Pit Lane Proposal IAAF Race Walking Committee Pit

Pit Lane “Proposal” IAAF Race Walking Committee

Pit Lane Proposal Background • Race Walking is the only athletics discipline where athletes can be disqualified by judges for not complying with the rules before the end of the race and, effectively, not have the right to appeal (except Chief Judge DQ’s in the last parte of the race). • This should cause some problems, some of which have undermined the credibility of Race Walking in the past: • A clear discrepancy with the other disciplines where athletes can finish the race and appeal • Sometimes a great number of DQ’s with respect to the number of starters offering a negative image of the sport • Judging ability is not consistent throughout the international panels so the “quality” of the judging panel unfairly becomes a determining factor in the athlete’s possibility to succeed or fail in a race

Background • A lack of understanding from the general public and loss of affection for the discipline • Possibility of disqualifications being notified after the race, with negative consequences • Discourages grass-roots athletes from approaching the discipline to the extent that, in some countries, only the loss contact rules is applied for age group competitions in an effort to reduce the number of disqualifications

Objectives • Investigate if it’s possible to manage a competition with a penalty time related with the number of Red Cards issued by a single athlete • Less disqualifications should change some ideas about the sport and the consistency of their judges

Advantages • No longer any disqualifications for not walking according the IAAF Rule (except the Chief Judge special power and when athlete will receive 9 Red Cards), so all athletes have the chance to finish the race and record a performance • Less pressure on the Race Walking Judges who can act according to their best knowledge and capacity without being conditioned by the consequences of their actions • Penalised athletes still remain in competition with a chance to come back creating more drama, suspense and uncertainty in the race • Penalties can be a spectacular moment of the race and add to the appeal of the competition if adequately presented and broadcasted (in the major events)

Disadvantages • Historical comparison of results and performances • Practical implementation • More paperwork / data processing required • Physical feasibility and location of the start-stop phase • Very accurate appointments of the Recorders

How the practical should be? • First of all, we need to decided the correct time for the penalties. The proposal should be as follows Distance Number of RC's issued by a single athlete (track/road) 3 Red Cards 6 Red Cards 9 Red Cards 5 km 30 seconds 45 seconds Disqualified 10 km 30 seconds 60 seconds Disqualified 20 km 45 seconds 90 seconds Disqualified 50 km 60 seconds 120 seconds Disqualified

How the practical should be? The Recorder acknowledges the receipt of the third Red Card for an athlete The Posting Board is updated and shows that the athlete must stopped at the penalty area At the same time, the Recorder informs the Chief Judge and the Chief Judge Assistant and the Judge in charge of the penalty area (should be a good solution that the penalty area will be as closer as possible to the posting board and recorder position). When an athlete has 3 red cards, Chief Judge or their Assistant (s) will show him a paddle (orange or other colour with 30 s). When the athlete arrives to the “penalty” area one official indicate him that he must stooped for 30 s. The athlete will be informed showing him a paddle (¿orange? ) indicating the time that he must be stopped at the penalty area. When the athlete will arrive to the penalty area he must stop and cannot postpone his stop to another lap. A judge will control the time that the athlete must be in the penalty area and will notify the last 5 seconds in a countdown system.

How the practical should be? The athlete is free to stop or continue moving inside the penalty area (cannot however have access to refreshments, drinking, sponging or other kind of assistance) When the time in the penalty area are over, the athlete is free to re-enter in the course (or track), where he’s again required to walk according to the Rules The count of the Red Cards for this athlete starts again from zero and the Posting Board is amended accordingly (though the total Red Cards received is kept on record in the Race Walking Summary Sheet for statistical purposes)

How the practical should be… for the Race Walking Judges? From the practical point of view… each Judge should give more than one Red Card to an athlete, but only one of each judge must take in account for each penalty of the final disqualification. This means that each time, we need to have 3 Red Cards from 3 different judges. The Recorder must have the control of the number of Red Cards issued for each athlete and decided, according with the RC received, when an athlete must be stopped and their “account” come back to zero. We need extra paddles (orange colour) with the time indicated in the both sides.

We will need more officials? Definitely… yes. We’ll need more officials or volunteers for some tasks as follows: Depending of the size of the Penalty area and the type of closing (barriers), 3 or 4 plus one coordinator. 1 or 2 assistants to the Recorder (depending of the number of athletes competing) We need to be sure that each Race Walking Judge have a assistant to delivery to the Recorder as soon as possible the Red Cards (in a road events, bikes or skaters should be mandatory and maybe we’ll need some extra assistants for the judges who are far away from the Recorder and Posting Board area) If we have electronically devices for the Red Cards transmission or transponders for the control of the time in the penalty area, the number of extra officials should be reduced

Thank you!