Results on rbr handicapping of Armstrong's marathon

tispectrum wrote:
The runners don't pay the rabbits. Their paid by the race organization.
This is a frequent occurrence in track races.

here's a great article on the rabbits/pacesetters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/sp...al/06pace.html

The men's were Kariuki and Kibet. The women's was Luminita Talpos.
There was some debate about Talpos' performance. She hit the assigned
target times, but the other runners didn't want to follow her pace and
fell behind. Some of the runners felt that Talpos should have adjusted
to the runners.

The NYC marathon director has decided to experiment by not using
rabbits next year.

here's a great article on the rabbits/pacesetters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/sp...al/06pace.html

Thanks for the link... as you said, a great article. I had *no idea
whatsoever* what was really going on. I'd never even heard of "rabbits"
prior to this, yet they're a very important part of many races.

Interesting how people new to the sport of cycling have a hard time
understanding what's going on, and look to something like running as being
much simpler and more obvious. And yet there's a whole lot more to it than
you would think.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

"Bucky" wrote in message
ups.com...
tispectrum wrote:
The runners don't pay the rabbits. Their paid by the race organization.
This is a frequent occurrence in track races.

here's a great article on the rabbits/pacesetters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/sp...al/06pace.html

The men's were Kariuki and Kibet. The women's was Luminita Talpos.
There was some debate about Talpos' performance. She hit the assigned
target times, but the other runners didn't want to follow her pace and
fell behind. Some of the runners felt that Talpos should have adjusted
to the runners.

The NYC marathon director has decided to experiment by not using
rabbits next year.

On Wed, 08 Nov 2006 01:09:51 GMT, "Mike Jacoubowsky"
wrote:

here's a great article on the rabbits/pacesetters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/sp...al/06pace.html

Thanks for the link... as you said, a great article. I had *no idea
whatsoever* what was really going on. I'd never even heard of "rabbits"
prior to this, yet they're a very important part of many races.

Interesting how people new to the sport of cycling have a hard time
understanding what's going on, and look to something like running as being
much simpler and more obvious. And yet there's a whole lot more to it than
you would think.

Running *is* much simpler than bike racing tactically. Not simple,
but simpler.

--
JT
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Mike Jacoubowsky wrote:
Thanks for the link... as you said, a great article. I had *no idea
whatsoever* what was really going on. I'd never even heard of "rabbits"

You never ever watched an international athletics track meet other than
Worlds or the Olympics? Amazing. IME commentators always mention the
rabbits when they're there or else the fact that they're not.

--
E. Dronkert

In article ,
"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote:

"Bucky" wrote in message
ups.com...
tispectrum wrote:
The runners don't pay the rabbits. Their paid by the race organization.
This is a frequent occurrence in track races.

here's a great article on the rabbits/pacesetters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/sp...al/06pace.html

The men's were Kariuki and Kibet. The women's was Luminita Talpos.
There was some debate about Talpos' performance. She hit the assigned
target times, but the other runners didn't want to follow her pace and
fell behind. Some of the runners felt that Talpos should have adjusted
to the runners.

The NYC marathon director has decided to experiment by not using
rabbits next year.


here's a great article on the rabbits/pacesetters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/sp...al/06pace.html

Thanks for the link... as you said, a great article. I had *no idea
whatsoever* what was really going on. I'd never even heard of "rabbits"
prior to this, yet they're a very important part of many races.

Interesting how people new to the sport of cycling have a hard time
understanding what's going on, and look to something like running as being
much simpler and more obvious. And yet there's a whole lot more to it than
you would think.

--Mike Jacoubowsky

Well, not that much more. Pace bunnies are common at the amateur levels
of running, where they're there to help runners accurately hit goal
times.

I'm surprised they're necessary given the level of support and
experience by these runners: I'm a pretty inexperienced TTist, but I
still can keep a fairly steady TT pace up for 20k without drifting much
relative to the speedometer when I check (it's all about PE).

The weird part is that races other than the NYC Marathon, the rabbits
are also competitors. In some cases, they have won major races.

Then again, I think some runners try to exploit drafting effects,

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

As an ex runner (sprint not distance) the foot racing thing was intuitive.
When I slipped into cycling, I found the whole domestique / racing thing
really interesting. Now years later I love the cycling way more than the
running, and wish I shifted while I still had some game.

As for the pacing, it's an interesting history. Officially, when a record
was set - pacing was in distances greater than 1500 m - they used to screen
out for pacing. It was illegal. I can't tell you when they stopped being
concerned, but I think it sprung from rules that stated that pacers must
finish the race- previously they used to step off the track. There used to
be guys who made all their money taking the 1500 m guys through 800 and
1200, then jogging home for a payday. Some quite famous athletes used to be
bunnies. Especially early or late in their careers.

However, when pacing was illegal, the one run that was clearly paced, is
Roger Bannisters's breaking the 4 minute mile barrier. Probably the most
famous time of all time in track, was a fully paced time trial, not a race.