A bad day at the office...
Youth Nationals is going on right now in Sarasota, FL, and a friend of mine and I were having a discussion about time trials vs. heats, and the number of entries into youth nationals.
I am against time trials. Here's why.
You have to qualify for nationals. Unlike ACRAs, or Club Nationals, Youth Nationals require you to race at regionals, and finish Top-3 (I believe that is the current qualification standard).
At one point it was Top-2, something I prefer, but so be it. I am against time trials because to me, that's a double standard, and a decision made only to help a regatta cut down on self made bloat.
If the qualification is Top-3, then you need to run heats. The largest flight of time trial boats yesterday was 24. That could have easily been broken down into 4 flights of 6, or 3 flights of 8. I believe top-12 qualified for semifinals, while the next group was broken down into either C finals, or D finals, or both.
I find that completely unfair, and that goes into the title of the post.
Let the boats race each other, and then take the top two and march them directly to the semis. Take the remaining boats and send them through the reps to try and qualify into the A/B semis, or C/D semis. That's fair. There were a few boats yesterday automatically relegated to the lower finals after barely missing the cut. That's one bad stroke, or one bobble. That's unfair to have a qualification requirement come down to a dead sprint for the line with no chance at the reps.
I don't want to hear of time constraints, or length of the regatta. Qualification means Top-3 which means you should be forced to race them off. Don't push for inclusion, and then immediately try and cut down on the number of races that you need to run.
What I'd like to see with Youth Nationals is this. Go back to Top-2 varsity boats in the region automatically qualify. And then open up an additional 12-16 spots for bids. In order to qualify for a bid, the boat in question must have finished within 1.5 seconds of the 2nd place boat, roughly the equivalent of 4 or so seats. No time standard because of conditions, and changing lineups.
It's not a perfect system, but I think it's a more fair system than what's currently in place. Or go back to Top-2 only, and drop the time trials.
I am against time trials. Here's why.
You have to qualify for nationals. Unlike ACRAs, or Club Nationals, Youth Nationals require you to race at regionals, and finish Top-3 (I believe that is the current qualification standard).
At one point it was Top-2, something I prefer, but so be it. I am against time trials because to me, that's a double standard, and a decision made only to help a regatta cut down on self made bloat.
If the qualification is Top-3, then you need to run heats. The largest flight of time trial boats yesterday was 24. That could have easily been broken down into 4 flights of 6, or 3 flights of 8. I believe top-12 qualified for semifinals, while the next group was broken down into either C finals, or D finals, or both.
I find that completely unfair, and that goes into the title of the post.
Let the boats race each other, and then take the top two and march them directly to the semis. Take the remaining boats and send them through the reps to try and qualify into the A/B semis, or C/D semis. That's fair. There were a few boats yesterday automatically relegated to the lower finals after barely missing the cut. That's one bad stroke, or one bobble. That's unfair to have a qualification requirement come down to a dead sprint for the line with no chance at the reps.
I don't want to hear of time constraints, or length of the regatta. Qualification means Top-3 which means you should be forced to race them off. Don't push for inclusion, and then immediately try and cut down on the number of races that you need to run.
What I'd like to see with Youth Nationals is this. Go back to Top-2 varsity boats in the region automatically qualify. And then open up an additional 12-16 spots for bids. In order to qualify for a bid, the boat in question must have finished within 1.5 seconds of the 2nd place boat, roughly the equivalent of 4 or so seats. No time standard because of conditions, and changing lineups.
It's not a perfect system, but I think it's a more fair system than what's currently in place. Or go back to Top-2 only, and drop the time trials.
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