wow, what a mess.
I have found that it is quite easy to cheat at OW events. for out-and-back courses, all you have to do is duck under water as a faster group headed back, and most of the time, there isn't really anyone in a position to stop you. in cable swims, unless you're me, you're swimming right next to the rope anyways. in circular or weird-shaped courses, there are always opportunities to trim corners. In this case, sounds like folks did the duck-under/turn-around, went over the mats and no one was the wiser.
I have been to only two USMS National Championship OW events, and I don't or won't question the level of in-water support of those events. However, I think the situation of this year's 1-3 mile event shows that for these National Championship-named events, USMS, LMSCs, and/or the hosts should probably provide additional race support, in the event of weather emergencies.
It seems to me that there is currently no existing plan in place regarding handling lightning at USMS OW events (I can't find my rulebook to verify). I don't know that this needs to be "rule" per se, but perhaps the OW Committee can draft guidelines to be followed in that situation.
What should have happened in this case (and in every OW event where people quit mid-race) is that anyone who "got pulled" after the bolt of lightning should have been sent off-course to another area away from the finishing beach. This way, there is zero chance of them being confused for a legitimate finisher. I also think it would be prudent for a group to be present at turnarounds to attempt to record swimmer cap #s as they round a buoy for home. For some large races, I agree this is probably not realistic, but for a race like this with a couple hundred swimmers, it would have been easy to do.
wow, what a mess.
I have found that it is quite easy to cheat at OW events. for out-and-back courses, all you have to do is duck under water as a faster group headed back, and most of the time, there isn't really anyone in a position to stop you. in cable swims, unless you're me, you're swimming right next to the rope anyways. in circular or weird-shaped courses, there are always opportunities to trim corners. In this case, sounds like folks did the duck-under/turn-around, went over the mats and no one was the wiser.
I have been to only two USMS National Championship OW events, and I don't or won't question the level of in-water support of those events. However, I think the situation of this year's 1-3 mile event shows that for these National Championship-named events, USMS, LMSCs, and/or the hosts should probably provide additional race support, in the event of weather emergencies.
It seems to me that there is currently no existing plan in place regarding handling lightning at USMS OW events (I can't find my rulebook to verify). I don't know that this needs to be "rule" per se, but perhaps the OW Committee can draft guidelines to be followed in that situation.
What should have happened in this case (and in every OW event where people quit mid-race) is that anyone who "got pulled" after the bolt of lightning should have been sent off-course to another area away from the finishing beach. This way, there is zero chance of them being confused for a legitimate finisher. I also think it would be prudent for a group to be present at turnarounds to attempt to record swimmer cap #s as they round a buoy for home. For some large races, I agree this is probably not realistic, but for a race like this with a couple hundred swimmers, it would have been easy to do.
