Ultrawoman's Blog: Nanny Goat 12/24/100 Insanity
Nanny Goat was the brain child of Steve Harvey who one day was talking to his friend Shelli Sexton on how he would like to do a race to help raise funds for wounded warriors and have it in a looped format. Shelli suggested her horse ranch property in Riverside CA. And Steve and his wife Annie started putting on this stellar event.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
RULE CHANGE NO. 1:
NO ELECTRONIC LISTENING DEVICES OF ANY KIND – THAT
MEANS, NO WATCHES, NO IPHONES, NO IPODS, NO MUSIC
The reason for doing this is two-fold. The spirit of the Summer Series is to run your race without any outside influences as to your pace. That is why watches are outlawed. With the advent of technology, there are many devices that provide the runner with time and pace; therefore, to be fair to all, we are banning all listening devices for this 5k event. Also, there is a distinct safety issue. This event can get crowded and part of it is on single track trail. There are persons of all abilities on the course and participants overtaking those in front of them. Therefore, to ensure the safety of all participants listening devices are banned for this event.
Any participant using a listening device or wearing a watch will be disqualified.
We will have a collection box at the start line with tags to designate owners of devices that we will hold for the duration of the event, or you may leave your device in your car.
BTC will not be responsible for lost or stolen devices.
I am not a fan of listening to music in a race and it does make things unsafe however many of you say you can not run without them.
As far as people using listening devices to cheat, I think this is a non-issue as well. Sure a few might do it but it has been my observation over the years that many do not know how to operate the devices properly and they are not that accurate. Lastly, most people are really bad at pacing themselves especially in a 5k handicap style race.
MEANS, NO WATCHES, NO IPHONES, NO IPODS, NO MUSIC
The reason for doing this is two-fold. The spirit of the Summer Series is to run your race without any outside influences as to your pace. That is why watches are outlawed. With the advent of technology, there are many devices that provide the runner with time and pace; therefore, to be fair to all, we are banning all listening devices for this 5k event. Also, there is a distinct safety issue. This event can get crowded and part of it is on single track trail. There are persons of all abilities on the course and participants overtaking those in front of them. Therefore, to ensure the safety of all participants listening devices are banned for this event.
Any participant using a listening device or wearing a watch will be disqualified.
We will have a collection box at the start line with tags to designate owners of devices that we will hold for the duration of the event, or you may leave your device in your car.
BTC will not be responsible for lost or stolen devices.
I am not a fan of listening to music in a race and it does make things unsafe however many of you say you can not run without them.
As far as people using listening devices to cheat, I think this is a non-issue as well. Sure a few might do it but it has been my observation over the years that many do not know how to operate the devices properly and they are not that accurate. Lastly, most people are really bad at pacing themselves especially in a 5k handicap style race.
RULE CHANGE NO. 3
Sandbagging Rule
For any race series participant who improves their handicap time
by 5 minutes or more, the following will occur:
1.
Regardless of your finishing place in that run, you will be
considered as if you ran a 31 minute tape time and placed
accordingly.
2.
Your placement in that run WILL COUNT as one of your 3 scoring
races for consideration in the overall Top Ten finishing. On any
subsequent race after the first race penalized where further
improvement occurs, this same penalty will be enforced.
3.
The race director has full discretion to enforce the rule.
4.
If you do not
finish a race you will be awarded last place.
Therefore, you are encouraged to run/walk/jog/wog to your
best ability at each Summer Series race. Running
below your ability level for your qualifying run and then
running hard for subsequent runs to move up in the ranking is
Sandbagging and you will be penalized. We realize that people
accidentally sandbag, i.e. started the event untrained, injured,
or not feeling well and then improve substantially, but the
sandbagging rules applies to all to weed out the participants
who intentionally try to take advantage of the handicap system.
In the past there was a 20% sandbagging rule and it was far to all. The 5 minute rule is not because anyone slower then 25 minutes is treated unfairly. 5 minutes is 20% of 25 minutes. So anyone faster than 25 minutes actually benefits from the rule change.
Anyone slower than 25 minutes is penalized:
Anyone slower than 25 minutes is penalized:
- 5/30 = 16.7%
- 5/40 = 12.5%
- 5/50 = 10%
"untrained, injured, or not feeling well and then improve substantially"
Well last year according to the Best Scratch Times for the entire summer, only 250 of 509 males who ran the event broke 25 minutes. So over half the males who ran last summer were "untrained, injured, or not feeling well and then improve substantially".
On the female side only 64 of the 480 females who ran the event at least once broke 25 minutes. So over 86% of the females who ran last summer were "untrained, injured, or not feeling well and then improve substantially".
Bottom line is the change from 20% across the board to 5 minutes, negatively impacts
68% of those who ran last year and benefits 32%.
Is that fair?
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