What can be done to STOP BANDITS?

oops. vexatious litigant=possible.

MachoTime wrote:

How can a race director stop the people who think that you should pay to run and they don't have to. Its a joke to them that you paid $90. They get your Gatorade and water,

police protection, medical aid, and in your way. I know that some people think that its fine to sneak into the Boston Marathon without paying. Any ideas on how to stop the thieves?

Snipers.

First, I truly don't care what you call bullshit on. Regardless of what other things I may do, or what you think, I don't lie. Want me to send you the invoices I send to the races ?? I'm a race timer, and I get paid to be there. Does it make a difference that I get paid ? No. I'm still there and I still see what goes on. I see what makes for a good race, and I see how races are mismanaged. I get paid PER PERSON, so you'd think I'd have a problem with bandits. But no, I understand that bandits are a part of race management. Instead of bitching about them, I try to encourage race directors to make their races worth the price of admission. You obviously missed the point.

I'll point out a last thing and then I'll get off your race: Capping your race is not solving your capacity issue, is it ?? Seems it causes additional problems. There's a better solution, and it's your job to figure out that solution. Unless you make changes, you're going to have the same problems again and again. Regardless of what you think about me.

Lastly, regarding me. All the things you whined about bandits doing, I never did any of them in the race I first described, did I ?? Yet you still want the blame me for all your problems. I never said it was ok to take water at an aid station, I never said it was ok to overcrowd the course, and I never said it was ok to skrew up the results. I simply gave you an example of a bandit that didn't cause a problem. You started what you call a "flame war", not me, and you're the one who continues it. You're the asshole in this case.

Hey kent

you seem to be a real wiseass, just because you personally didnt cause harm in this one race you ran doesnt make it right. There are hundreds of other bandits out there that dont bandit with the class that you do, cough cough...

Answer this for me...have you ever driven drunk? if so maybe that one time you made it home alive and you didnt harm anyone along the way...you got lucky...but now think of the thousands of people who are killed every year because of drinking and driving...just because you drank and drove once and didnt kill anyone doesnt make it ok!

You're and ass and you know what you can take that personally or to heart or however you want, cause you probably suck anyway if you're hopping into races and ur just a race timer.

Hey mile fan -- Driving drunk is ILLEGAL, mainly because people die. There's nothing illegal about being a bandit. People don't die from it. Comparing the two shows your ignorance and immaturity. (And FYI, I don't drink.)PS, Fvck off, I'm not an ass, and I don't suck, not that it matters. Again, you're showing your immaturity and ignorance, but I must give you credit for throwing in your stupidity this time.

mile fan wrote:

Hey kent

you seem to be a real wiseass, just because you personally didnt cause harm in this one race you ran doesnt make it right. There are hundreds of other bandits out there that dont bandit with the class that you do, cough cough...

Answer this for me...have you ever driven drunk? if so maybe that one time you made it home alive and you didnt harm anyone along the way...you got lucky...but now think of the thousands of people who are killed every year because of drinking and driving...just because you drank and drove once and didnt kill anyone doesnt make it ok!

You're and ass and you know what you can take that personally or to heart or however you want, cause you probably suck anyway if you're hopping into races and ur just a race timer.

so drunk driving is illegal and I would say that Banditing is against the rules!!!

ps. u suck

Kent,

You must get your ass kicked a lot.

Bandits suck. They're thieves.

mile fan-- see my post above. since you didn't add anything new, why should I ?? ...

thanks for your thought provoking insight ... not ...

Geeeez, threads about bandits are like bad pennies; they keep coming back to annoy us.

As I've said earlier, there aren't many ways to STOP BANDITS. However, don't read into that. In no way do I support or want to encourage anybody to run a race w/out paying.

Not only will there always be bandits, there'll always be those who defy convincing that what they're doing is wrong. I'm sure not going to try. Personally, I like the personal touch...talking one-on-one w/the non-paying sorts. It's pretty effective.

Scott -- I agree, a one-on-one is the best way to communicate. That's why I talked to the race director before the race I mentioned in my first post.

Banditing is not something I make a habit. But if I do, I don't think everyone should get their panties in a wad over it.

