deena needed help

My recap is here:

http://www.letsrun.com/2003/escortingpaula.php

I did tell Paula the split on 1 of her miles and felt like that was the closest I came to assisting her in anyway that might be deemed unfair. But at the time it was just like a few miles earlier when a guy saw me looking at my watch and asked me what the split was. In a marathon that sort of thing seems pretty common.

just as was added, anyone one the side of the road can tell her how far ahead she is.

trackhead, you obviously didn't read wejo's post.

I want to see the look on Deena's face when she comes on this board expecting adulation. :)

i did and i still cannot find a single IAAF rule that was broken.

wejo wrote:

My recap is here:

http://www.letsrun.com/2003/escortingpaula.php

I did tell Paula the split on 1 of her miles and felt like that was the closest I came to assisting her in anyway that might be deemed unfair. But at the time it was just like a few miles earlier when a guy saw me looking at my watch and asked me what the split was. In a marathon that sort of thing seems pretty common.

I don't see how anyone could have a problem with this. Where the pacer crossed the line today was in interfering in a competitive race. He was no longer pacing Deena to a time, but simply helping her to beat a fellow competitor.

trackhead,

I think I see your point now. There IS no rule against what happened today, like you said, but I think you'll also see that a majority of people think that what happened today WAS unethical. Not the pacing, but what was apparently going on ABOVE and BEYOND the concept of pacing.

You used Korir and Lagat as an example. To my knowledge, all Korir did was pace Lagat. Like you said, who knows if the IAAF will touch this, but today opened a whole new can of worms in that it went WAY beyond what conventional pacing has always been.

She gets adulation from here. I didn't see the event so can't comment on the specifics, but appreciate wejo's insights. I don't care for the following reasons: 1- ANY US runner that succeeds in a world class event helps reinforce the next generation of runners to keep at it, especially against the Kenyans, Ethopians etc. 2- She brought enjoyment to my 2004 summer watching her at the Games 3- She still had to do the @$%$ing work to get there. Tough is tough.

I've enjoyed the message boards, but am troubled by runners who eat their own, when we should be promoting our sport to attract more athletes.

boston26 wrote:

troubled by runners who eat their own, when we should be promoting our sport to attract more athletes.

I disagree with the bashing. But then if the posters want our athletes to take the high and respectable road towards achievement, then I'm not going to rip them for it. At the same time, I'm unsure if what Deena did was undignified in the least.

Didn't see the race, and it sounds like there was obviously a problem, but ultimately Dita got dropped. I realize this isn't cycling, but if Verran was helping that much, Dita should have bridged the gap sooner and taken advantage of the wind screen.

The point insn't that she can beat all our asses. She is a World-class athlete. We are not arguing how great she is. It just makes a mockery of our sport if a male can run beside a female and coach them in the last miles of a marathon. This is what racing is all about, Deena took a chance and went for it and was running scared in the last few miles. Yes, friends and family can shout from the roadside but it not the same as someone running beside her helping her keep her momentum and coaching her to the finish. I was very disappointed to see this happen. It was a gutsy race and full credit to Deena for hanging on for the win, but I think meet directors need to decide how they want to proceed with males escorting females. If that is the case every female should be asigned a male to run with them the whole way. That way every female gets a fair chance to run a P.B.[quote]Runner GU wrote:

what does wejo know.??

he's friends with bush!!!

dita knew the rules before the race and could have hired a male pacer. she chose not to. that was her mistake. you guys b****ing about deena probably b**** when lance hangs on hincapie's rear wheel. it's the same damn thing as both are clearly allowed. get back to training for your 3 hour marathon.

I see your point. I would not call today's occurence unethical, if only because there is no rule that prohibits it.

Now, if the IAAF changes its rules, we have a different story. But I leave it up to them, and I congratulate Deena on a hard win.

verran was paid to be a rabbit.

he was doing his job.

dita had chad johnson there with her doing the same thing.

she fell back. deena didn't.

Verran was doing much more than male rabbits do for the men in their race.

what was he doing that was prohibited? just because you, on your couch, didn't like what he was doing, doesn't mean that deena broke any rules.

Deena didn't break any rules, I agree. But what appeared to be going on, and I'll even stress the word "appeared", looked to be unethical and unfair.

I don't know who are but i'm sure i did not see your name on any world championships results or on "any" American records. Cut her some slack, she is the "BEST" defense americans have right now against foreign athletes.