RD has no dog or blame in this fight. You can only guide them so much and when they are out on their own you cannot control what they do.... life lessons

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I'd say 1/4 to the RD, and 3/4 to the woman. I don't think the guy was at fault here at all. At first I was willing to split the blame 50/50, but this video makes her look even worse...and makes the RD look bad for DQing him.

I still can't believe people called that a punch...

Or even an "argggghhh what the hell is she doing pissed off face".

As for DQ of male athlete the RD is justified. at least in my eyes.

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Punched in the face, eh, Race Director?

Getting knocked to the ground crying, eh, bandwagon lemmings?

That was absurd what the dude did, but even more absurd is the BLATANT LIES that have been spread about punches to the face and laying a woman out.

Pathetic on all accounts.

  One of the photos seemed to show she had a stroller on the course. Looks like it's one of those races you can run with a stroller, kids or a dog. My dog likes to swim but he's slow. He'd havta wait in transition during the bike. He sure wouldn't like getting Blaired in the run. That said, looks like a nice family Tri.

And the RD being totally misleading.

I'm so glad this video has come out.

Who was that guy going on and on about respecting the RD? No respect deserved for this situation and reaction. No respect deserved for anyone involved.

I think some people need to take an actual punch before calling a push or a straight arm block a punch. A shove at worst. But he still could have moved even more left as there obviously was no speedy oncoming runner. There was some intent there.

How do you know that he didn't slow down, turn and look only to see her continuing on in the wrong lane? We only have a short snippet to look at and the eye witness testimony the RD received from her friends and family.

Wow, just wow. I can't see a punch in that video or an angle that I can say he ran straight into her. For all we know, he angle across the road from shoulder to centerline (as a witness posting on LetsRun.com stated) and had nowhere to go except into the old guy running at him. That collision probably would have broken some bones.

Richard,

I watched the video. Do you really think that he punched her in the face? I don't. Her back was turned to him at impact. And he appears to have hit her with a forearm shiver, not a punch. There's a difference, and one sounds much more dramatic than the other. Both people appear clueless to me - for different reasons - and both could have been penalized. I don't envy you, having to deal with these kinds of people.

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Mike Sparks


I have competed well, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

I dont believe he should have been disqualified. He was running in the only place that he could. there was a lady backing into him from one side and a runner coming towards him in the wrong lane. The woman after gathering herself was clearly headed for the wrong lane as well. If you look back down the road from where he was coming there is a whole gaggle of people in the wrong lane. He was already shoved over to the middle line from them.

The RD has the responsibility to set up a safe course and it does not appear that he did. The RD also seems to think it is fair for competitors to be grabbing watches and equipment from spectators. He also feels that it is a safe and good practice to let 8 kids run down the finishing shoot. The RD also seems to feel comfortable misleading the public in saying that the woman was punched in the face....come on. If I was the guy I would have handed back the award and got out of that nut house as fast as I possibly could.

The guy was going all out. Who cares if it is 1:38 ( in spite of all the slowtwitch bravado a good chunk of you could barely manage that in an open HM)...who knows how fast he is moving at the end...he's getting tired and slow judgement....he is trapped in the middle of the road and has to do something and if you are racing stopping is not the first option....If I was in the same situation...boom someone is getting pushed out of the way.

The woman was treating this thing like it was her own private race venue. no clue nor care for anyone around her. She comes pretty close to backing up into the old guy running in the wrong lane as well!

Agreed. He knew exactly what he was doing and did it by choice.

She's an idiot... but just because someone is being an idiot doesn't mean you can hurt them. If a pedestrian jaywalks that doesn't mean you can run them over. That's what he did. Ran her over knowingly.

Watch his steps leading up to the impact. He never changes course when he easily could have.

He also doesn't, god forbid, slow down. He saw her being an idiot from a long way coming. He should have slowed down when approaching her, just as you slow down approaching a dangerous situation on your bike or in your car.

Edit: he also could have yelled "heads up" or similar when she started backing, and he never did.

DQ them both, but he's a Douche.

Agreed.

I don't honestly think this is totally malicious per the situation (and it sure as hell isn't a punch to the face that left her crying on the ground!), but I also don't think there was totally incidental contact and that straight arm to fend her off probably could have been a bit softer.

Richard, your punitive actions against one athlete but not the other are unjust.

And your comments concerning the situation are little more than lies.

You should be ashamed.

Well put. Lots of failures by the race organization that have been brought to light by this incident.

Uh, no he didn't. He no more ran over her than punched her in the face.

Some of you have a piss poor ability to accurately describe something. And that's precisely what's caused such an overly excessive uproar in the first place.

And let's face it, the uproar and brutal condemnation from the peanut galleries seems way excessive in light of this video.

Exactly.

DQ them both, but he's a Douche.


After watching the video, I agree that both could be DQ'd. The woman is so obsessed with having her picture taken and getting attention and she has no business doing that near the finish line. However, it is also clear that he had a lot of room to avoid her but most of all, could have stopped to ensure she was okay, even if it cost him 3 seconds.


I think a fair result would be to DQ them both but yes, you can't escape the fact that he is an ass.

OK, he didn't run her over knowingly. He ran into her knowingly, so that makes it OK?

In light of this video, the brutal condemnation is warranted, IMO.

How about not stopping to check that she's OK. That's OK too?

After watching the video I have come to a conclusion...

Everyone else that raced that day should be DQ'ed for not contributing to the entertainment. They were selfish by focusing on their own race and could have given a little bit more of themselves by punching at least one other racer during this long race. Disappointed.

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Adrian in Vancouver

And how do you know he didn't turn around and see her continue on to start her run?

And its also okay to go on public forums and declare the guy "punched her in the face" when the video doesn't show any such thing?

My opinion has changed since seeing the video. He's obviously a douche for not going out of his way to avoid her when it looks like he could have with a little more effort, especially if you listen to the audio when he says "Get out of the way!" instead of "Head's up!" or "Look out!" or "Careful!" or any number of things a non-douche would say in the same situation. But she is clearly most at fault, not paying any attention to where she is or what she is doing, walking backwards into the middle of a race. My revised take on the situation- I don't think that him being a douche warranted a DQ. Additionally, I really hope that "getting Blaired" becomes part of tri-vernacular forever.

I've been withholding judgment until seeing the video. After watching it, and reading the several related blogs and whatnot, I'm going to have to say the woman in question is mostly at fault here. Perhaps Blair should have stopped and checked, but the woman clearly was the impetus for contact. To call the contact a punch in the face, or to insinuate that she was thrown to the ground crying as even the RD had stated is such a gross misstatement of facts it borders on the absurd.

Now, admittedly I can be a bit of a heartless jerk, so I showed my wife the video (who barely has a competitive bone in her body and only enjoys the occasional stroller 5k and family jog). I simply asked who she thought was at fault. Her response was "why is that woman walking backwards on the road?" I then explained the fantastic thread to her, and she's since taken to reading all the linked blogs. She's convinced me that the woman in the video is a far worse person than Mr. DQ. She's smarter (and far more compassionate) than me, so I'll go with her opinion.

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Dear Mr. Izzo,

With the video now available for public consumption, would you like to re-phrase your previous post? Whether or not it was a punch can be questioned. It sure doesn't look like it to me. However, anyone with at least one semi-functional eye can be 100% sure that the contact was in no way "in the face".

Your credibility is suspect. At the very least, you are a major exaggerator.