2 records with pacing wrote:
Facts
1. Dita set a national record at Chicag yesterday and was paced for 20 miles.
2. Colleen Deruck set a national masters record yesterday and was paced for EVERY step of the race by Kim Gilliard.
Where is the outrage?
I was there and spectated at 5 or 6 points in the race. It was more windy out there than is being reported. Every time I saw Deena she was in front of or next to her two escorts and personally hired pacer. (Bad form, but not technically against the rules.)
Dita likewise was in front of her escort every time I saw her.
Chiba was by herself the whole way.
Colleen was in a group the first couple of times I saw her and behind her personal pacer the last couple of times (30K and 40K).
In my huble opinion, a male pacer breaking the wind for a female athlete constitutes an unfair advantage if pace setters are not allowed/provided for everyone. Again, in my opinion, the female athletes that ran behind pacers (whether provided by the race or not) had a clear advantage over those that didn't. This was especially true over the final miles where the runners were fighting a head wind.
Why no outrage? There is little to be done. Protests needed to be filed within 1 hour of the finish. Even if Dita wanted to protest, why would she? You would basically be accusing Chicago of putting on a crooked race since the escorts were supplied by Chicago. Not the best career move to alienate one of the best marathons in the world. Better to just suck it up. It would also come across as extremely sour grapes.
It's true that every woman out there still had to run the race, but if you believe that the escorts/pacers didn't provide some small advantage please continue burying your head in the sand.
Would it have changed the result, who knows, but Deena only won by 5 seconds and Colleen got forth by only 20.
It certainly would be nice not to have to have this debate.
The fault lies with a very vague rule that the USATF has no intention of enforcing. Either eliminate the rule and have and anything goes atmosphere, or clarify and enforce the rule with random referees/spotters, or start the women early. This in-between, self-policed method just isn't working. And it's taking away from some otherwise brilliant performances.