the loophole wrote:
Maybe it's been said already somewhere in the 11,000+ posts in this thread, but given the Brojos' latest challenge to Rossi, it bears resurrecting:
Where, in the Lehigh Valley Marathon rules (or, for that matter, the rules of any race), does it explicitly state that in order to get credit for "finishing," with a certain "finishing time," you have to cover the entire course on foot, under your own power?
As runners, we take this for granted. But from a legal perspective, I'm not sure how it holds up.
Some races (for instance, Badwater) explicitly state in the rules that the participant must cover every inch of the course on foot, under their own power, within the time limit, to get credit for "finishing," with a certain "finishing time." This provides specific grounds for disqualification.
But most races don't spell this out, instead assuming that it's commonly understood that participants will cover the course as laid out, and complete the entire course on foot, under their own power, or risk disqualification.
As likely (and as reprehensible) that it is that Rossi likely crossed the Lehigh Valley Marathon starting line to active his chip, left the course, got in his car, drove to a point near the finish, got back on the course, and crossed the finish line, as far as I can tell, there was nothing in the race rules that explicitly forbade this action as a means of "finishing" the race.
(This would also explain the odd use of the words "accurate" and "inaccurate" in the LVM statement regarding Rossi's finishing time. If there were no specific rules set forth for disqualifying a runner, they're on shaky ground in disqualifying him based evidence that suggests that he "cut the course." As a certified Boston-qualifying course, the race is responsible for reporting "accurate" finishing times, and nothing that Rossi did would have made his finishing time "inaccurate." Maybe if he had tampered with the race clock or official results, they would have had grounds to disqualify him. But no matter how Rossi got to the finish line, it's difficult to dispute the time on the finishing clock as he crossed the line, especially since there is a photo of him crossing the finish line with the clock clearly visible.)
In fewer words, what Rossi likely did was morally repugnant, but technically not against the rules.
My concern now is that he will find a race with similarly poorly-worded rules that would not explicitly forbid the same kind of cheating, and exploit that loophole to legally (albeit not honorably) win the money.
