In midst of global pandemic, NCAA may not allow Christian Noble's 13:37 DII record as it was aided by pacing lights

Finally might make track fun to watch when everyone runs flat out from start to finish instead of yawn and kick

holterskolter2 wrote:

Anarcho-Bidenist wrote:

Jonathan Gault writes in the article: "Ahead of the meet, Milner asked his chief official to check the NCAA and USATF rulebooks to ensure the Light Speed system was okay. They couldn’t find anything that suggested the lights were illegal."

Why did Gault write this?

I dont know why Gault wrote what he wrote. My guess is it's because he's only marginally closer to a journalist than the Brojos.

Here is the relevant section in the ncaa rule book, it took me about 30 seconds to find using Google:

 "Pacing in races by persons not participating in the same race, by lapped competitors or those about to be lapped, by competitors of the opposite gender in the same race, or pacesetting by any kind of technical device that benefits the field."

I assume the athletes can run with a watch (technical device) and I assume there is visible timing clocks (technical device), how would an independently set light at for record pace for a race regardless of how fast a person can run vs working out you need to run say 52 second laps world out any difference to pacing is beyond me, but I’m not a US track athlete so don’t really understand their mindset when it’s been sit (yawn) and kick rather than time trial.

I can image the weaker runners won’t like the time trialing races but finally back to the spirit of racing.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

NCAA rules wrote:

The title of this thread is misleading because midst a global pandemic he still had a human pacer who also benefited from the lights. He didn't use the the lights instead of a human pacer for covid safety reasons. Also this rule is clear as day in the book and lights are a huge advantage, Every k he ran was the same.

It's not an advantage at all. It's not going help someone to outrun their talent and fitness level. Elite runners are quite capable of maintaining an even pace without assistance. If a 5:00 miler set the lights for 4:50, he wouldn't be capable of keeping up and would instead run something like 5:10.

Really? No advantage? Then why use them? Pacing is a huge part of racing.

You send like Canova with doping.

Westie wrote:

I'm tired of being a running fan. Between the b.s. involving the cheater shoes, debates over lights, etc....it all just makes me want to tune out. Who cares. The guy ran the time on his own power, and unlike the cheater shoes the lights didn't give him a mechanical advantage. He ran it with his own to legs. Let it stand.

Please do check out. Less old man whining is needed.

Good points. And coaches can have their 6 coaches around the track yelling splits or other agreed upon cues.

Raphael Warnock wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It's not an advantage at all. It's not going help someone to outrun their talent and fitness level. Elite runners are quite capable of maintaining an even pace without assistance. If a 5:00 miler set the lights for 4:50, he wouldn't be capable of keeping up and would instead run something like 5:10.

Really? No advantage? Then why use them? Pacing is a huge part of racing.

You send like Canova with doping.

Yeah, pacing is a huge part of running a WR, and it's been done effectively for years without pacing lights. I posted split times for Komen's 1997 WR and they were near perfection. How much faster do you think he would have run if pacing lights had been used?

Baseball players have been using eye black for years, even during night games. It must help outfielders catch flyballs or, according to your logic, it wouldn't be done

Raphael Warnock wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It's not an advantage at all. It's not going help someone to outrun their talent and fitness level. Elite runners are quite capable of maintaining an even pace without assistance. If a 5:00 miler set the lights for 4:50, he wouldn't be capable of keeping up and would instead run something like 5:10.

Really? No advantage? Then why use them? Pacing is a huge part of racing.

You send like Canova with doping.

The benefit of the lights is as a visual aid for the fans. I instead of having to do the mental math of calculating pace, using splits, the runner and the WR pace are right there in front of them.

Ya it needs to stand because going forward perhaps all races will have pacing lights so what will they do allow no new records? Lol

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Raphael Warnock wrote:

Really? No advantage? Then why use them? Pacing is a huge part of racing.

You send like Canova with doping.

The benefit of the lights is as a visual aid for the fans. I instead of having to do the mental math of calculating pace, using splits, the runner and the WR pace are right there in front of them.

wrong

Raphael Warnock wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

The benefit of the lights is as a visual aid for the fans. I instead of having to do the mental math of calculating pace, using splits, the runner and the WR pace are right there in front of them.

wrong

Your response is compelling. Here's mine: right.

Have you ever run a race on a track?

If it holds up under IAAF standards to ratify a record I wouldn’t understand why NCAA D2 should have even more difficult standards to meet.

It would be like the IAAF allowing a wind of 2.0 m/s but D2 saying wind has to be below 1.0 m/s.

Sounds like they just have to catch up with the times and update the rule book.

He ran the time. His legs and heart were up to it. It's now just a question of getting into a top pro or college 5000m and seeing him run under 13:30. The NCAA and USATF should take a stand against pacing lights because they make a joke of the history of the event. Pacing is one of those very significant factors in the quality of performances. I hate to see this great DII record not be counted but he's more than good enough to destroy it with comp.

rojo wrote:

dc runner 11 wrote:

What does the global pandemic have to do with it?

A runner will obviously be less likely to get Covid-19 if they are running behing a light than a heavy breathing pacer

Well, obviously. But that’s beside the point. If covid were not an issue today, the issue would still remain - i.e. are pacing lights permissible for record purposes. Throwing in an irrelevant covid or other woke truism to buttress a point is pretty lame.