IS THIS CHEATING??

[SilverMountain]

My time was almost 50% worse in the 40km than last years result as a result of nothing working on my bike in stages of the race because of being totally clogged up. Hopefully in good weather I can get back to last years time so a 20% improvement proposed by Stretch may not be practical in this case. My bike had just been upgraded and was less than a month old.

No-one expected the thick mud on the course.

 

In regards to changing distance, I believe that the cyclist must notify the officials or otherwise not go through the finish.

[Stretch]

remember that the seeding index is determined relative to the winning time, so while your time is 50% slower, the winners time was also prob in that region. That said, a result such as this would prob be outside of the 20% buffer (+ or -) around your norm and therefore thrown out. Not sure if it would work, just an idea! I suppose you would have to play around with some scenarios

[mudda]

I dont mind if some cyclists take the shorter route. What erks me, if they take the shorter route and race for position against riders in the longer route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gravity Sux]

Guess you are always going to get riders who start the longer route and swap to the shorter course on route. Those who finish before the long race winners are easily caught out but where the real problem comes in is in the various categories, particularly the ladies categories (for example vet ladies 3rd may be finishing 150th in the GC). Did a race recently where a lady came in 30 minutes ahead of the official ladies winner and it took a couple of days for the timing people to sort out. Don't know what happened but I presume she switched to the shorter route. Eventually she was listed as DQ.

Unfortunately you cannot rely on peoples honesty to inform the race officials that the did not complete the race they started or to not cross the mat at the finish. Probably 2 options for the organizers. First is to put a timing mat out on the course as suggested in other posts. If cost is an issue then put a marshal on the shorter route to take the numbers of all who have changed races and tell them not to cross the finish mat. If you have swapped races you should no longer be racing so it should not be a problem to stop so the marshal can take down your number. If those who opted for the shorter route do not cross the finish / sort out with the officials that they did not complete the whole race then list them as DNF. If someone crosses the finish list them as DQ. As long as a DQ result only applies to people who have cheated there is no need to name and shame as all their friends will know that they cheated when they check the results.

I would assume that most people do not switch races to get a better result but end up crossing the finish because they simply do not realize / do not care about the chaos it causes. If you are determined to cheat you can probably find a short cut / have someone else race with your number / use performance enhancing substances and never be caught if you are not finishing at the sharp end of the race. There have been gold medal performances in the Comrades Marathon that have later been found to be the result of cheating so I suppose there are many who have got away with it further down the field. In their case we just hope they have a conscience which causes them not to sleep so well at night.

[Frosty]

 

The reason most races don't use an intermediate timing mat is the cost involved. It can be as high as R35000 for one extra mat.

 

Then maybe don't organise a race.

 

Or don't organise a short and long distance event at the same time.  The short distance event is only there to get more entries' date=' hence more money.  The cost of getting that extra cash is an extra timing mat.

[/quote']

The costs to run a race has been discussed numerous time before... and especially the value one gets for your R150+ entry fee. I'm not going to try justify where the entry fee goes.

 

The short distance events makes up 30-40% of the total entries. Take this away, and you'll find more and more races will cease to exist, as entry fees will have to be increased to cover the fixed costs.

 

Irrespective of the number of entrants, certain costs don't change, i.e. traffic officials, marshalls, on-line entry costs, timing mats [some use cost per rider, others use flat rate], event advertising, event equipment [marquees, banners,  fencing (start/finish), etc], Provincial/CSA fees if the race is an officially sanctioned event, Prize money and the list goes on...

 

Last time I checked, licenced cyclists ride for position, not time. And besides, there are officials at the finish line to pick up the top 10 in each of the licenced categories, plus a commissaire behind/in front of each group who can easily see if anyone "cheats".

 

[Jaco-fiets]

OK i have not read all the comments but my take is this: I dont believe it is a issue if the person tell the organisers the morning of the race that he/she wishes to do the shorter route. It is however wrong if you start the long route but along the way get gatvol and take the short route. You should tell this to the timing people when you finish. Collecting a prize after doing this is criminal!!!