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'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.
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.
