2020 Quarantine Backyard Ultra Race! Official Race Discussion Thread

Is this a joke? The dude was on the treadmill fiddling with his ipad.

Can't it be argued he ran one freaking inch?

I just sent Wardian a DM on twitter telling him not to accept this hallow victory.

I can understand a rule that you have to be on the start line so you don't get extra sleep but he wasn't gaining any advantage by standing there. This is like DQing someone for stepping on the line on lap 3 of a 3000 steeple.

What a joke.

It's like boxing. You gotta answer the bell when it rings. I think if he had just taken a few steps he would have been ok.

I agree that's this is a sh!t way for it to end.

If I'm Radek, I keep going for another 10 hours and make Wardian and just ultra marathoning in general look weak as hell.

I will probably start another thread about this. Some will say it's the greatest thing ever that rules are enforced and others will say its' a joke.

rojo wrote:

Is this a joke? The dude was on the treadmill fiddling with his ipad.

Can't it be argued he ran one freaking inch

I just sent Wardian a DM on twitter telling him not to accept this hallow victory.

I can understand a rule that you have to be on the start line so you don't get extra sleep but he wasn't gaining any advantage by standing there. This is like DQing someone for stepping on the line on lap 3 of a 3000 steeple.

What a joke.

+1000000000000000

Too Bad wrote:

sp2 wrote:

Time out. Yeah, I understand the rules are the rules, but could somebody clarify this for me?

You've gotta do the 4 1/6 mi by the end of the hour, right? As fast or slow as you like, right?

Running, walking, whatever, right? Couldn't you stop in the middle for a while, if you chose?

How is that any different from starting a little late, as long you finish the lap by the end of the hour?

Such a huge part of this event is sleep deprivation and lack of recovery before starting again. One long break is a huge advantage over many short breaks. So yes, you can stop in the middle if you want, there's minimal benefit to that. You can't do a loop in 40 min, take a 40 min nap, and do another 40 min loop even though that's 2 laps completed in 2 hours.

So how about if you 'left the corral' right on the dot, ran (or walked) a hundred yards, then lay down on the course for 20 minutes, and then complete your 4.16 by the end of the hour?

*That* would be legit? But *this* isn't?

Wardian could just stop now and they'd tie...

ding a ling wrote:

It's like boxing. You gotta answer the bell when it rings. I think if he had just taken a few steps he would have been ok.

I agree that's this is a sh!t way for it to end.

To have it end this way, almost makes it feel like the entire event was a waste of time.

Shame.

Shouldn’t walking to the treadmill count?

I could understand if he was sitting on the could or sleeping, but he was basically standing at the start line by being on the treadmill. If you stand at the start line after the gun goes off that's your loss...not reason for dq.

Well I've sent DMs to Wardians' twitter and Personal Peak's twitter.

#FreRadek

How in the hell can we get in touch with Radek? I think we crowdource a couple thousand and tell him to keep going for at least 72 hours.

sp2 wrote:

Too Bad wrote:

Such a huge part of this event is sleep deprivation and lack of recovery before starting again. One long break is a huge advantage over many short breaks. So yes, you can stop in the middle if you want, there's minimal benefit to that. You can't do a loop in 40 min, take a 40 min nap, and do another 40 min loop even though that's 2 laps completed in 2 hours.

So how about if you 'left the corral' right on the dot, ran (or walked) a hundred yards, then lay down on the course for 20 minutes, and then complete your 4.16 by the end of the hour?

*That* would be legit? But *this* isn't?

As I understand it yes, that would be legit.

In order to prevent the solid 40 min nap scenario, you have to draw a line somewhere. Laz drew that line at: you have to start off the line on the hour. I believe in the real backyard event there's no aid available mid-loop, so that's another factor of why the mid-loop rest is less valuable. I don't know the specifics of the rules of the virtual format, since this is all new, and the treadmill adds some extra oddities. But on the live stream it seemed very obvious that Laz immediately saw it as a violation, there was no hemming and hawing about it, so I assume that rule was pretty clear at least in his mind.

semi local boy wrote:Just looking at this thread for first time. These guys are impressive.

Have either tried/completed Barkley?

Barkley has very little relevance here save for mental toughness and time on feet experience. Mike has shown up at Barkley, but I wouldn't even call him a participant, He was under-prepared and didn't train for it with myopic obsessiveness IMHO.

Rojo, I agree with you only about 0.00001% of the time. This is one of those times - what a stupid dq it’s a dq.

This boils down to Mike and Laz being friends and nothing else. Laz doesn't care about our boy Radek.

#freeradek

rd sucks wrote:

Shouldn’t walking to the treadmill count?

Excellent question. Radek should argue this!

I think Laz’s races are known for being draconian.

rojo wrote:Well I've sent DMs to Wardians' twitter and Personal Peak's twitter.

#FreRadek

How in the hell can we get in touch with Radek? I think we crowdource a couple thousand and tell him to keep going for at least 72 hours.

You and your crowd sourcing - what part of this is complicated? Does it suck? Yes, but anyone with a sense of history, integrity of sport, and understands the rules of competition should understand that the race is over.

The original Backyard (in Laz's backyard) Last Man Standing is not a record quality race, and 300 miles in 72 hours - though a lofty goal, is a far cry from a record. If you're that desperate to see such a performance, I can happily direct your attention to some world class multiday races when the world comes back to normal. Sport relies on rules, and integrity of those rules, to be interesting. Suddenly everyone sees a sporting event refereed by someone with integrity and they get aggravated - the world is not fair my friends, but it's the right call - the rules were abundantly clear beforehand, and always have been. That doesn't diminish the quality of Radek's performance. But this is a unique feature of this race.

rojo wrote:

If I'm Radek, I keep going for another 10 hours and make Wardian and just ultra marathoning in general look weak as hell.

I will probably start another thread about this. Some will say it's the greatest thing ever that rules are enforced and others will say its' a joke.

Yes it sucks, but the rules are clear.

Participants must be in their starting corral at the bell, and must leave immediately to start their loop.

Did he gain any advantage by standing there for two minutes, when clearly he could have run a few paces, and then rested those two minutes? No. But that's not the point. Rules are rules.

Fortunately Radek has more respect for rules than you do. He will not be happy when he learns what happens, but he will not thumb his nose at the RD as you suggest.

Rojo, you're complaining because you didn't know the rules.

But, it's like if you went to a track race and complained because someone started just a few inches in front of the start line, you saying, but it's just a few inches, let it slide.

But that's the rule of the event, and it's always that way, and it doesn't change just because you're unfamiliar with it.

Radek is running an 800 under 2:00 on PURE HATE