Summary
We recently had brought to our attention that the first two finishers at the Long Tour of Bradwell failed to find one of the controls. According to the race rules they should have been disqualified, although the race organisers always have the discretion to bend rules if they want. Normally of course we go along with the published results, and use those to calculate Runfurther points. In this case the missed control was accidentally overlooked at the time, so they were awarded first and second place in the race. The race organiser has admitted this was a mistake, and the two runners have admitted they didn’t visit the control. The problem this gives us is that it significantly disadvantaged one of the top two men in this year’s Runfurther competition. If those two runners had been disqualified, Ken Sutor would have been well ahead of Kevin Hoult. With them still in the results, Kevin is slightly ahead. None of us thinks this is really fair on Ken (that includes Kevin).
Discussions between the Race Organiser (Stephen Hughes), Ken, Kevin and Runfurther Executive Committee members have led to an agreement to give those two runners a time penalty for failing to spend the time finding the control, but that it will apply only to the calculation of Runfurther points. This means that a number of male runners now have more Runfurther points for their LToB run than they were originally awarded: this is reflected in the latest version of the online Leaderboard.
This has set up a head to head between Ken and Kevin at the White Rose 30 – as long as they’re near the front of the race, whoever beats the other wins the Championship.
We have also looked at the other runners who failed to find controls, and we think there are only two we need to talk to as they may not have found controls. If we are deducting time for two runners we need to apply the same rules fairly, at least to everyone who may be in line for a Runfurther prize. Some have already been explained, some won’t affect Runfurther prizes, and in some cases the runner must have gone past the missed control to get to the next one. We will talk to the two runners concerned and agree with them how to resolve this.
The detail
Here are the gory details we’ve agreed on:
In summary, the issues are:
1. The first two runners to finish the Long Tour (Lee Kemp and Duncan Coombs) failed to find CP14. Stephen has said that means they should have been disqualified, but this wasn’t picked up at the time, and they were awarded 1st and 2nd places in the race. Lee and Duncan are not involved in the Runfurther Championship.
2. Lee and Duncan didn’t deliberately take a short cut, and in fact did come quite close to the control. This is confirmed by a Strava log.
3. The 3rd placed runner (Ken Sutor) finished more than 20 minutes behind Lee. The effect of this on Runfurther points was significant, as points for all the male runners are derived from the time of the first male finisher. Had the first two runners been disqualified, all the male Runfurther runners in the race would have gained additional points towards the Championship.
4. The runner most disadvantaged was in fact Ken Sutor himself. After 10 races he is currently positioned second male runner, just behind Kevin Hoult. If Lee and Duncan had been disqualified in the LToB then Ken would be well ahead of Kevin.
5. Given the mixup on the day, and the time delay, the LToB organisers are reluctant to change the official results, but keen to see a fairer result for the Runfurther runners if we can achieve it.
6. There were 10 other runners apart from Lee and Duncan who failed to record a time at at least one control but appear in the results as finishers. There were many more with no time recorded at CP1, due to a problem outside the control of the runners.
The way forward that has been agreed is as follows:
1. The official race results will stay as they are.
2. The LToB organisers will take steps to resolve any similar issues on the day from 2018, so they are reflected in the official results properly.
3. For the purposes of calculating Runfurther points, Lee and Duncan will be given a time penalty of 7 minutes 9 seconds. This means that all male runners who finished the Long Tour of Bradwell will gain a few more points, but not as many as if we had “disqualified” Lee and Duncan, i.e. if we had awarded Ken 1000 points.
4. The time of 7 minutes 9 seconds is arbitrary in terms of predicting how much longer it would have take Lee and Duncan to find the control had they persevered, but it is very relevant to the Runfurther Championship. Neither Ken nor Kevin is running the 11th race of the Championship, but they are both running in the 12th: the White Rose 30. The time of 7 minutes 9 seconds means that we finish the season with a head to head race between them. If Kevin gets exactly 929 points & beats Ken in the race, there’s a tie in the Championship. If Kevin gets at least 930 points and beats Ken in the race, Kevin wins the championship. Otherwise Ken wins. Both Ken and Kevin are happy with this arrangement.