I've never raced on a track in my life, so maybe I'm missing something, but can anyone explain the point of pace makers in big international meets?
I assume the idea is to encourage quicker times; but it seems to me that having a pace maker just removed a tactical dimension from the race?
Championship races without pace makers are always generally better anyway (obviously the fact that more is at stake is a big part of this), but why have pace makers in the Diamond League for example?
I guess one exception could be if someone is going for a record of some kind, in which case having a pace maker would make sense; but other than that, I'm struggling to see what it adds. Fast times are nice, but surely fans want to see interesting races more so?