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?
Meet directors should really make the effort to change the order of events every year so the pain is spread around.
See: www.meetresults.com/.../faq.shtml
Q: I don't like the order of events. I never like the order of events!
A: We're sorry. We realize that we can't make everyone happy all of the time. Every year, the order of events is changed. We try to put different events on different days each year. We try to change which events are on the same day each year. We almost never have the same two events back-to-back. The order of events follows some basic rules to keep things evenly distributed:
* The 1000 free and 1650 free switch order each year
* The women's and men's 500 free, and the 400 IM switch days each year
* The 100 IM, 200 IM, and 400 IM are each on different days (one IM event each day)
* The 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free are each on different days
* For the stroke events (back, ***, fly), the 50, 100 and 200 of each stroke are on different days. Also, each day has a 50 of one stroke, a 100 of another stroke, and a 200 of the third stroke.
* The 50 free, 200 free relay, and 200 medley relay are on different days (so there are three different days to swim a 50 free)
* The 100 free, 400 free relay, and 400 medley relay are on different days (so there are three different days to swim a 100 free)
* The 200 free and 800 free relay are on different days (so there are two different days to swim a 200 free)
We hope that if you don't like the order of events this year, then hopefully you will like the order of events next year better.
Meet directors should really make the effort to change the order of events every year so the pain is spread around.
See: www.meetresults.com/.../faq.shtml
Q: I don't like the order of events. I never like the order of events!
A: We're sorry. We realize that we can't make everyone happy all of the time. Every year, the order of events is changed. We try to put different events on different days each year. We try to change which events are on the same day each year. We almost never have the same two events back-to-back. The order of events follows some basic rules to keep things evenly distributed:
* The 1000 free and 1650 free switch order each year
* The women's and men's 500 free, and the 400 IM switch days each year
* The 100 IM, 200 IM, and 400 IM are each on different days (one IM event each day)
* The 50 free, 100 free, and 200 free are each on different days
* For the stroke events (back, ***, fly), the 50, 100 and 200 of each stroke are on different days. Also, each day has a 50 of one stroke, a 100 of another stroke, and a 200 of the third stroke.
* The 50 free, 200 free relay, and 200 medley relay are on different days (so there are three different days to swim a 50 free)
* The 100 free, 400 free relay, and 400 medley relay are on different days (so there are three different days to swim a 100 free)
* The 200 free and 800 free relay are on different days (so there are two different days to swim a 200 free)
We hope that if you don't like the order of events this year, then hopefully you will like the order of events next year better.
