in: blairtrewin; blairtrewin > 2006-07-29;
| # Posted 2006-07-31 10:12:47 | |
| Bruce: | Why wasn't someone asked to stand in for Rob? Perhaps it is against the rules? It's now 2 years in a row that an Aussie has not started a Long Distance WOC race.
I'm sure that an aussie with initials Rob Preston would have loved to have run. |
| # Posted 2006-07-31 18:52:34 | |
| Shep: | someone was asked if they want to stand in for rob, but the two others in the team, ie troy and shep, werent interested...
2 years in a row an aussie hasnt started a long distance woc? 3 men started and 3 men qualified in the long last year. |
| # Posted 2006-07-31 19:21:36 | |
| lazydave: | three men didnt finish the final either |
| # Posted 2006-07-31 21:21:32 | |
| blairtrewin: | Not sure whether Bruce was asking about using someone else within the team (which Shep has covered) or bringing in someone else from outside.
My recollection (based on an experience at World Cup some years ago) is that bringing someone in from outside at this stage is only possible if the manager's meeting agrees. At a World Cup this isn't so much of a problem, but at a WOC where they could potentially stop someone else qualifying for a final it would be more difficult. In any case, the next person in line who was around was me, and there would have been little for the team to gain by my running - based on the public race results, the best case scenario would have been that I would have been somewhere around where Eric was. It might have been a different story if someone like Rob Preston (who might have been an outside chance to make the final) or Simon Uppill (who wouldn't have made the final, but would gain from the experience) were around. We do seriously need to develop some more male long distance specialists - we don't have many, and all the ones we do have are over 30. |
| # Posted 2006-07-31 22:36:44 | |
| Shep: | doesnt help when our long selection trial is won in 70 minutes... |
| # Posted 2006-07-31 22:38:14 | |
| robw: | Only runners from within the team were able to step in and both shep and troy were concentrating on the sprint so they didnt want to run it understandably. |
| # Posted 2006-08-01 04:33:14 | |
| Bruce: | Apologies. I was wrong - 3 started the 2005 Final (but none finished).
Thanks for the clarification Rob. I hope you are feeling better for the Middle final. Sounds like you did a great job qualifying considering your illness, as I can see how competitive the men's races are. Go for it in the final! What this tells me is that a team of 5 mens runners may not be enough for this programme, especially if illness and injury occur. It would be nice to have an emergency to call on, but on the other hand we don't want to reduce funding to the top runners. Difficult problem, with no good answer. I guess the team is primarily focussed on benchmark results, which is where the focus should be. |
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