Revise section 2B.7.2.4 Dismounting and assisting racers
This discussion has an associated proposal. View Proposal Details here.Comments about this discussion:
Started
I would like to clarify the rule somewhat to make it clearer to readers what applies to races in which remounts are allowed and what applies to races in which they are not.
I would therefore suggest structuring them as follows:
1. A dismount is any time a rider’s foot or other body part touches the ground.
2. Except for the 800m, Relay races, and other races where this is announced in advance, remounting after a dismount is not allowed.
3. In all races:
3.1 in which remounting after a dismount is not allowed, after a dismount the race may not be continued and will be considered as not finished (DNF - Did Not Finish).
3.2 in which remounting after a dismount is allowed, riders must immediately remount at the point where the unicycle comes to rest, without running. If a dismount puts the rider past the finish line, the rider must back up and ride across the line in control, in the normal direction.
Riders must mount the unicycle completely unassisted. Spectators or helpers may help the rider to his or her feet and/or retrieve the dropped unicycle, but the rider (and the unicycle) may not have any physical contact with any outside object or person, including a starting block under the wheel, when mounting.
However, I would prefer to integrate paragraph 2 directly into the descriptions of the respective disciplines so that this is clear for every single discipline!
And paragraph 1 is actually more of a definition and could therefore, in my opinion, also be moved to chapter 1.
Comment
I'm OK with your first remark, although if we leave it like it is, that would also be OK.
I disagree on the second remark. If a rider's foot or other body part touches the ground, that is indeed a dismount in Track racing, and in some other disciplines as well. But e.g. in Freestyle, some tricks/skills will have the rider touch the ground with their hand or foot, without it being a dismount. So this would not be a generally applicable definition in Chapter 1.
Comment
Klaas is correct about dismounts. To cover that, we could just specify that this applies to racing. Example:
In racing, a dismount is any time a rider's foot (or other body part) touches the ground.
I put the body part in parenthesis as it needs to be included, but rarely happens first.
Comment
True, in Freesytle dismounts are indeed defined differently, so we couldn't take the definition from the rule 1:1. But with John's addition I think a suitable definition could be made anyway.
Should we then directly integrate a shift into section 1D.1 in the proposal, or do we rather leave the paragraph in the track part of the rules?
Comment
If we want to move the definition to 1D.1, we need consent by the Road racing and Muni rulebook teams on the definition, as well as from the General Committee for the move itself. I agree that this is the "cleanest" solution.
John's definition is fine for that. Although I prefer not to include the parenthesis. Whether it's a foot or another body part, it counts as a dismount.
If the definition stays in 2B.7.6, we could start the sentence like "In Track racing, a dismount..." Or just leave it as it is in the original post (and in the current Rulebook), because rules in this chapter by default only apply to Track racing.
Comment
We could suggest to the official proposal here to move the definition to section 1D.1 and to use the sentence "In the Track disciplines, a dismount is any time a rider's foot or other body part touches the ground." - if the Muni and Road Committees agree with this, the whole statement could be changed accordingly. Probably the definition applies to all disciplines except the freestyle disciplines.
The idea of integrating the paragraph about in which disciplines remounting is allowed directly into the description of the disciplines I would deal with in a separate discussion and proposal, as this involves some restructuring of chapter 2B.6 and I would therefore like to separate the aspects.
With that, the proposal would be as follows:
1D.1 Definitions
[...]
Dismount: In the Track disciplines, a dismount is any time a rider's foot or other body part touches the ground.
[...]
(Or: Dismount: Except for the Freestyle disciplines, a dismount is any time a rider's foot or other body part touches the ground. - But for that we would need an appropriate proposal in all subcommittees, which is probably rather difficult to get - or one proposal later in the Main Committee)
2B.7.2.4 Dismounting and assisting racers
1. Except for the 800m, Relay races, and other races where this is announced in advance, remounting after a dismount is not allowed.
2. In all races:
2.1 in which remounting after a dismount is not allowed, after a dismount the race may not be continued and will be considered as not finished (DNF - Did Not Finish).
2.2 in which remounting after a dismount is allowed, riders must immediately remount at the point where the unicycle comes to rest, without running. If a dismount puts the rider past the finish line, the rider must back up and ride across the line in control, in the normal direction.
Riders must mount the unicycle completely unassisted. Spectators or helpers may help the rider to his or her feet and/or retrieve the dropped unicycle, but the rider (and the unicycle) may not have any physical contact with any outside object or person, including a starting block under the wheel, when mounting.
Comment
I think we can use a singular definition of dismount for all races in their current form(s), with the agreement of the other racing committees. If we want to be more specific, we can include that it's still a dismount if the rider remains seated, it's the body part on the ground that defines the dismount. I don't think we need to mention Freestyle (or Trials, etc.) when defining a dismount for racing.
The rest of the 2B.7.2.4 looks good. That subsection 2.2 derives from a "grandma" 800m race at Unicon XII in Japan, with an age group of something like 60+, two literal grandmothers were racing, but one dismounted, and couldn't freemount. The other lady was slowly working her way around the track as a small crowd started gathering around the dismounted lady, wanting to help. This left me, the Referee, looking like the bad guy. The "right" thing to do, in this case, was obvious, but I didn't want to just blatantly go against my own rules. The dismounted lady got passed again. Finally, I figured out what I considered the "correct" decision for this situation and this culture. I turned around, put my fingers in my ears and said "La, la, la, la, la, la" until, magically, the other grandma was heading down the track again. She wend another 100, or so, and dismounted again; end of race. :-)
Comment
> I think we can use a singular definition of dismount for all races in their current form(s), with the agreement of the other racing committees.
The section 2 "Track" contains beside the Racing disciplines also the Technical disciplines, to which the definition of a dismount also applies. I would therefore define it via the discipline, as these are clearly defined in the rulebook. The term "Race" would have to be defined again for other disciplines if necessary, which is why I would leave it out of the definition of dismount.
But I think we agree to move the definition of a dismount to 1D.1, right?
I think whether it is written "In the Track disciplines" or "Except for the Freestyle disciplines" can be discussed in the Main Committee.
Comment
>I think whether it is written "In the Track disciplines" or "Except for the Freestyle disciplines" can be discussed in the Main Committee.
Agreed. Main Committee, are you listening?
The wording would be somewhat dependent on where we put it.
Comment
Okay, I will prepare a corresponding official proposal later here.
Comment
When creating the proposal, I realized that the title should contain "Remounting" rather than "Dismounts", especially after the definition of dismount is to be moved to 1D.1. If there are objections to this, however, I can of course revise the proposal.
Comment
>the title should contain "Remounting" rather than "Dismounts"
OK.
Comment
Yes, sounds good!
Comment
The review period for the proposal has now been over for quite a while and since there were no further comments or suggestions for improvement, I assume that all committee members are in agreement with the proposal.
I will now open the voting and hope that all voting members of the committee will also participate in the voting.