The Pace or Race 5k

 

The Silver Strider online presents

Race Review

The Pace Or Race 5k

By Jerry Dietrich
with photos by Bruce Fisher

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August 24, 2024

Rain prediction hurt attendance at this race. But, it turned out to be a light off and on rain that wasn’t bothersome. Anyway, that’s part of racing.

There was one section on the two loop course, of about 2 blocks, that had a 8 mile an hour headwind. I heard two runners complain about it, but, that’s part of racing.

The course was not as fast as advertised and the terrain was rough in a few sections. But, that’s just part of racing.

Some of the runner’s made, or were directed to make, wrong turns for which they are DQ’d. Their times were too fast. But, human error is part of racing.

What is not part of racing is to advertise, on your entry form and your ads, age groups that you will not honor. That happened at this race. Age group awards were promised to 90 plus, but when it came time for the awards ceremony, awards only went to 70 plus. This created discrimination against many, including several women over 75, 80, and 85.

I will have 50 years of racing next year and I have never seen a race director advertise, on both website and entry forms, false age groups. If a race director engaged in age discrimination it was usually through ignorance. But, regardless of their reason, they always stated the age groups honestly. Everyone knew what age groups would be recognized and they could enter or not.

We can’t publish results for this race because the results are full of errors. Thankfully, the turnout was light and we think we were able to determine the order of finish for those over 50 who completed the course.

Those in the Grand Prix Series will get credit as follows:
If you completed the course, or longer, you are credited with your finish position.
If your published time was bogus (too fast), you were placed in last position in your actual age group. You were still given points, and credited for the race.
Actual age groups were 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85-89 and 90 -plus.

Needless to say, this race will not be on the 2025 Series schedule. I apologize for it being in the 2024 Series. I must blame myself for the age discrimination connected with this race.