I'm going to have to rethink strategy for next year's 10-mila (that is, if I haven't already been canned as OK's head coach). What's the point in having Kenny and JJ hack the system if the organisers have already done it to themselves?

In retrospect, and hindsight is always 20-20, the plan should have been to have Sanna and Magnus show up on site and take turns "running legs", where running legs means you get your EMIT brick, leave the start, amble over to the last control, wait a while, and then run in a little bit behind the leaders. Depending on how Magnus did on leg 10, we could have won, or at least placed very high, or at the very least, finished without taking part in the mass start.

Why do I say this? Well, here we are 4 days after the event and there are only results for the first 70 teams, and some of them are bogus. Some are missing team names, some are missing runner names. And the fastest time on the last leg is by an Australian (Tom Quayle) by 5 minutes. Right.

Why do I say this (reason 2)? The following is from the alternativet web site message board (brief english translation follows each item):

Jag har varit med om felstämplingsincidenter i min klubb 5 gånger på kavlar med elektronisk stämpling. Samtliga EMIT. kavlar med elektronisk stämpling. Samtliga EMIT. (I've been at 5 relays with mispunching incidents involving my club. Each time the EMIT system.)

- SM-kavlen: En löpare i laget bröt (10 stämplar saknades) Slutgiltigt resultat: Godkänd! (Swedish relay champs. 1 runner in the team quit the course, 10 punches missing. Final result -- OK'ed.)

- Tiomilas Ungdomsklass: En löpare bröt (många stämplar sakandes) Slutgiltigt resultat: Godkänd! (10-mila youth race. 1 runner quit, many punches missing. Final result -- OK'ed.)

- Smålandskavlen: Två år i rad sakanades en stämpel för mig. Båda gångerna fanns de dock på backuplappen. Slutgiltigt resultat: Ett år diskvalificerad, nästa år godkänd med, som jag senare kunde konstatera, 10 min för bra tid(!?) (Smaland relay -- 2 years in a row an electronic punch was missing for me. Both times it was on the back-up paper. Final result -- one year disqualified, next year OK'ed, but with a time 10 minutes too fast!)

- Kolmårdskavlen ifjol: En löpare stämplade fel, liksom många andra lag på en närliggande gaffel: Rseultat: Alla(?) dessa godkända i officiell resultatlista. (Kolmards relay -- one runner punched at the wrong control at a fork, as did many other teams. Result -- all OK'ed in the final result.)

Alltså 5 fel av 5 möjliga. Frågan är: Kan vi överhuvudtaget lita på någon resultatlista där EMIT varit inblandat? (So 5 mistakes out of 5 possible. Can we rely on any result list where EMIT is involved?)

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The whole thing is amazing. All the work organizing, all the training by the runners, and they have no credible results. Guess you just can't trust those Scandinavians...

Meanwhile, regarding the OK discussion forum, as Spike points out, "Maybe JJ and Kenny got confused and tried to hack the OK forum in addition to the Tio Mila results!"

-- peter (pg@crocker.com), May 02, 2002

Answers

I saw what Wolfman was talking about also, with Quayle still being listed as having the best last leg time by a damn fine margin! Also, until yesterday, Fredrickstad's last leg runner's time was a bit on the slow side--12 hours and 48 minutes or whatever it was, which also corresponded to the team's total time in the race.

After reading over the various problems in relay resutls given by the runner posting to the Alternativet message board, I think the truth of the matter must be faced up to. What we are dealing with here is a standard of altogether different proportion than any I described earlier. And I had hoped that it would never be necessary to divulge the fact that there is indeed one last, and lowest standard which it is possible to sink to. Even though mentioning it means I will put myself at risk from the mass ire of the inhabitants of the country with which the standard is derived, there is no doubt that the above examples have collectively sunk to the French Standard.

There. I have probably guaranteed myself at least hourly doping tests should I ever race again in France in any capacity.

-- Swampfox (wmikell@earthlink.net), May 02, 2002.

<> - le juge francais

-- mean gene (ngungilson@netscape.com), May 02, 2002.

Allons enfants de la patrie! Aux armes citoyens! Formez vos bataillons! Marchons contre le surpris americain! - le juge francais

-- mean gene (gmw@ku.edu), May 02, 2002.

Also, until yesterday, Fredrickstad's last leg runner's time was a bit on the slow side--12 hours and 48 minutes

In Chicago, my day one time was first posted as 10 hours 57 minutes and 50 seconds (it was actually 62:11). Once I let Jeff Schafermeyer know, he took care of it. If only Tio-Mila had a Jeff Schafermeyer.

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), May 03, 2002.