How Did Nate Brannen Not Know He Had The Canadian Standard?

I am happy to see SI and other TnF posters on this message board. The said track message board of the north prevents real discussion of issues by the fact anonymity is next to impossible. Asterix's is a huge leah pells supporter, he went rabid when she was outed for skipping world xc training camp. he knows the other canadians boards, which makes him most likely M.B. from the west.

Sully's accomplishments have been phenomenal. of the teams he did make there were only a couple that he even remotely qualify as a 'passenger athlete'. One must remember that worlds and ogames are tactical in the heats. With that said, he was not competitive in these sit in kick races as his leg speed has dwindled over the years although he did make standard in the early season time trials. Should AC have enacted the clause that states they get final say of who is on or off the team? maybe, but they didn't so Sully clearly didn't burn AC.

Appealing to have an athlete run in a race in which he has no chance to make the final on the weak limb of 'rising star' in a different event is burning AC. Especially when the athlete competes at a national championships running 1/2 the distance in longer than he would have to split in order to make the final. It wastes AC resources, it costs money to send another athlete, and it discredits the governing body of the sport. Oh and by the way, how much experience is gained as a rising star when you are 1 lap behind in a track race for your 'future' Olympic race on the roads.

on a different topic and meant only as a question not an attack. Is collecting carding money, when you are sponsored, or financially well off and not in need of carding money a violation of the carding rules. At one time a qualification for taking carding was that you didn't have income of over X dollars. does this still hold true, as i know it was violated in the past by many athletes.

I am assuming you are referring to Simon Bairu in your 3rd paragraph.

So, sending a National Champion, with a standard of 27:50 in the 10000 would burn AC? I don't agree with that.

And I do not agree with having the 5000 and the 10000 on the same weekend. If the 10000 Championships had been run on a nice evening on the West Coast in early June, that would greatly increase the chances of having Simon and more good athletes attend, as well as the chances of running fast. And as far as Simon's future event (perhaps the marathon, as you suggest), it won't hurt him to be trying to get his 10K time down under the Canadian record, as he starts to build up for 2012 in whatever event.

I don't think there was ever a "means" test applied to Canadian carding - not that I was aware of.

And I agree with you about Sully. I just don't like the top 12 as a cutoff(by implication) for athletes worth sending. Canadians should be proud of anyone who cracks the top 20, and also proud of any tried, and didn't quite make that high standard. Of course, we need to make sure we have extra support for those few who will challenge to place highly in the Finals.

revirdeeps wrote:

Asterix's is a huge leah pells supporter, he went rabid when she was outed for skipping world xc training camp. he knows the other canadians boards, which makes him most likely M.B. from the west.

You wanna run that by me again?

The 3rd paragraph could also be about Gillis from last year, could it not??

About the carding situation, I think it states somewhere that you shouldn't be accepting carding if you gross more then $70,000 CAD. But, with all the travel to meets etc. its probably not hard to justify that you are grossing less than that.

revirdeeps wrote: ...which makes him most likely M.B. from the west.

Not possible. M.B. can barely spell his own name, let alone assemble long posts with correct punctuation and complete sentences.

Definitely not the MB from out West, that I am thinking of. And lurker could be correct, in that the earlier reference might have been to Gillis, not Bairu.

I haven't done the exact word-by-word analysis, but it would be interesting if the case fit both...

It was Gillis and, actually, that whole situation was more of a reflection on his support group than anything else. They were all over getting him on the team and made a great argument that was a lot of work to put together. You can disagree with it if you like but you still have to give them kuddoes. I suspect that if Nate were part of Speed River, there would have been a lot more proactivity much earlier than whenever that Flotrack interview took place. And that is meant with no disrespect to whomever would be doing/is that for Nate-it is more of a comment on Speed River.

Asterix look back at your posts and try to tell me you're normal. I remember last year you went crazy rabid on me when I mentioned on letsrun that I'm Canadian and my womens running group was getting together to watch Kara and Shalane on television in the Olympic races. So I believe revirdeeps about you going rabid and everyone that's trying to tell you to calm down.

H2O girl wrote:

Asterix look back at your posts and try to tell me you're normal. I remember last year you went crazy rabid on me when I mentioned on letsrun that I'm Canadian and my womens running group was getting together to watch Kara and Shalane on television in the Olympic races. So I believe revirdeeps about you going rabid and everyone that's trying to tell you to calm down.

Huh? What has this got to do with anything?

H2O girl wrote:

I remember last year you went crazy rabid on me when I mentioned on letsrun that I'm Canadian and my womens running group was getting together to watch Kara and Shalane on television in the Olympic races.

That makes one of you who remembers. Care to provide a specific post?

I have no freakin' clue what you (or the backwards speedriver) are talking about. Feel free to prove otherwise.

Asterix, no, I won't "prove" otherwise. The proof is in your aggressive and defensive style, the way you interact with people even on a message board. How about you tell me if I'm the first person or even the second person in your life to point this out to you, then I'll never say anything else otherwise.

So my aggressive and defensive style means I 'went rabid' on you on some thread which as far as I can tell, I'd have no interest in and have no recollection of having posted in?

Ok, that makes a lot of sense. I can see why you wouldn't want to take me up on the offer to actually cite one of these supposed rabid posts.

I really have no idea what your beef in this thread is, apart from making senseless and groundless allegations about some mythical posts in an unrelated thread.

So because three or more people have stated what they believe to be a 'fact', this makes it absolutely true? Any chance this also applies to whether Alan Webb sucks or Rupp is of a different sexual persuasion?

Yes, I agree with that, SI...Maybe that's just part of the game, making sure you have a good Canadian "nest"

of support....And a good part of the game, imho...

