by tanglefoot » Wed Mar 15, 2017 2:50 pm
I posted this in reply to a thread on facebook.
I have been race judge and race marshal at many races over the years, i also race myself. my take on it is that yes, it is mandatory gear, so must be carried and presented when requested and at the finish line. dallas didnt have that gear at the finish, BUT Nic arrived with it, help between mushers is allowed, and passed it to Dallas when he arrived and dallas got officially signed off before Nic by the finish checker and RM.
now, if nic wasnt such a good guy he could have not handed it over and could have asked to be checked in first and as he had all his mandatory gear, and he could be given 2nd place, however, theres is honour between mushers and friendship especially after a shared experience of a 1000 miles.
DSQ is the most severe penalty that can be given and can be a life changing desicion to a competitor, it is only given in cases where there is no other option to give a lesser penalty, for example such as dog abuse, dsq is the only option etc. (Personally i think it was wrong last year with brent to issue a dsq, but thats another subject).
monetary or time penalty could be issued, as can a verbal warning, but in this instance yes dallas got lucky that nic is a good sport and handed that book over to him prior to nic getting checked in.
That said, normally (not always) that the finish checker askes and announces the mandatory gear over the mic and then declares them off the trail and their time. Sometimes that happens straight away, sometimes minutes later after the dogs have been snacked and rewarded by their musher but in either case, the time the lead dogs nose crosses under the arch is the recorded and official finish time and the time that dallas got as his finish time was recorded as that when his leaders crossed, then once the check was completed with the handing of the book from nic to dallas, that then confirmed the time dallas's leaders crossed was then the official finish time and placement that stood.
So, technically dallas did come second and nic third.
If it was announced that all the gear was present and correct before the vet book was there, then that was wrong and the checker should be admonished for that mistake.
I need to go back and re watch the video again but thinks its been edited already.
Edit: reading rule 16 on mandatory gear, that rule should be also read with the rule (whatever it is) regarding the finish rules together with it.
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TANGLEFOOT SLED DOG RACING TEAM