I was honestly on the fence about whether I wanted to swim the breaststroke 3 pack or do freestyle at my next meet in a couple of weeks. So I ended up signing up for 5 events today and mailing it in, knowing that I will scratch at least one, maybe 2, events depending on how I feel at the meet.
Are scratchers evil like sandbaggers? I know I had a lot of fun at the last meet with a couple of very close races with people right next to me, but honestly the only times empty lanes have bothered me have been when I've been in 1 and the only other entrant was in 8 or 6. Feels like a weird time trial when that happens. But just an empty lane or 2, no biggie. Does it bug the race directors? Why do I feel vaguely guilty about it? Should I just kick an extra 200 as penance tomorrow (I hate kicking) and forget all about it? Or is it not even something to worry about?
I hope scratching doesn't bother people as I do it often.Especially if I have 2 meets fairly close together I may be unsure what combination of events I want to swim in what order,so I'll enter as many as possible and make the final decision closer to the meet,or even race day.
How can you guys not know about this - "Scratchers vs. Sandbaggers" is a real event! Every year on the first of April, they duke it out in SCY. Heat 1 is always very fast, and then heat 2 is empty. So the scratchers always lose the beer gridge, but then they don't show up at the post-meet festivities.
Scratching is AOK.
Sandbagging is wrong. Swim close to your seed time. If you need to rest or warm up that's fine. To lie about your seed time to set records is lame.
The Sandbag Police.
What's the difference between a scratch and a no-show? I thought it was the same.
The penalty, at least in Masters, is the same--you don't get to swim the event. When you scratch, you actually inform the meet director or referee that you aren't going to swim and that you should be removed from the event.
It's nice to inform the referee or meet director if you're going to scratch an event. If they know you're not going to swim a particular event, they can better plan combining heats and such.
Patrick King
I think it depends on who you ask. Scratchers don't bother me. If somebody is tired from an event or wants to swim a PR in another event, I can certainly understand why that person would scratch. I also understand the logic of putting down NT if you want to swim an event in the earlier heats and get more rest before another event.
What I don't understand is why people put down a time 2 or 3 seconds slower in a 50 if they have swam it in the past year. What the strategy behind that tactic is escapes me. I can't figure out if those that do it are just really humble or are not confident in their ability to go their recent time.
Scratching is much better than sandbagging. I'm actually a professional 200 *** scratcher. That's always a race that sounds much better when it's a month off than when it's an hour off.
As a former meet director just remember to scratch before they close the event and post heat sheets. Scratching is great (the meet still gets its money). No-showing isn't cool.
I'm not a fan of sandbaggers although I've had to do it once. With the 1500 and 1650 usually happening on a Friday I've sandbag my time in order to get to work by noon and work a 1/2 day. Other than that I don't think sandbaggers are a good thing.
As for scratching an event, at smaller meets you can let the organizers know so they can reseed the event. Otherwise some meets drag on and on when people scratch and you end up with heats with only 3 or 4 swimmers left swimming.
All in all it shouldn't really matter if someone scratches or sandbags.