OMG, we agree on something....must be climate change or something...:)

Asterix, are you old enough to have seen the old game on TV, called "What's my Line?" Quite entertaining, actually, as they would blindfold the contestants, and bring out some (usually) Celebrity guest, and they had X number of questions to identify the person.

You are reminding me of that game....

tecumseh wrote:

Asterix, are you old enough to have seen the old game on TV, called "What's my Line?" Quite entertaining, actually, as they would blindfold the contestants, and bring out some (usually) Celebrity guest, and they had X number of questions to identify the person.

Given we're Canadians talking about a Canadian issue, shouldn't you have referenced Front Page Challenge?

Not sure if I'm the mystery guest or the 'blind' panelists.

Good one ! You are the "mystery guest"...:)

How many questions do I have?

C'mon Asterix....give us a clue - inquiring minds want to know, :)

Asterix, if you don't work for Sport Canada or AC, why do you spend so much time to defend them? It doesn't seem to make sense to me. If you are a coach or athlete, wouldn't it make more sense for you challenge these organizations to get inclusions for more athletes.

I get it that there is finite funding and it takes a lot of money to send people to championships on the other side of the world but government wastes money in so many areas (gun registry etc....) that with enough pressure from the people involved in the sport maybe some money could be redirected to the athletes.

I just don't understand your position on this. Every time there is thread on this topic you jump right in as fast as possible to defend AC.

RunningPhreak wrote:

Asterix, if you don't work for Sport Canada or AC, why do you spend so much time to defend them? It doesn't seem to make sense to me. If you are a coach or athlete, wouldn't it make more sense for you challenge these organizations to get inclusions for more athletes.

Try reading through this thread again. You'll note a few things:

- I don't argue that AC or Sport Canada are justified in what they do, but rather I try to explain why they made the decisions they have since many seem to think the sport exists in a vacuum and it should be as obvious to anyone else as it is to them what needs to be done (spend as much money as possible and send as many people as possible);

- many people seem to think AC itself is exclusively responsible for eschewing the IAAF standards and going with tougher criteria. If they'd done a little research or tried to look at the bigger picture, they would realize that many things are beyond AC's control.

If you are a coach (even a former coach) or athlete who genuinely cares about the sport, then wouldn't it make sense to get the facts before rushing to your computer to slam people or an organization that may not be able to do anything about your complaint? Some people here are far too eager to see their words on the internet and willing to post their every thought at the drop of a hat, even if it is only half a thought.

What do you (and others) really expect to happen by repeatedly demanding that AC scrap their criteria and send anyone and everyone who has achieved minimum IAAF B standards?

Here is some further information that might be illuminating:

A list of all the organizations that get a piece of Sport Canada's money ($111 million for 2007/2008):

A sampling of 2009 selection criteria for other sports dependent on that Sport Canada funding:

"The intent of the minimum performance criteria and the selection criteria is to only send athletes to World Championships who are capable of contributing towards a

top-16 finish."

"The objective of National Teams is to win Gold medals at 2012 Olympic Games.

Funding and resources provided by Sport Canada, Own the Podium and the Canadian Olympic Committee for RCA’s High Performance Program will be directed towards the National Team Objective."

"Objectives: Athletes will be selected:

(1) With the best chance to win Medals at the World Championships in 2009, based on Criteria "A"; and,

(2) To provide experience for athletes identified, in the sole discretion of the CAST Alpine Staff, with the best potential as future medal winners in World Championship and Olympic competition."

"Athletes who are nominated to the 2009 Senior World Championship Team will be training to win. The performance they demonstrate in training and competition should reflect their progression toward podium results at the Olympic Games."

"top 16"..."gold medals"..."win medals"..."podium results"

Gee, that language looks awfully familiar, might it be because it is coming from someone other than Athletics Canada? Can you see now why those who continually try and blame AC for high performance selection criteria are wasting energy that could be directed at a more appropriate target? Or is it that those complainers feel a need to always have something to complain about with respect to AC and therefore aren't interested in knowing all the facts before choosing to go online?

Believe it or not, I actually wouldn't mind seeing bigger teams going, but, as I stated before, I've read enough to understand why things are the way they are. It is possible to have that understanding without necessarily agreeing with it. I just have a lower tolerance for those who refuse to read and understand information that is readily available to them, should they just spend a smidgen of effort.

As with many of your posts, Asterix, you seem to need to cast a lot of personal aspersions, in order to back up the facts/opinions that you present. Why is that?

You cannot make the assumption that, just because someone disagrees with your perspective, they are incorrect, or they haven't taken the time to read or put any effort into understanding. That is a bogus way of trying to enforce your opinion on others. Just state your case, and allow others to do the same, and listen to various perspectives....This is not a my way or the highway situation, at least in my opinion...

Many understand there is an overwhelming ethic currently in Canadian sport under the title of "Own the Podium, and of course it is not limited to Athletics Canada, and of course Athletics Canada has to find a way to play that game, within the System. Why you feel a need to keep stating it, as though the rest of us are morons and don't get it, is beyond me...

Some of us even understand that the "Own the Podium" thing might actually work, in those sports where Canadians have some natural advantages (think winter/snow/ice), and/or most of the rest of the World don't or can't play... And I am sure that you know that track & field/athletics is not one of those sports. In fact, in any of the sports that most of the World takes part in, Canada is not about to "Own the Podium", and we all know that. It's not like our distance runners are about to dominate the World rankings or results, so we need to decide how to support our best, and give them the best possible chance of achieving their best results. And we need to include the athletes of the future by giving them some/more hope that they can represent Canada someday.

So some of us, who actually really do care about our sport, think it is important to put all the upwards pressure on Athletics Canada that we can muster, in order to try and counter-balance the downwards pressure from above to "Own the Podium". What's wrong with that?