So the Quarantine Backyard Ultra turned into a mano v mano slugfest between Radek Brunner of the Czech Republic and Mike Wardian of the USA. They got to lap 63 (that means 63 hours of running 4.167 miles every hour - 262.521 miles). Now one of the rules is you have to start on the hour every hour. The rationale for that is simple - they don't want people banking sleep.
The whole point of the Backyard ultra is to equalize faster and slower runners. They don't want someone running 4.167 miles in 30 minutes and then sleep for an hour and run 4.167 miles in another 30 minutes.
Anyway, at the start of the 63rd lap, Brunner got on his treadmill and was fiddling with his ipad. He didn't start running until 1 minute and 45 seconds had passed and the race organizers DQd him instantly. I couldn't believe it. Couldn't one argue that he walked one inch? But Laz - who is the organizer of the most famous backyard ultra in the world and invented the genre- was on the stream and immediately called for a DQ around the one minute mark.
The race commentator did try to warn Rodek after 40 seconds but it was clear he couldn't hear anything.
After the lap was over, and by the way Wardian crushed it in 31 minutes and change - his fastest of the whole thing, Wardian got on the live stream and was confused to see his competitor still running (Wardian's family told him if he finished the loop he was he was the winner). It bothered me that the race commentators didn't tell Wardian 100% what fully had happened. They told him his competitor didn't start the loop on time but they didnt' tell him that he was protesting the decision (Brunner doesn't speak English very well but I believe a translator called him in the middle of his loop and he could be seen wildly protesting). Wardian repeatedly asked why Brunner was still running.
So what does everyone think? It really cool that rules are enforced no matter the consequences ? Or was this a grave injustice?
For me, this seems weak. The intent of the rule seems to be forgotten. This reminds me of DQing someone in the middle of a steeplechase for stepping on the line on lap 3 of a 7.5 lap race as was the case with Kemboi in 2016.. It's not like Brunner was sleeping at the start. He was there working on his ipad.
If he had taken one step, which he clearly would have done if he had been in a normal Backyard Ultra, it would have been fine. But since he was quarantined at home and on a treadmill, he's out. Plus it appears that there was a technical snafu involved. After the event was over Brunner wrote on the race's facebook page, ""My tablet was delayed and I wait for the start. Btw. If I looked for strava.com for confirmation Mike’s run. He not start evevy loop directly in start hour. It is ok???"
So you've got a technological glitch, the computer on mute and a language barrier. To me, he should have been given a pass.
I'll tell you what though. It did make for great tv as one of the race commentators broke down in tears in announcing the DQ.
https://twitter.com/letsrundotcom/status/1247393665900785664
The race feed then conveniently went out before the Brunner was allowed to try to explain himself on camera. If he had, it would have been interesting to see what happened as Wardian said repeatedly he was willing to run more.
PS. If you haven't seen what happened go to the 4:54:00 mark here. You'll see Brunner get on the treadmill, drink a little start to fiddle with something and then get DQd. You can keep watching to see the rest unfold as well. Nothing really happens after they DQ him to when Wardian finishes 31 minutes into the hour.
https://www.facebook.com/personalpeakendurance/videos/204153144371066/?t=12