SW 10.15 No pace-making shall be permitted, nor may any device be used or plan adopted which has that effect.
The topic of having someone give you feedback on your pacing during a race came up in the 1500 Test Set thread. My impression is that pace-making is very common and the rule against it largely unenforceable, but that the rule is there and quite clear. Swimmers may not use devices which help them pace their race and they may not adopt a plan that allows someone on deck or in another lane to help them pace their race.
In the other thread an interpretation was posted, my interpretation of the interpretation was that it dealt specifically with using devices, but that it didn't say pace-making was ok if it didn't involve a device (watch or radio).
Outside of using a device, has anyone ever been DQed for pace-making? If having someone else give you pacing feedback is ok, what is wrong with using a device? Should the whole rule be thrown out?
I am not in any way intending to criticize anyone who has had pacing help, I would love it if it turned out that this was legal, I mean who really wants to swim 60 lengths at what one thought was goal pace only to find out that one has swum a stinky time?
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Former Member
Lindsay,
this is a VERY interesting question. I like distance freestyle races and mostly do open turns. At most pools, I can easily see the lane clock which stops when I touch the lane pad. I ALWAYS use this to decide whether or not to give it more energy or less for the next 100. Is there going to be someone looking at me to decide that I'm unfairly using the clock while my competitors who are doing flip turns don't know how they are doing? Maybe we'll all have to use virtual reality headgear to make sure we don't peek at the clock.
I used to count laps for a top freestyler and he had a system for pacing. He knew the pace/100 he wanted and, when I got a signal from the person timing his race, I would put the counter board in the middle if he was on pace or to one side or the other if he was either ahead or behind pace.
This is a pretty silly rule, in my opinion. And, as you point out, it is hard to enforce.
-- mel
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Former Member
Lindsay,
this is a VERY interesting question. I like distance freestyle races and mostly do open turns. At most pools, I can easily see the lane clock which stops when I touch the lane pad. I ALWAYS use this to decide whether or not to give it more energy or less for the next 100. Is there going to be someone looking at me to decide that I'm unfairly using the clock while my competitors who are doing flip turns don't know how they are doing? Maybe we'll all have to use virtual reality headgear to make sure we don't peek at the clock.
I used to count laps for a top freestyler and he had a system for pacing. He knew the pace/100 he wanted and, when I got a signal from the person timing his race, I would put the counter board in the middle if he was on pace or to one side or the other if he was either ahead or behind pace.
This is a pretty silly rule, in my opinion. And, as you point out, it is hard to enforce.
-- mel
