51–60 of 203 posts
Here is the race the article references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lqa36sQhmg BTW it's career suicide for a rabbit to keep running and try to win the race
https://www.runnersworld.com/news/a30152339/pacer-wins-abu-d...
Not sure why it's career suicide. Usually pacers can't hold that pace for the full distance but if they can, more power to them.
In an amateur context, I've paced about a half dozen races, half marathon and marathon distance. I've also served as a pacer for runners in the second half of a 100 mile race a couple times. The purpose of a pacer for amateur runners is to set a consistent pace and provide encouragement to runners who may be running their first race at that distance. Or maybe someone trying to set a new PR. Since most courses are not…
It does seem kind of cheap to rely on a pacer, I can see how purists lament it as "not real racing". It eliminates an entire dimension from the competition: managing oneself and being aware / humble enough to not push unsustainably hard at the start only to run out of juice later on. Using a pacer essentially reduces the race to an artless treadmill grind. As an observer, the paced portion of the race is stupidly bor…
I don't think it's so black and white. Sometimes, races without pacers can have exceptionally slow splits (which-- admittedly, leads to a very exciting and tactical conclusion on occasion). These "slow" bouts are quite common in heats in the Olympics, for example. Pacers in the Diamond League, for example, maintain an exceptional pace that regularly leads to new World Records for participants, because the entire race…
The classic example here is the 2016 Olympic 1500m final (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grf_62s_95w). Centrowitz should not have won that on paper. It ironically seems to have revolutionized the event, in a sense - championships have gotten really fast since.
Here is the race the article references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Lqa36sQhmg BTW it's career suicide for a rabbit to keep running and try to win the race
Why?
Because they’re not actually running the race; they’re staff for the event paid to run part of it at a set pace.
“Finishing”, especially in a top spot, would take the spotlight away from the actual winning participants.
It would be inappropriate for non-competing event staff to take away the spotlight from the competitors. It would be equally bad if one of the motorcycle cameramen did anything but what they were paid to do, and tried to get personal attention. “Rabbits” who run part of the race are not finishing, just like the motorcycle cameramen are not finishing (despite the fact that both might be there at the end).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Olympics doesn't allow professionals anyway, so the comparison becomes weird.
The Olympics has allowed professional athletes since 1986.
https://www.rookieroad.com/boxing/can-pro-boxers-compete-in-...
It does seem kind of cheap to rely on a pacer, I can see how purists lament it as "not real racing". It eliminates an entire dimension from the competition: managing oneself and being aware / humble enough to not push unsustainably hard at the start only to run out of juice later on. Using a pacer essentially reduces the race to an artless treadmill grind. As an observer, the paced portion of the race is stupidly bor…
part of it comes with the territory, I mean a marathon is pretty boring all the way through, and only now and then do we get an exciting finish.
but on this topic, i'm with you all in favor of questioning the sportsmanship and "is it really racing?" aspect, but the paced portion of the race is generally being run at a faster pace than it would be if the the runners were self-pacing (I think), where the other alternative is running slower, or that self pacers would screw up and run too fast at the beginning and then finish more poorly; i.e. while being more pure, it's not clear the race would be more fun to watch (racers holding themselves back for fear of burning out?) or set as many records.
the part I think I object to is that a pacer's pace might be "tuned" for a particular racer to the detriment of others.
In an amateur context, I've paced about a half dozen races, half marathon and marathon distance. I've also served as a pacer for runners in the second half of a 100 mile race a couple times. The purpose of a pacer for amateur runners is to set a consistent pace and provide encouragement to runners who may be running their first race at that distance. Or maybe someone trying to set a new PR. Since most courses are not…
It is worth noting that for mid-d races it's not just about countering wind, but also air resistance. There is a significant performance impact even if it's not windy. See for instance https://www.runnersworld.com/training/a20823445/does-draftin...: "Pugh runs some calculations to determine that at 4:30 mile pace, drafting one meter behind another runner on a still day saves about 80% of the energy you'd otherwise spend fighting air resistance. That corresponds to about 1 second per 400 meters at that pace, and more on windy days." (Highly recommend Hutchinson's other work on the running and sports science, btw.)
(I am sure you know this. I'm mentioning it for others, because it's applicable to Sowinski's work, far more so than your own pacing for the longer races.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why?
(An inference based on context. I don’t know anything about this activity.) Because they’re not actually running the race; they’re staff for the event paid to run part of it at a set pace. “Finishing”, especially in a top spot, would take the spotlight away from the actual winning participants. It would be inappropriate for non-competing event staff to take away the spotlight from the competitors. It would be equally…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think it's so black and white. Sometimes, races without pacers can have exceptionally slow splits (which-- admittedly, leads to a very exciting and tactical conclusion on occasion). These "slow" bouts are quite common in heats in the Olympics, for example. Pacers in the Diamond League, for example, maintain an exceptional pace that regularly leads to new World Records for participants, because the entire race…
> Sometimes, races without pacers can have exceptionally slow splits (which-- admittedly, leads to a very exciting and tactical conclusion on occasion). The classic example here is the 2016 Olympic 1500m final ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grf_62s_95w ). Centrowitz should not have won that on paper. It ironically seems to have revolutionized the event, in a sense - championships have gotten really fast since.
In an amateur context, I've paced about a half dozen races, half marathon and marathon distance. I've also served as a pacer for runners in the second half of a 100 mile race a couple times. The purpose of a pacer for amateur runners is to set a consistent pace and provide encouragement to runners who may be running their first race at that distance. Or maybe someone trying to set a new PR. Since most courses are not…