Has anyone tried to race with a sore throat before? Is it even possible to do that? Conventional wisdom has that noone can possibly even get as far as the first control if there's even a hint of scratchiness in the back of the throat. Perhaps this has not been rigorously tested though. I remain suspicious of conventional wisdom until I have seen very good evidence.

Suppose you were running a vital leg for OK at the US relay championships, but there was a little bit of a "tickle" in the back of your throat... What would you do? Would you sit it out telling yourself to wait until next year, dumping on your teammates? Would you tough it out and make the best run you could despite the long odds? Would you try to trade out your leg for a shorter (possibly easier) one?

Getting a sore throat going into the relay champs is a real nightmare scenario. I hope it isn't one that an OKer will ever have to face, but it does raise some interesting moral questions.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), September 18, 2002

Answers

Maybe the solution is to try some alternative medical treatments?

It looks like this one can cure everything from step throat to cancer:

http://www.ayurveda-herbs.com/26.htm

I'm sure there are also some good quacks who could help cure the sore throat:

http://www.quackwatch.org/

And if all of that failed, one could turn to questionable medical devices:

http://www.mtn.org/quack/welcome.htm

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), September 18, 2002.

I think even if Spike pours gasoline down his throat and sets it on fire, there ain't no shorter legs available. So let's just scratch that little idea. Lick it up Spike, lick it up.

-- Snorkel (danielmeenehan@aol.com), September 18, 2002.