C-2 Pro start problems and suggestions:
The starter attempted to hold the C-2Pro racers in a ready staging area until all canoes were nearly in line. All boats were drifting slowly with the current with some competitors stroking slowly forward. There were three requests to "stop" paddling, slow down, wait with no slowing by a number of racers who were actually increasing their forward speed. Finally there was an exasperated "whoa" which resulted in mayhem as the pack set off, mistaking "whoa" for "go". There was no recall procedure.
These mistakes were compounded by some teams who cut the first buoy short (at 1 mile) in an effort to right the first "wrong" that was done to them. Two wrongs did not make it right. Words were exchanged on the river and on shore after the finish.
During the awards ceremony one team tried to right some of the wrongs with an announcement that what they and others had done at the buoy was not right, in addition, they refused their Pro money. There were no official protests lodged.
SUGGESTIONS have been made by several paddlers and spectators.
1. If you used an air horn, gun or even the beep from a megaphone, it would have people listening for something other than a voice which is hard to hear from the far side of the river.
2. You might also warn people that if they jump early you will fire 2 blasts and that will be a general recall. This is the same plan they use in sailboat races and track and field.
3. At the nationals they had a line 50 feet back from the start where people lined up and then moved forward to the start line as indicated by the race starter just before the race.
4. Video camera(s) on the start with a substantial penalty or DQ for those "jump" the gun.
5. Race officials at all buoys to "police" the behavior of those who feel the need to cheat and a DQ or substantial time penalty for those who turn early.
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More input via emails
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1. Skip the rope idea--it'd be a nightmare
2. Use a non voice starting command--blank gun, airhorn
3. Have someone take a video of the start--like the clinton and add penalty minutes for jumping the gun.
4. Be willing and ready to restart the race when the guys get back upstream if it happens again.
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I admit that the start was so-so but it was 9:30 pile and the fault was to
those who were NOT on starting line...I can tell you that the place to be
at that time was there and not 1 miles upstream to practice.. I saw to many time racers miss the start because of that... Even Pat Lynch
few years ago in Boston was dq, he was practicing downstream,while the start was calling, when he saw the canoes, he did 180°and go down with them but he was dq...
The simple solution is the horn with 1 beep for start and 2 beep for a re-start .
About the bouy, a penality in time is not sure. You must dq OR if you choose a time penality it should be at Race Director discretion. Here is
why (story again) : In the ' 40 at La Classique there was an obligatory bouey loop that was taken 15 min to do but the penality for bouey missing
was 2 min.!!! So , some guys goes straight ahead ( f... the bouey !!) the were at least 13 min a head !!!!??? that's why only a time penality is not
enough !!
Chuck , dont worry about the start, sure it was not as beautiful as if
everybody were in straight line but
I don't think the finish results were affected because of that ... In a 2 hours race , you will have enough time to take your rank...
You had 5 or 6 C-2 more than last year hope 20 on start next year...You're on the good way !!!
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Here is the starting procedure I use at the Holyoke Race – Nothing is perfect but this has worked so far. I think the rope idea is more bother than it is worth for a race this size.
· Pro Race Rules o Start procedure
§ At 2 minute warning, line up upstream from starting line and drift to starting line. When starter is satisfied with line, the start command will be “Ready, Go”. (We use a bullhorn) Anyone false starting will be assessed a two minute time penalty.
I am now going to establish a recall procedure in case of a false start for our race.
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The USCA Nationals uses a two buoy set system (no rope).
Paddlers are required to remain upstream of the upstream set of buoys to do their warm up practice. When the starter is ready he calls them up to the upstream set of buoys and to line up there. When he feels they are ready he asks them to "drift" down stream to the start line.
That set of buoys is about 20 yards upstream from the start line.
The starter has the option of not starting the race or to give a penalty to any team that is trying to overtly take advantage over the rest of the field as they drift down to the start line.
That penalty would be added to the teams that tried to cheat upon the finish of the race.
Generally, a one minute penalty should be sufficient to prevent people from trying to cheat. Drifting means just that. They are not to be increasing their speed by paddling forward.
As far as this event I was extremely exasperated when the start was not called back.
We were on the line and waiting for the start. There was at least 3 minutes to the start according to the last announcement that was made.
I don't know how many boats were in the pack that decided to paddle through the start but I figured there were at least 5-6?. I watched them keep paddling through and past the line while you were making your efforts to bring them back.
I thought for sure you would call them back so I continued to stay put.
Starts like that have to be called back or the offending teams need to be penalized for the blatant ignoring of the starter.
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By what I gather there was quite a mix up at Sunday's start of the C2 pro race.
If I may, from my experiences, this is my personal 2 cent word of something to think about.
It is the participants responsibility to be on the starting line at the designated time and place.
If the race is at 9:30, then it should be started NO MATTER WHAT. Present or not. No waiting business.
No mister nice guy business. The participants that are there should line up and wait for the signal
i.e. horn, deep, etc. Another sound than that of a voice. Yes, 2-beep should nullify a start. This procedure should
become a standard in all event. You are the race Marshall, you set up the time and place,. You should
not also be responsible for the participants being on time or not. ( May as well make sure that the
participant have all there water and food and all of there other needs). It is NOT your responsibility.
You have enough responsibility in the organization of the event do not embark on this ride.
Any warm-up should be done in the opposing area of the course as in up stream of the starting line for the pro race
and down stream for the 12 miles events. The course should be free of canoes at all time before the event.
Now the point here, whatever the rule you come up with, it should be clear and applied to the letter. (No two
way rules like in the Classique). Even if it involves DQing the whole pack and nullifying the race. I think the USCA rules
are clear on this matter. Since you already have spotters in the 12 miles events on the Little River,
they can spot the buoy before they go up the Little River to position themselves for the Little River turn.
The easiest would be to just add a 3rd spotter for the 1st pro buoy.
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There are the Marathon Racing Rules from the International Canoe Federation. You may want to check their web site and see if this is the current version. http://www.canoeicf.com/default.asp?MenuID=Marathon/c1023/1620 There is a section that deals with rolling starts.
Yahooooooooooo, thank you :O)
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This from the Race Director in reply to an email:
There will be some changes in the C-2 Pro and probably the C-1 Pro starts next year, this year was a bad wake-up call.
Over 20 years of running this race and there has been nothing that has bothered me as much as this, I was overdue for a bad situation. It's too bad that it took this to get me the information to run a good start and me realizing that I really needed to do it better.
There must be something in writing about starts and the options a starter has, I just don't have a copy of it. If there isn't something in writing then there should be and it should be sent to all race directors and available on web sites...... USCA, NYMCRA, ETC
It never occurred to me:
* That my voice wasn't enough to communicate with paddlers on the water.
* That there should be a horn or bull horn to signal the start and recall, not a voice command.
* That a start could go this bad and that I should have a recall procedure. Since I didn't have one there was no way to stop them once they broke.
* That I could stop them after the 2 mile loop and do a restart.
* That anyone would cut a buoy for any reason. I thought that the racers on the water would take care of it themselves. I am always short volunteers, especially for the on-water buoys.
* That there would ever be a need for DQ's in our race--- wake up and smell the "roses"
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PLEASE SEND COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS, CRITICISM TO Chuck Bolesh, Race Director <csbolesh@usadatanet.net>
Thank you to everyone who has called or emailed with suggestions and comments. New rules will be formulated within the next few weeks. These will be reviewed and the final rules will be posted on this web site and the SLVP Newsletter. Copies will be mailed to all 2006 CCW C-1 & C-2 Pro paddlers.
Be well, chuck |
