My friend at Moo got a 4 minute penalty for Outside Assistance. Here’s what happened.
He was walking, and his brother caught up with him to give some encouragement. His brother was on roller blades, and I guess stuck with him for a little while, and I guess they passed a course official, who tagged him with the penalty.
Now. I’m not disputing that it was technically a violation of the “pacing” rules. But seriously, folks 1) he was walking, and 2) his brother was on roller blades, not running/walking to pace him.
Should you really get an “outside assistance” penalty if you’re walking? The ironic thing is that toward the end of the race, they allowed volunteers to pace runners/walkers to help them get in under 17 hours.
Perhaps I’m biased because he’s my friend, but it seems a little stupid to ding someone who’s walking with an “outside assistance” penalty for pacing.
However, imaine if all 2,099 other competitors in the race had spectators accompany them on inline skates, mountain bikes, motorized scooters or even cars for just a brief moment during the day. It would make things pretty crowded- even more crowded than they already are.
Did your friend cheat? No, in my mind at least, FWIW, he didn’t. but the official felt he did, and therein lies the problem.
Maybe they decided to come down heavy on people for that becasue of the already congested, urban setting. In any case, I wouldn’t sweat it too much. He did the race, that is what counts.
Did your friend cheat? No, in my mind at least, FWIW, he didn’t. but the official felt he did, and therein lies the problem.
This brings up an interesting point. What if it wasn’t his brother? What if it was just some random guy, who didn’t know the rules (actually, I don’t think the brother knew the rules, either) and was “pacing” the walker? The walker gets a penalty for something completely out of his control.
It shouldn’t matter if the competitor is running or walking. If you allow it for walking the next question becomes “should you really get an outside assistance penalty for running 10 minute miles?”
Sorry to sound like an 4ss but I just had a bad experience with this.
What if it was just some random guy, who didn’t know the rules (actually, I don’t think the brother knew the rules, either) and was “pacing” the walker? The walker gets a penalty for something completely out of his control.<<
No, not out of the athlete’s control. The athlete should know the rules and could have told the person–hey, you are going to get me a penalty, please stop. Now if the random person kept it up, then I’d think the officials would look at the attempt to get them to stop.
Should you really get an “outside assistance” penalty if you’re walking?
Yes. It might be incredibly annoying to other walkers/competitors in the area.
I can verify this. I ran a 1/2 marathon this spring where a woman, who happened to be running exactly my pace, was accompanied for most of the race by a friend on a mtn. bike. They chatted away about their friends, spouses, kids, etc. I tried to pull away, but just wasn’t fast enough. It wasn’t a huge deal. Nothing to really complain about. But it was annoying. …and I’m convinced that was why she dropped me like a bad habit in the last mile.
No, not out of the athlete’s control. The athlete should know the rules and could have told the person–hey, you are going to get me a penalty, please stop. Now if the random person kept it up, then I’d think the officials would look at the attempt to get them to stop.
Perhaps, but at mile 20 or so, I probably wouldn’t have had the mental capacity to remember that someone shouldn’t be pacing me.
If you want to talk to a spectator, you have to stop and stand there. That’s the deal.
At IMUSA two years ago, I passed by Mike Plumb and I wanted to talk a bit. He took two steps with me and stopped, saying “I can’t walk with you…you have to stop.” At the time, I was cranking out some blistering 12-minute miles and was in no danger of being paced to go any faster.
Rules is rules.
(and BTW – volunteers pacing late finishers is not “outside assistance” anymore than getting an inner tube from the support van is outside assistance.)
and BTW – volunteers pacing late finishers is not “outside assistance” anymore than getting an inner tube from the support van is outside assistance.
I know this. I just find it interesting that volunteers are permitted to pace the late finishers, but two hours earlier, you get tagged for a penalty. I’m not trying to trash anyone or say that my friend got screwed. Rules are rules. It just seems strange to give a pacing penalty to someone who is walking.
I agree with Cathy, it is not beyond your control as an athlete. When I did my first marathon, a guy that I knew came up alongside me on his mountain bike with about 5k to go to cheer me on. I told him to get off the course before he got me DQd.
