Discussion: Late start

If the organizers underestimated the distance to the start, it was THEIR fault you were late, and they should have given you a new start time.

Also since the organizer held you up an additional 58 seconds they should credit that. But that doesn't compensate for the mental disruption. Anyway, lesson learned to be early.

If he was only a 1-2 min late, that could have easily been the result of the underestimated distance.

Lesson learned: Speak up for yourself!

That sucks that you were late for your start. I'd leave a bit more wiggle room in your warmup routines in the future. Sounds like you salvaged the race anyway. Way to race!

Normally I try to be there some 15-20 minutes before my start, but I was really starting to feel my illness, so things didn't go quite as planned before my start.

It was a WRE event, so as far as I know I don't thing the organizers could have credited me any time.

Sorry to hijack your log, Michael - Guy, the lesson is not to speak up for yourself. The lesson is to be there on time. Don't go looking for ways to blame other people for something that is your responsibility.

Sorry you got sick - that's really rough, racing through illness is neither fun nor effective. I've been there. Hopefully you feel better soon!

At the start you should do what you need to do to set yourself up to have the best race. If you want to fight the organizers over blame / speak up for yourself (which may be worth it may be not) do that after you finish). Dealing with that kind of thing before you start is only going to put you in a bad frame of mind to have a good race.

As a follow to that when you are late starting that's when it's most important to take 30-60 seconds at the start to clear your mind and get into the right thought pattern. Even if it's on the clock. It's worth the investment and will pay itself back later.

Agreed that allowing yourself enough time that only a significant, unforseen problem could make you late is the best way to operate.

@Canadian: Thing about waiting to finish before voicing concerns is that without a punching start (assuming typical Euro event with strict start-at-your-assigned-time protocol) there would be no remedy available after your race.

On the 2nd day of the O-ringen last year, there was a problem with late running buses and long lines (MUCH longer than on 1st day) getting to the buses. As a result, they were either giving new start times, or using a punching start, if you said you were late because of the bus problem. If you said nothing, you were treated like any other late starter. Michael's brother Thomas found that out after it was too late. (My class had open starts, so this was not an issue for me)

@GuyO If a race doesn't record the time late starters actually started then they have a flaw in their race / start process. No matter the reason someone started late you should have a record (whether in pen on paper or with an SI start punch) of their actual time across the start line for a variety of reason:

1. To allow the organizers to decide to use an athlete's actual start time for whatever reason (it's the organizers fault, there are other mitigating circumstances, the race isn't important enough to warrant being strict about the rule, etc.)

2. So an athlete doesn't need to worry about this and can think about it later. Yes athletes absolutely need to take responsibility for themselves and their races but the organizers should make it easier for athletes not harder and doing what they can to help all athletes have the best and fairest race they can.

3. So that late athletes can still have their unofficial race time even if it's not official. Think of it like the chip time and gun time in major road races.

oh and 4. So the organizers know how long everyone has actually been out in the woods. It's a safety thing too.

Thanks, Canadian! That's good to know...