dibber or die !!

[Mike T]

Before long everyone, including fell runners, will be compulsorily injected with a micropchip that can be read by scanner and tracked by GPS. These will be used by supermarkets to take payments - this already happens in some places I believe, and of course by the govt to monitor and control increasingly desperate and volatlie populace as human society crumbles. On the upside... ROs will be able to use them to track runners in races.

..... and everything we buy and the wrapping/containers it comes in will be bar coded and if we dispose of it irresponsibly .....

[wheezing donkey]

I like your choice of argument, evolution v intelligent design but I suspect its you thats putting faith in the god of technology while us luddites prefer to rely on more basic methods!

I'm by no means "anti SI" but being a simple kind of soul, I do like to try and keep things simple. Against this, only yesterday after the Darren Jones Clougha Pike race we had a glaring case of where the runners themselves do not assist with keeping things simple. The RO and I were certain that all 125 competitors in the main race were safely back ( all numbers listed [ out & back ] by marshals at various locations including start & finish ); but having cleaned up in the chapel schoolroom, we opted for a belt and braces approach driving out in all directions from the X-roads to see if there were any cars still parked up. We spotted one car that was not parked directly outside a property and noted its registration number. Back to the RO's and a cuppa whilst perusing the entry forms to see if the vehicle belonged to one of our runners. Some chance! Only about 30% of the forms contained a vehicle registration number. If competitors want the basic methods to work ( and RO's not to resort to technology ) then please use the basic methods.

[Grouse]

We don't all drive to races.

[wheezing donkey]

We don't all drive to races.

Granted; but 30% of 125 = 42.
Anyone who was at Clougha Pike will tell you that there were far more than 42 cars parked along the lanes, probably well in excess of 200. That would include juniors ( many of who came two families to a car ).
You'd be lucky if 20% of the entry ( 25 ) did not come by car. Some of those who car-shared did indicate who they had travelled with. One cyclist even left a brief description of his bike. Still leaves a big majority who "couldn't be bothered" to use a basic / non-technical safety feature.

[Mark G]

Someones started another thread about counting runners at the start - similar to my suggestion about dibbing at the start. It does occasionally seem to happen that people register and fail to start for whatever reason.

[Rob Furness]

So what could be done is to have a start dib to get into the starters area (which could be taped off) and then still start the times en masse as is done currently. Best of both worlds.

[Jennings]

This exists with SI. At the prestart in orienteering there is a check box. This serves three purposes
- If you have not cleared your dibber the check box will not respond
- It ensures that no one starts before their alloted time , useful for interval starts in orienteering / mountain navigation races
- But it also gives an accurate list of everyone who went through the start. After the last start the box can be taken to the computer and downloaded.

When the box gets back from the first check point, you download it, the software then gives you your list of missing runners.
You can do the same with each checkpoint box. You are, as with paper based system, waiting for the marshalls to return. You can get round this radio based units - though I am not sure how succesful they are over several miles with big hills in the way.

[DazTheSlug]

So what could be done is to have a start dib to get into the starters area (which could be taped off) and then still start the times en masse as is done currently. Best of both worlds.

this is exactly what they did at Welsh 1000m

is didn't stop a few people ducking under the tape well away from the dib-box and forming up on the start line though - it needed the RO to announce (more than once) "HAS EVERYBODY DIBBED IN THE START AREA BOX?!" for the culprits then to sheepishly troop back to it