re: t-and-f: times on NC state records
I might point out that under IAAF and USATF rules, if an automatic timing device is NOT started by the starter's pistol, the film or image itself is supposed to show that. (The two rules have slightly differerent wording but identical intent.) Bob H
re: t-and-f: times on NC state records
> At the North Carolina state meet a few yrs ago a team was credited with a > time that established a new state record, 42 something. Everyone knew an > error had been made but all refused to chnage the time to the correct one and > the coach insusted his boys had run that fast even though their prior best > was nowhere near the time they were credited for. That mark still stands. (whoops -- I was overzealous, and cut out most of what David H. said, but it essentially agreed with the above account written by someone else.) David H. wrote: > Reliable people tell me that numerous hand-timers had it at mid-42, possibly > still state record calibre in that division. (Hard to say, since the real > state record is no longer on the books.) The timing was done by a pretty > reliable auto-timer, who has no idea how it happened, but no reasonable > person believes anything under 42.00 was run. This was pointed out > immediately, and repeatedly in the aftermath. I'm pretty sure the state It is possible to make an error and get too fast a time, especially with the the older versions of FinishLynx. It the start signal was received because the starter bumped something (the sensor is very sensitive), and was reset by the operator at just the wrong instant (just after the real start signal was received), and the starter dropped the sensor after the race started providing another signal, one would end up with a time that is too fast. The newer versions of FinishLynx record all start signals received, so that if such a thing happened, one can look at the list of start signals and see if there was one a second of so before the one being used. With the older versions (the only ones for a Mac), it would have been an unrecoverable operator error. With the newer versions, the error is recoverable. This is a rare occurrence in any case, but in a half dozen years of working with the system, it happened once when I was sitting beside the operator. (We knew the time was too good, so we simply told them they would have to go with the hand times.) Pat Palmer
Re: t-and-f: times on NC state records
>>And sometimes - such as the boys 3200 - it is actually six seconds > >slower than someone has run for a longer race in the state meet. (Old 2 > >mile > >record 9:02; current 3200 record 9:08.) < > > > >I'm not sure what the equivalent would be, but I suspect that if something > >that stupid were ever done to a basketball record in North Carolina, the > >Governor would intervene. We discussed this last month when Webb broke the "high school competition only" national 1600m record. The real record should be Ryun's 3:58 mile in high school only competition, but somehow the powers that be can't get it through their thick skulls that since a mile is 1609 meters, the time should count as the 1600m record as well. Forget "conversion", which is not an acceptable thing to do with a record - just use the mile time. - Ed Parrot
Fw: t-and-f: times on NC state records
9:02.0 2 mile converts to 8:58.5 3200m. 9:08.0 3200m converts to 9:11.5 2 mile. (To the nearest 0.1 sec anyway - As usual I have a chart which I could send to anyone...). Floyd Highfill -Original Message- From: Robert Hersh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: david honea <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Saturday, June 09, 2001 4:57 PM Subject: t-and-f: times on NC state records >Message text written by "david honea" >>And sometimes - such as the boys 3200 - it is actually six seconds >slower than someone has run for a longer race in the state meet. (Old 2 >mile >record 9:02; current 3200 record 9:08.) < > >I'm not sure what the equivalent would be, but I suspect that if something >that stupid were ever done to a basketball record in North Carolina, the >Governor would intervene.
Re: t-and-f: times on NC state records
In a message dated 6/9/01 5:37:35 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >The timing was done by a pretty >reliable auto-timer, who has no idea how it happened It's possible that the auto-timer didn't start on the gun's sound, and the operator started the timing device by hand, which, due to the increased reaction time (not only to the gun, but also to the fact that the FAT device hadn't started) would produce some incredibly fast times. The rules allow for a recall by the timer, but perhaps he didn't have a pistol, or else figured the time would be nothing special. Jim Gerweck Running Times
t-and-f: times on NC state records
Message text written by "david honea" >And sometimes - such as the boys 3200 - it is actually six seconds slower than someone has run for a longer race in the state meet. (Old 2 mile record 9:02; current 3200 record 9:08.) < I'm not sure what the equivalent would be, but I suspect that if something that stupid were ever done to a basketball record in North Carolina, the Governor would intervene.
t-and-f: times on NC state records
> At the North Carolina state meet a few yrs ago a team was credited with a > time that established a new state record, 42 something. Everyone knew an > error had been made but all refused to chnage the time to the correct one and > the coach insusted his boys had run that fast even though their prior best > was nowhere near the time they were credited for. That mark still stands. The time was actually 41.30. What really made it remarkable, or flat out unbelievable (I learned about this when I saw it in this year's state meet program and asked if it could possibly be true) was that it was in the 1A, or smallest, division - schools of less than 500 or so students in grades 9-12. Maybe a school that size could run that fast in Texas, but not here, and no way could a 1A school ever hold the overall state record in a relay. Reliable people tell me that numerous hand-timers had it at mid-42, possibly still state record calibre in that division. (Hard to say, since the real state record is no longer on the books.) The timing was done by a pretty reliable auto-timer, who has no idea how it happened, but no reasonable person believes anything under 42.00 was run. This was pointed out immediately, and repeatedly in the aftermath. I'm pretty sure the state association, and possibly even the coach of the school concerned, accept that a mistake was made. But the state accepted the argument from the school that "it is unfair to take a state record away from those kids just because somebody else may have made a mistake." Never mind the teams that previously held the state records, or those that won't get credit for one in the future because a bogus time is on the books. So in North Carolina sometimes the state record is faster than anyone has ever run. And sometimes - such as the boys 3200 - it is actually six seconds slower than someone has run for a longer race in the state meet. (Old 2 mile record 9:02; current 3200 record 9:08.) Hopefully they don't ever switch to metric for measuring field events, or we'll have to retire all those records too, including a couple by national record holders. (I think I'm kidding there, but I'm not sure.) david
