Ever had a PB run ruined by the weather?

ecoli

http://www.nj.com/hssports/blog/boystrackandfield/index.ssf/2011/06/meet_of_champions_with_joe_rosa_on_pace_to_set_record_officials_halt_race_due_to_lightning.html

Gutted for the lad but I guess public safety is priority.

robinph

You can't justify stopping the race that close to the finish. Maybe it was a super critical safety issue, but would them being out for an extra minute really have made any difference, especially as the official's were probably arguing amongst themselves for the previous 5.

A bit of rain and lightning isn't that much of a cause to rush. If they stopped after lap one then fine, not stopping with one lap to go.

ecoli

robinph wrote: »

You can't justify stopping the race that close to the finish. Maybe it was a super critical safety issue, but would them being out for an extra minute really have made any difference, especially as the official's were probably arguing amongst themselves for the previous 5.

A bit of rain and lightning isn't that much of a cause to rush. If they stopped after lap one then fine, not stopping with one lap to go.

I think the issue was the aluminium bleachers causing risk to fans however what confuses me is how long does it take to evacuate the stands? more than 65 seconds? if so officials have alot to answer for

Other reports say that the lightning was already there questioning why wait till then to postpone the race.

Obviously health and safety is an issue but i think in this case was probably one step to far

nerraw1111

How crap is that?

To be fair to the officials, there have been a fair number of lightening incidents at High School events in the US which have left people dead.

Still, one lap to go.

robinph

Evacuate the stands then, leave the race going. I'm sure that them messing about with stopping the race didn't speed up them getting people out of the stands anyway.

shels4ever

had it been a propper distance like 3k they may have been allowed finish

robinph

Missed that bit. What is 3.2k meant to be?

ThisRegard

2 miles ;-)

robinph

Sorry, don't do distances that short.

Edit: Or simple adding.

copacetic

robinph wrote: »

You can't justify stopping the race that close to the finish. Maybe it was a super critical safety issue, but would them being out for an extra minute really have made any difference, especially as the official's were probably arguing amongst themselves for the previous 5.

A bit of rain and lightning isn't that much of a cause to rush. If they stopped after lap one then fine, not stopping with one lap to go.

Course you can, it's the USA, if you didn't shut down as soon as lightning hit nearby you'd be liable in court if someone was hit. Guaranteed someone would sue.

I worked in a public safety job for a while over there and one of the main things that was drummed in to you was taking immediate action if lightning strikes. People get hit a lot in the states. 100 deaths a year or so, 1000 injured.

ecoli

copacetic wrote: »

Course you can, it's the USA, if you didn't shut down as soon as lightning hit nearby you'd be liable in court if someone was hit. Guaranteed someone would sue.

I worked in a public safety job for a while over there and one of the main things that was drummed in to you was taking immediate action if lightning strikes. People get hit a lot in the states. 100 deaths a year or so, 1000 injured.

But the problem with that are that the reports of lightning starting the race before this one so why was the race allowed to be started at all

copacetic

ecoli wrote: »

But the problem with that are that the reports of lightning starting the race before this one so why was the race allowed to be started at all

That's not what the race director says in the report

Danser said he saw no reason to not start the race.
“I have four spotters looking in every direction and no one detected lightning or thunder in the area when the race started,” Danser said. “But as soon as the lightning and thunder came, we have to stop the meet under the National Track and Field Rules. It’s a safety issue. We have fans in aluminum bleachers with lightning overhead. We had to evacuate right away.”

ecoli

copacetic wrote: »

That's not what the race director says in the report

Quite a few comments on different forums contradicting it (even including ones below that article). Again hard to get full story without actually being there

robinph

USAians are a bunch of scaredy cats.

pgmcpq

In fairness while the storm was expected, when it came it moved very quickly and pretty large. So I can see a situation where they allowed things to continue initially and then had to make a very quick decision. It also was a schools event so I would suspect that the decision would have been influenced by the local police and fire department ... if there had been an accident all hell would have broken loose. It does seem a bit rough to pull it with a lap to go but if they had allowed it continue they would have had a hard job emptying the stands and pulling the rest of the events e.g. with people taking short cuts across the track etc.
20,000 homes with no power this morning in NJ alone.

I remember completing the NJ marathon last year praying that they would not abondon it due to heat ... this was after the deaths in Chicago(?).

shels4ever

ThisRegard wrote: »

2 miles ;-)

Almost -
Just over 18m short

Ruu_Old

Nearly all races I have attended in the US have the condition of lightning=race cancelled. More than likely because of the potential of it getting much worse and what comes along with the lightning.