I don't like bandits. One time, I was watching a major marathon in Grand Forks, North Dakota at the 14.5-mile mark when I noticed that a guy taking extremely short, clipped strides wearing buttless riding chaps did not have a number. He was moving along at about 5:45 pace and letting fly with rebel yells every few seconds, which was clearly disconcerting to the runners around him, who kept yelling "KEEP THAT SHIT UP AND I'LL RIP YOUR JUNK RIGHT OFF ITS MOORINGS!" This guy was crazy, man. He didn't give two shits what anyone thought and he smelled like he hadn't wiped his ass in months. I took a desperate shot at him with a BB gun I'd pumped about 75 times but it just bounced off his sternum - PING! - without doing any good. I saw the dude take out an aid station worker with a frying pan as he rounded a corner. I think he was wearing a French-cut one-piece bathing suit but I can't say for sure as I'd eaten an sno-cone laced with mescaline and strychnine right before the start. My wife was flashing her tits at everyone who went by whether they had numbers or not. I heard that bandit later died of gas gangrene. Crazy, crazy shit. Just suck it up and buy an entry, folks.

Obviously you don't understand sarcasm. I assume you think I'm putting together a plan to nail bandit's scrotum's to a post also?

The core point is bandits are inconsiderate jerks who generally suffer no downside from their offense, only others do. Adding the concept of physical harm adds a potential downside and would be a lovely deterent. In place of physical harm we generally use a non active duty Marine (who's also a lawyer) to give them a good dressing down in the chute. By that time we've already determined if they really have a bib eliminating the misfire and humiliating someone in front of their wife, girlfriend, kids, etc, seems to be as effective as scrotum nailing in preventing reoccurance. It's a wonderful sight to see.

I feel it's a red herring. For every Denver or Malibu there are thousands that go off fine. That's like saying you shouldn't have late fees because you could get caught in traffic. It more likely those cancellations or postponements caused someone to think X Files was documentary than it is they changed registration habits. I will confess that those that DO think X Files was a documentary may be concerned.

#1. We do that for one of our races and are considering it for another. We may go to race day for club members only. I personally turned several people away when we hit our cap at our latest race. You folks that say RD's are rich and greedy have no clue. Personally I'm all for no race day, but realize it's impracticle for most small, short races like 5K because half the people do it. We added night before registration to several races to help alleviate it, but all we can do for now is try to discourage it.

#2. We do that in our ultra. With small quantities it's too expensive to have spares. All our club races have advertised t-shirt limits and we separate counted preregistered sizes, so race day folks get what's left. Doesn't stop people from bitching.

#3. Next to t-shirts optional that's the second dumbest idea I've heard. That's an open invitation to a lawsuit, just like saying "people with baby-joggers move to the back" when you've said they're not allowed. Next thing you know you'll have some moron (like yourself, since you're already talking about lawsuits) saying we said it was OK to be there if you move to the back.

Some of the races here in P'cola have a no-T-shirt option for about $5 less than the race entry fee...no big deal, since half of the shirt designs look like something out of the "4th-of-July-race-T-shirt-design-studio-from-Hell" reject stack.

As for bandits, I could care less about them if they only had the good sense to step off the course before the finish chute. I've had more race directors moan about bandits and their affect on scoring. Of course, that has as much to do with volunteers who stand around with their head up their back side.

Hey, Kent. Are you Kent Wells who works for ChampionChip in Houston, aka Run Wild Sports Timing? Just did a little googling. If you deny it I'll believe you, despite the ethical deficiencies elswhere in your life.

Our race has to have an entry limit because of the narrow parts of the course that I previously mentioned. If we didn't limit the field it would be even bigger and more overcrowded because the majority of runners are ethical and won't bandit a race.

I like the drunk driving analogy--fits very well.

Any luck on your asshole relevation, Kent?

I've already dispensed with the drunk driving analogy, but I'll give you a scenario and you decide what to do:

You're hunting/fishing/camping with a few of your buddies, and you're done for the day, so you all kick back and have a few beers. Everyone else is hammered, and you've only had 4-5, when one of your buddies slips, hits his head on a boulder, and is now knocked out, bleeding profusely. You're in the middle of nowhere, and unless he gets to a hospital he may die. He'll be dead before help can come get him. Do you illegally drive him to safety, or do you let him bleed to death ??

YOU chose to use the drunk driving example, I'm just just showing you that not everything is always black and white.

I don't know the specifics of your race, but there is a solution. Bitching at me on the internet isn't it.

No, you're still arguing, so obviously, the asshole still exists.

I did one race where there were cops along the course and people were told in an announcement at the start that if they were not registered that they would be arrested for trespassing.

Seemed to work.

i thought i seperated kent and possible back on page 3 of this thread. knock it off or i am calling your mothers.

You don't bandit to save a buddy's life, Kent. So are you the Kent I fished out of the internet?

People don't get run over by drunk drivers if you bandit a race. The drunk driving analogy doesn't apply, you just proved it yourself.

possible wrote:

You don't bandit to save a buddy's life, Kent. So are you the Kent I fished out of the internet?