middle, or even put several mats out there without revealing which one is the real one.

OK, too much time on my hands today!

Are YOU in the Zone?
http://www.discomfortzone.com
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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I think there's the possibility that triathletes are too uptight (judging by some responses) to truly enjoy the play on words created by Half Fast.

However, as the co-founder of Half Fast Velo (www.halffastvelo.com) in Portland, Oregon; I think it's "brilliant."

Instead of a bunch of money, you may want to consider "fun" prizes reflecting the nature of the award.

Heck, if you ask nicely, Half-Fast Velo might even be willing to donate a jersey (or possibly a wool jersey) as the prize...Of course, we'd expect that it be provided only if the individual drank a beer from their post-race running shoes:-)

Cheers,
Puskas

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Re: "Half Fast" [mcoughlin] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
I'm not sure about the large monetary reward, but I think that recognizing the middle of the pack is a fun idea.

If the reward is worth shooting for, then people will find a way to game the system. As one poster pointed out, this could result in a mad wait/dash at the finish line. Even a median place reward could be worked out with spotters and result in a comical finishing chute pararde amongst those motivated enough to figure out they are in contention.

One idea could be to reward the person who finishes half the half, in half the winning finish time, where "half the half" is defined as the midway point of the bike course. Looking at your results last year, this rewards the 40min (swim+T1) person who rides 19mi/hr for the first half of the bike ride which is a pretty fair representation of the MOP. Participants won't know the winners finishing time at that point, so short of paying a ringer to win the race in a certain finishing time, they couldn't rig their result. If that is a concern, you can put a timing mat somewhere in the middle of the bike leg but not the exact middle, or even put several mats out there without revealing which one is the real one.

OK, too much time on my hands today!
I guess it could be gamed but it just doesn't seem like that is what most people would do. Maybe anyone walking within sight of the finish line clock could be disqualified from the prize. It might be possible to know about what the mid time might such that one could try to increase one's chances but people are usually finishing fast enough at that point in the race that it would be difficult. If this turned out to be a problem maybe, in the future, he could make draw a random time plus or minus 5 minutes and make that the "half fast" winning time. If he is worried about it he could do something like that this year. In that instance, gaming would not be realistically possible if one didn't know what the "error" was going to be before the prize was awarded. Probably doesn't have to be exactly the half time to qualify for such a "reward" of such a name. It would be best, to increase participation at the awards ceremony, if people did not know who the winner was before the award was given.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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Again, I love the Half Fast award idea. Most people who finish MOP have busted their butts to get there.

I don't think it's necessary to pay out a cash prize though. Find a humorous gift to give.
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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One more step in your progression towards the most gimmicky triathlon around...
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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ok, probably a stupid question, but is this is a purposeful play on words with "half-assed?"

My dad told me to never do anything half-assed!


Coach at KonaCoach Multisport
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Re: "Half Fast" [Hoagy] [ In reply to ]
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That was my first thought as well. You can probably look as last years results to get yourself pretty close to the right time. Then just get somebody to let you know what the winning time was and adjust.

Victor

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Re: "Half Fast" [edk] [ In reply to ]
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+1
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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Our Masters coach calls our lanes from Most Fast to Least Fast, so the middle would be Medium Fast or Middle Fast. Just use one of those.

Better yet, do a play on the term "mean", since isn't that what that person would be? They would be setting the mean of the group. I forget my statistics. Mean Fast, or just plain Mean. Or call it the Yahey award.
Last edited by: bluemonkeytri: Apr 1, 08 11:16
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Re: "Half Fast" [Record10Carbon] [ In reply to ]
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The idea of having a "middle class" race is an interesting idea that deserves some thoughts. However I am not convinced what you are proposing is the best way to go but it is a good start. DO I have a "better" idea right now: I do not think so....

You could consider a "best PB" award and not only it would give chances to more people, it would also still be a race as opposed to a calculated one.

Fred.
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Re: "Half Fast" [bluemonkeytri] [ In reply to ]
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Not to nitpick, but I think the mean is an average (add em up, divide by the total number), and it's likely nobody would actually hit that number. The Median is the actual "middle" number of existing values. The Mode is the number that occurs the most in a series (and may be no where near the middle).

So really, it think it would be called a Median award.

I'm sure someone can come up with a nice play on words regarding it.. like "Hit the Median"
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