Kipsang False Start---Should be a DQ

YOU'RE a false start.

I know you are, but what am I?!

Are you saying it wasn't a false start?

May be you don't know in the big Marathon every athlete has a transponder taking the exact time of his race, and normally the official time is higher than the real time of the athlete. For that reason, a "anticipated start" (of course of few hundreds) doesn't have any effect, because is not possible to control in perfect way a start of 200 athletes, pushing one another before the start, and this doesn't have any influence on the final time.

I give the OP 10/10 because RC responded too.

Yea at least 8 or 9/10 by any scale for getting coach canova to post. I'll also go with 10/10

Dear Renato,

You are not totally correct.

Yes, this is not uncommon in large road races and it is almost impossible to call back a false start. I have seen it done in Championship events were there only 50-100 runners.

But:

1. We need to be very careful that we not only protect the integrity of the time of a "new" record setter but that we also protect the performance of the athlete holding the record.

2. Passive transponders have a varying degree of accuracy and can be off as much as 0.5 seconds or higher. (Active transponders are much more accurate - within .05 as compared to FAT). Road race times are rounded up to the next highest seconds. Add this to the degree of accuracy with transponder timing and the official time could be off as much as 2 seconds.

Also, the IAAF does not recognize net times for records.

3. So the million dollar (Euro) question: what if Kipsang broke the WR by one second?

I have always told my Official timers to start their watches at the break of the first runner.

Regards,

David

Renato Canova wrote:

May be you don't know in the big Marathon every athlete has a transponder taking the exact time of his race, and normally the official time is higher than the real time of the athlete. For that reason, a "anticipated start" (of course of few hundreds) doesn't have any effect, because is not possible to control in perfect way a start of 200 athletes, pushing one another before the start, and this doesn't have any influence on the final time.

However Coach, you must also know that prize money and records are never awarded based upon chip transponder timing. That is a courtesy in place for amateurs. Elites race strictly off of gun times.

David Katz wrote:

I have always told my Official timers to start their watches at the break of the first runner.

Wouldn't you be way too late then? Distance runners have very slow reaction times.

a lot of road races have confusing starts. one year in nyc they shot the starting gun (cannon?) while the elites werent even paying attention. there is often a countdown and lots of people go on "one" or right after without waiting for a "go" or other signal of the start. in a race of tens of thousands and only about a dozen on the actual start line, organizers dont really care the announcement of the start is largely just ceremonial. add to the confusion that many of the athletes dont know the host language and could have trouble understanding the commands

He knew he needed a big lead to beat Kipchoge.

This was my thought too. Kipsang clearly was expexting to go on "one," not on the gunshot following the "one." Easy mistake.

Can we agree both Kipsang and Jordan Hasay Have made some bad race choices this year.

He broke the record by 15 seconds, so shut up everyone.

Did the meet officaials test him for drugs????

I decline the 10/10. I'm glad that RC chimed in because he's knowledgeable, not because I intended troll him out. Kipsang false started and then broke the WR. He'd clearly have broken the WR anyways, but does that exempt him from jumping the gun. It's a race and there are rules. I think it is important so say, "We are not enforcing the rules," in this case. I think there should be an explanation why. Maybe it could be said that not enforcing the rule would violate the spirit of the rule itself (i.e. Kipsang didn't get an unfair advantage.)

sunarmy wrote:

YOU'RE a false start.

Lol!

I had to laugh out loudly at this.

Nice attempt.

Rulrs are rules but come on!

We are treating the marathon like the 800m race. The only way a false start would be eliminated is by allowing the use of starting blocks. Until then, there will always be a false start.

What is the story behind your message board handle?

Goucher Needles wrote:

I decline the 10/10. I'm glad that RC chimed in because he's knowledgeable, not because I intended troll him out. Kipsang false started and then broke the WR. He'd clearly have broken the WR anyways, but does that exempt him from jumping the gun. It's a race and there are rules. I think it is important so say, "We are not enforcing the rules," in this case. I think there should be an explanation why. Maybe it could be said that not enforcing the rule would violate the spirit of the rule itself (i.e. Kipsang didn't get an unfair advantage.)