Seth May
This is an issue for the Chief Ref to deal with. Here are the things I
would consider:
1. The books were closed. The 15 minute rule is in place for just this
reason. At some point, results must be finalized. An unending string of
protests that can happen any time in the future does no one any good.
The protester didn't believe harm was being done within their period of
protest.
2. Photographic evidence by itself isn't enough. It shows a single side
of a story. It is the officials job to pull together both the offended
party and the offending party to determine all of what happened and make
a decision, especially when the official didn't witness the incident
first hand. Often times things are more involved then people realize.
The further from the event, the more difficult it is to pull the whole
story together.
3. The rules must be enforced uniformly. If evidence is used to
disqualify one team for rule violation, all violators must be
disqualified, where the same evidence supports it. This supposes that a
protest has been accepted and that the evidence is reviewed.
I'm not saying that this is how it should be handled, I'm just saying
that as an official who occasionally has to deal with rule violations,
this is the way I would handle it.
Seth May
Candi Murray wrote:
> Scenario
> A team time trial. Times are posted at the start. Long drive home and the
> wonderful OBRA photographers start to post their wares. A 2nd place team
> notes that the team that beat them by a mere 7 seconds is photographed over
> the centerline in no less then 4 pictures. Protest is filed. Results are
> posted on the web 20 minutes later.
>
>
> What to do?
>
> OBRA rules state
>
> 15.1.2 Unless instructed by the Chief Referee, all riders must stay to the
> right of the centerline
>
> 11.1 No rider shall benefit from his or her misconduct. No team shall
> benefit from its misconduct, or the misconduct of one of its members.
>
> 12.3 Protests concerning incidents during the race will be presented to the
> Chief Referee in writing and accompanied by a fee of $10, which will be
> forwarded to OBRA. They must be submitted within 15 minutes of the
> protester's finish
>
>
> Presuming this is a standard "though shalt not cross the centerline" event,
> it's a DQ. 6" centerline violations in the corner would be applying rules to
> apply rules. This is flagrantly cutting the corner and the distance. If
> the photographs were the only four turns that they cut, its probably worth 5
> seconds at best. Since we all know that if this happened in the
> photographs, it happened at 90% of the opportunities on the course.
>
> If the violating team is disqualified does every team evidenced by the
> photographs get disqualified? Or just the one protest acted upon?
>
> Do we allow the 15 minute rule from acting on the matter. Are results really
> formally posted at the event or is the on line results the final results.
> Its obviously not in everyone's interest to allow results to stand when
> there is flagrant cheating. The UIC allows "evidence"
> after the fact to be submitted and disqualification to happen significantly
> later.
>
> So many things to take into consideration.
>
> Any help?
> Candi
>
>
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