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The Children's Mutual Tunbridge Wells Half-Marathon
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No worries WS.
I have used a Camel Pack for the London Marathon as the scrum for water does hold you up. This is one solution.
In short ......
The reason that it is on gun time is that it is a running race not a time trial.
Think about the first athlete crossing the finish line. He ran behind the lead car all the way and crossed the line first. Some other athlete starts 2 minutes behind and pulls through the field (possibly gaining an advantage (depending on field size) as you have people to continually chase and can also shelter from the wind) and runs a faster time crossing the line in 5th 'position' say.
Who should win? The winner of the 'race', not the time trial.
I'm a good girl and start in a realistic place so I don't hold up the faster runners. I then overtake one of those people who should have started behind me (48 seconds!!!!) and they end up higher up the results than me? That really is most unfair.
Next time I shall start right at the front
I think Dubs is right, your final position is probably only REALLY of interest to the elite runners who are interested in winning or getting a good place. For the rest of us mortals, I'd say that your final position is less important than your finishing time and how close you are to to your PB.
If you're put out about that, just do a "Data-Sort" on the results spreadheeet and choose Column F. That'll give you your true place.
Redhead
Can completely sympathise with your view although the results need to be consistent with the race awards. Ultimately, you did run quicker and you should take satisfaction from that. You may have lined up more sensibly and credit for that also.
This debate has come up numerous times and will no doubt continue as chip timing becomes more the norm. However, gun time enables the event to proceed as a race not a time trial. If it was on chip timing everyone would spend the race thinking "I've passed him/her but he/she started after me so may be I'm still not beating him/her?" or vice versa. In addition, would there be much point in a sprint finish against another competitor?
Some races will rank on chip time (but not prizes), usually mass participation where athletes are formally allocated a starting pen they must adhere to.
For your personal result, the chip time is surely the relevant one. For the race positions, I can see why the gun time is better because the finish for the top few athletes is as they cross the line. It would be shame if a close finish was changed later because of a chip timing discrepancy, there may have been race tactics at play between the leaders. You would expect the elite runners to start together at the front anyway.
If you are in the middle of the pack surely your personal time is more important than a few places up or down the list, and you know from the chip time who is actually faster or slower.
FWIW I started near the back and my finish time was way slower than my chip time, but I'm delighted with a PB and I'm taking the chip time for that!
I suppose what bothers me now is that I can actually see that others who finish higher up than me aren't necessarily faster than me. It may be silly to others but it just niggles slightly, that's all.
Now I did get a gfa prize for a 10k a couple of years ago and that would have been based on clock time but I imagine I would gave been very miffed if someone had got a prize based on their clock time but their actual time was slower than mine.
I can see why it has to be that way though.
This was a great race. I found it really challenging! I'm used to big hills so Spring Hill in Fordcombe I found quite difficult but you learn!!
Finished better than I thought I would though which I was happy with. Feeling the pain now though
Really great event though and the atmosphere I found great as well.
The water cups were interesting but a few sips is all I need so it wasn't too bad!!
Had a great time!!
Beula
When I heard that there were sports drinks en route I decided not to carry a bottle. I did not realise that it would be handed out in cups, which I have never got on with.
I came across the idea of making a bit of a spout by pinching the cup but still ended up sticky hands and shirt, and nothing actually swallowed.
Nothing beats a bottle with a proper 'sports drink' cap. Lesson learned.
Otherwise I had a great day. My best performance in an official event 1:35:19 although I have run faster in training. The hill killed me off, and I saw runner after runner pass me from the top of the hill until the finish. Wish I'd trained harder on hills.
I'll be back next year.