Revise Rule 2B.8.2 Track Coasting
This discussion has an associated proposal. View Proposal Details here.Comments about this discussion:
Started
While going through section 2B.7 Technical disciplines, I noticed in the Coasting rules that we only give very unspecific information regarding the competition venue.
However, in order to make the results of coasting comparable, especially with regard to world records, we should revise the following sentence:
"The event should be held on a track or other very level, smooth surface that is as clean as possible. The track may be straight or curved."
Since the discipline is called "Track Coasting" and only in this variant results are comparable and suitable for world records, I would suggest that we only allow standard athletics tracks as competition venue (everywhere else Coasting could still be offered as a "modified" version). Also, I would specify that the run-up track starts at the beginning of the straight, so riders would first coast down the straight before entering the bend, the inside should be on the left in the direction of coasting.
I would therefore suggest the following as a replacement for the above section:
"The competition shall be held on an athletics standard competition track with the surface as clean as possible. The speed-up distance shall begin with the straight, thus allowing the riders to first coast as far as possible on the straight before entering the bend. The inside shall be on the left in the direction of coasting."
Comment
OK
Comment
What about the rest of the committee?
Comment
Since there were no further comments or suggestions for improvement, I assume that all committee members agree with the proposal.
I will open the voting and hope that all voting members of the committee will also participate in the voting.
Comment
The voting on this one is not open yet, right?
BTW, I wrote a voting comment in the proposal 24 about restructuring 2B.8. There is a sentence about wind speed during coasting which is obsolete in view of our new rules about wind speed measurements. But I still agreed :-)
Comment
No, this proposal cannot be voted on yet - according to the description the review time is from August 24, 2023 to August 27, 2023, but I assume that due to the different time zones the review time is not over yet.
Effect on other rules:
2B.8.2 Track Coasting
[...] Wind must be at a minimum for records to be set and broken.
Comment
Why is part of the comment red - in the preview everything was black... magic of the system :D
Comment
> No, this proposal cannot be voted on yet
That's OK. I was just reacting to your comment "I will open the voting...", but I think you made another revision which prolonged the commenting time window.
Comment
HI, I missed chiming in on this one. Sounds like a good update/correction, and the "upgrade" to athletics track only is best for world records, though may be seen as a limitation/problem for smaller events. I wonder if we should add a sentence in there about "alternate surfaces or venues) that would allow a nonstandard Coasting event, that would not be eligible for world record-setting.
Our early Coasting competitions at Unicons were held on "available" locations. At Unicon V (1991, Hull, Quebec) it was held on a quiet neighborhood street. The street was not straight, it had a slight downhill slope, and as it turned out, was not long enough. Jose Roman (Puerto Rico) was way beyond everyone else for distance coasting at that time. He slowly coasted through the neighborhood with people following along, clapping his hands over his head toward the end. The street ended in a cul-de-sac; a circular area with several household driveways leading out of it. He made it up the bump and slight rise, and about 1/3 of the way up one of the driveways before losing momentum. :-)
Comment
> I wonder if we should add a sentence in there about "alternate surfaces or venues) that would allow a nonstandard Coasting event, that would not be eligible for world record-setting.
The new Rule 2D.1 Venue contains the following sentence in paragraph 1:
"[...] If the requirements cannot be fulfilled, the disciplines cannot be offered as official IUF Track Disciplines and this has to be announced accordingly before the competition. [...]"
And also 2D.3 Communication says:
"[...] If hosts desire to do variations on these rules, the events must be labeled accordingly. Example: Track Coasting; Modi ed. [...]"
In my opinion that makes it very clear that the organizer can of course offer disciplines deviating from the rules, e.g. a coasting on the road, provided that this discipline is named accordingly and it is announced that it is a modified discipline and the IUF rules are not or not completely applied.
But I would not include a statement in the Coasting Rules, because the official IUF discipline "Track Coasting" in which world records are recognized, should always be performed under comparable conditions and therefore always on a track. Otherwise, the results of two different competitions may not be comparable, which would be very confusing if the discipline had been organized as the official IUF discipline "Track Coasting" at both competitions.
Comment
I agree to Jan 100% here.
Comment
> But I would not include a statement in the Coasting Rules, because the official IUF discipline "Track Coasting" in which world records are recognized, should always be performed under comparable conditions and therefore always on a track.
This makes perfect sense; it suggests that the discussion of added/nonstandard events might need to be moved and/or reworded to make this separation clear. I believe it's a good idea to encourage, if not just "allow" new or different events, to keep things interesting and possibly add whole new ideas and concepts for competition events in the future. Unicon started in 1984 with little more than the basic Track races and (1984 versions of) the traditional Freestyle events. There was also a single basketball game. The adding of more events and opening up the categories of what types of competitions could be done is part of what made Unicon such a wonderful event.
So the idea of collecting up talk of variations on how to do events, or alternate events, should be examined to see if it should be moved redone to make a clear division between official/traditional competition events and new or experimental ones.
Comment
I think the Rulebook in its current form is quite open to modified disciplines or completely new ones that are not described in the Rulebook at all, and I think that is very welcome. However, I also think that the rules concerning these freedoms should not be spread too much over the individual chapters and that the rulebook should in any case provide clear rules for the official disciplines.
If I see this correctly, then there are no objections to the proposed rule change and no further need for discussion regarding this rule?
Comment
Agree.