If one wanted to assume both parties meant no harm, here's one possible explanation.
Female runner gets in his way at the last second. They impact and the guy throws out his arms to balance himself which pushes the lady.
I don't know what actually happened, but its plausible.
1. Sprinting it in at the end of a 1/2 Ironman is actually a pretty douchey thing to do. 1/2 Iron is a 4+ hour race. Hammering it for the last 800m isn't going to make a difference in your time (the guy probably would get more of a reduction in his time by working on his transitions) and actually shows very poor pacing, leaving too much in the tank at the end of the race.
2. Look at the picture, people. There is 18' of roadway and two skinny little triathletes. There are simply no circumstances under which this guy had to resort to shoving this woman. I have done marathons that shared a finish line with half marathoners and had to weave and bob to get through the 2:4X half marathoners. I might bark a "runner left/right" at someone who I could not avoid, but would never lay a hand on anyone.
3. A lot of triathlons do out and back runs so that the transition and finish line are in the same spot. If anyone should be taken to task, it should be race organizers for not putting down cones in the middle of the street to separate out the people coming in from the people going out.
track chick wrote:
She was heading in the "other direction" to the finish line? I've never done a triathlon so maybe that's why I don't understand this . . .
It was an out and back course. She was starting the run leg at about the same time he was finishing it.
Without video, it's hard to apportion blame. The fact that she's looking sideways and to the back in the still photo makes it apparent that she certainly wasn't blameless.
The photo right after shows his hand being open, obviously not a closed fist, so this was at worst a "push" not a "hit" or "punch" (as in the thread title) as the blocking woman, her family, and their supporters claim. Also they claim to have video, but they only supply two still pictures, and obviously they pick the two that would best support their version of events. One could assume that if the entire video was in their favor then they'd post it unedited.
I apologize for choosing the word "punch" in the thread title. I agree that it should maybe be "shove."
She's hot
Drama queen...the guy who wrote the blog, not the woman.
B-Jamz 97 wrote:
She's hot
Same woman?
http://www.newyorkfamily.com/nyc-paddleboard-paddling-stand-up-yoga-where-rental-lessons/The image of her getting "punched" is epic!
Can't really tell anything from the photos, except that there was hard physical contact. Whether or not the doctor was from Newtown is irrelevant - I don't think the Ironman guy used a gun.
why is there a baby carriage in the road and on the other side of the barriers?
She is going out. He is coming in to the finish. She turns to wave. (She has her back to him at first contact.) It's pretty obvious that she must have swerved into his path.
Did he have time to swerve? Was he looking at the time clock and didn't see her move over until he was right on her? We don't really know if he had time to swerve.
Some racers, myself included, get so brain-fogged at the end of a race they can't think normally.
At the very least, the slower runners going out should yield to faster runners finishing the race. She should have given him a wider berth. It's common race courtesy.
I wouldn't judge this guy until I knew more details about what happened.
Definitely need to see video on this to be able to make any kind of informed judgment. From those 2 pics it could be that the male racer was totally in the wrong, could have gone around no problem. Or, could be the female racer moved into the male racer suddenly. With the road being as wide as it was (how wide was the actual finish line?) there seems to be no reason for them to be that close unless there was some kind of weird cross-over to the course or something. Unless of course one or the other made a sudden move to put the two racers next to each other.
Since they posted screen caps (at least one looks like it) why not post the whole video?
Looks like he ran a
2:58 in Philadelphia marathon in 2003
http://results.active.com/events/philadelphia-marathon--3/marathon/blair-cullen
1:21 half marathon in 2008
Precious Roy wrote:
There is 18' of roadway and two skinny little triathletes. .
My thoughts exactly.
You really can't tell what caused the problem from those pictures, but if he punched or shoved her there's no excuse for that. Putting up your arms in an unavoidable collision is one thing, but punching or shoving is way out of bounds.
If it's out and back shouldn't "out" and "back" runners be on the right so they don't collide?
My scientific and objective conclusion is that he looks like a huge tri-douche-bag that takes himself way too seriously based his abilities and she is probably annoying.
Er... wrote:
...to "win" second place in his age group, that is:
http://familyadventureguy.blogspot.com/2013/09/on-inspiration-and-hitting-woman-who-is.html?m=1
Here's the only plausible explanation: The runners heading out for the run portion are supposed to be on the right side of the roadway and the run finishers are coming in, closer to the crowd, on the left side of the roadway.
The mom is heading out on her run, when, upon seeing her family, children and friends, she excitedly cuts across the roadway to get and give some lovin’. Mr. Hardcore tri-hack-lete is fully committed to the finish, using up the last bits of his glycogen reserves when all of a sudden - something doesn’t seem quite right. There is a lady up ahead acting all crazy. He tries to ignore the situation and assumes that there is no way that she will move into oncoming traffic so he keeps charging. Of course, as per their natures, the female is completely oblivious that there is anyone else in the world except her family and friends at that moment and crosses over the double yellow line, bam, they make contact. The male needs to get to the finish and tries to keep from getting taken out and the female is immediately a victim and has been terribly wronged, ergo, the tears and comforting words from a medical professional.
So yes they are both to blame but society will not judge the mom’s actions negatively, because, well, we all know why and we wouldn’t want it any other way. So let’s do the right thing here and pile on the male tri-geek.
BTW – does anyone know the guy's overall? Because if it's not very fast we can have additional fun at his expense.
alanson wrote:
Can't really tell anything from the photos, except that there was hard physical contact. Whether or not the doctor was from Newtown is irrelevant - I don't think the Ironman guy used a gun.
^^this^^
alanson wrote:
Can't really tell anything from the photos, except that there was hard physical contact. Whether or not the doctor was from Newtown is irrelevant - I don't think the Ironman guy used a gun.
^^this^^