There are enough videos on Youtube showing this for me to be concerned. But I really started to believe when I was DNFed at the Dubbo zoo sprint last year. I know I went to the control. It was the first. I know I 'punched'. I arrived towards the back of the first group in my mass start of six, and had to wait before punching. This is a typical characteristic of these mis-punches.. a large number of consecutive punches in a short period. I remembered the moment I punched. I checked afterwards to see if all the boxes were working. They were. The download worker refused to believe any other explanation but that I forgot to go to the control. The result didn't matter. It was only Slologue. But I am now cautious about claims of mis-registration by other finishers. I understand why the rule exists, but in the face of controvertible evidence such as registration of punching elsewhere in the system, I think the rule is being made to look like an idiocy. Claims that one might be punching too quickly are ludicrous when it appears from the Youtube videos that the real issue is variable response from the SI box. Perhaps an interaction of battery health and the time since last punch.
It the time that Ross stood at the last control that gets us as well, he is seen on TV waiting for the unit to respond. How can it be fair for some one to get a response from the unit very quickly, while others have to wait, especially seeing as we time World Championships to the 10th of a second
You would think that in the situation Ross finds himself in, the event adviser should be able to require an interrogation of the SI station. Its a world champs. Some of the controls are recorded on film. The runners have tracking devices. This makes the sport look real silly. I suppose because Ross is from a lower profile country and isn't in the placings, it will just be ignored. But one day someone of Thierry's stature in the sport will be dnfed in a similar way, and will forfeit a medal. I think then we'll hear the clamour from the other side of the world and the current rule will be changed overnight.
Interesting. No registration on the SI card after a sequence of entries in quick succession. The SI station registers the card but fails to write to the card. This is quite conceivable if the SI station sequence of commands could be interrupted by a request to service the SI station memory management. I would definitely be asking for a download from the SI station.
SI station has him as being there, but the rules are we have to go by the the SI stick, not the station
Hmmm. Interesting. I have always been of the opinion that the human is more likely to be at fault than the SI unit in these cases. Of course they swear black & blue that they punched. I haven't seen the video, but if what Jim says is true then perhaps IOF should begin rethinking this rule ....
I was like that too Hoggster, until it happened to me. And of course, the finish tent staff wouldn't have believed me if I had sworn black and blue, so I didn't bother.
what a wise old man you are :-)
I'll accept 'wise'. The 'old' is a bit threatening at my age. Which just goes to prove that maybe 'wise' isn't really warranted after all.
I guess it was easier for the jury not to... after another race those in high more or less encouraged a competitor not to make a complaint about being asked (repeatedly) for help during the race
If Ross was the first to finish in the finals (Mens & Womens), as mentioned in the on-line commentary, was he waking up a "sleepy" control that had been missed in the pre-event checking? - see the 2nd entry in this thread
from on-line commentary:
2008-07-17 15:42:18:
Ross Morrison NZL, first starter, is the first to finish too. Finish time is 42.10
It's clear that electronic punching doesn't always work. I disagree with the IOF who brought in this rule basically so that they could get results out quickly. I think the sport is more of a joke when you disqualify people needlessly and for failures in precisely what you might expect to fail.
http://www.attackpoint.org/discussionthread.jsp/me...
I've heard second-hand that part of the problem is that the TV/data controls operate slower than a normal SI control (because they transmit their data to the outside world before they write it to the card), so people who are used to a particular reaction time of the unit might get caught out. It's certainly, at least, an interesting coincidence that all the international cases I can recall (Oli Johnson at WOC 2006, Ross at WOC 2008 and Caroline Cejka at the World Cup yesterday) have involved controls of this type.
It's clear that electronic punching doesn't always work
Here is a recent story of a clear unit that cleared not only old punces but also card numbers from several sticks:
http://www.alternativet.nu/osnack/show_thread.asp?...
Looks like we have wait for a Swedish medallist to get "mp'd" before IOF will fix this problem.
GB's Hollie Orr's unfair mp at WOC Long Distance 2014
This discussion thread is closed.