Reviewing the 2000M Mixed times, I must admit to be a little perplexed by the relative results. There are a few cases of crews crossing the finish line at almost the same time, yet the final differences between these crews suggest large gaps.

2 examples I can think of:

Mayfair crosses the finish line at about the same time as Macau and the Sloths. Macau caught Mayfair, Mayfair caught the Sloths. Given a 10 or 12 second stagger, the crews should have posted times reflecting these starting gaps. That is, Macau 10-12 seconds ahead of Mayfair and Mayfair 10-12 seconds ahead of Sloths. Well, the gaps finally recorded were considerably bigger.

The same happens when looking at False Creek and Philly. They crossed at roughly the same time, but the finishing time would suggest otherwise.

Am I mising something here?

Did you account for is the staggered starts? Crews each had their own start times, so teams that finished in a group would have had teams that "caught up" to make up the difference.

That said, Macau was so impressive to watch!

I believe the original poster is taking into account the 12 second stagger.

Macau started 12 seconds behind Mayfair, so if they both finished at the same time, then Macau should have a 12 second faster time than Mayfair. From the above example which includes the sloths, Macau should have had a 24 second faster time than the Sloths, and Mayfair should have had a 12 second faster time than the Sloths.

The only other thing that can amount to discrepencies in times would be false starts, penalties and etc.

Oh geez. THAT.IS.EXACTLY.WHAT.HE.WROTE

READ PEOPLE! REEEEAAADDD!!!!!

Differences can be due to bonus time or time deduction due to infractions.

Bouns Time ?

Just like playing video games. If you can hit the power-ups along the race with your paddle, then you get bonus time. You'll know if you successfully hit the power-up when a short musical jingle plays.

We were quite disappointed with our time on the 2KM and when looking a little closer - found somethign a little bizarre. How could the team that started right behind us (should have been 10-12 seconds behind) never pass us and finish with a time almst 20 seconds faster?

How hard could it have been to do? Write down what time each group started and ended. Subtract. Add penalty time.

Standard timing device. One person pushes the timing buttons and another person records the order of finishes. I bet that there are even computer progrmas that will do the ranking for you!

It was, after all, a sort of World Class event.

After looking at the results, it almost seems that they were doing a 15 - 20 sec stagger instead of a 12 or 10. it certainly didn't seem like 15 - 20 secs on the line, but who knows

Yes, I was wondering if the stagger was greater than initially planned as well, given the logistics of getting so many crews off flawlessly. Don't get me wrong - I think the event was very well run, and the starter was first rate.

I don't think the start gap could have been much greater, as this would have potentially allowed for the first crews out to be lapping before all crews had been sent off. Not a good idea.

So, if penalties or bonues were awarded, what would standard procedure dictate? Is this something pointed out later - that is, penalties and bonuses?

I was not aware of any specific difficulties throughout the racing - anyone else have insight into this? Were there cut-offs, collisions, other breaches which may have led to time penalties/bonuses?

I guess what bugs the most is : we don't know which teams (if any) had penalties. The time can be accurate, but withouth knowing if penalties are included or not in the final time who's to say ? I guess the officials shoud have been more transparent as to whom got penalties and how much time was added to their "real time". I do home that festivals organizing events with long distances (ie: mtl, qc cup) take this into consideration and are more transparent in the future

Would anyone care for me to post a video of the start of the Ukraine team and MAD? You'll see the stagger was not 15-20 seconds.

There's video of the starts and of some of the turns and finishes from the 2000m on youtube.com. Search on ccwc. You should find four videos from the 2k plus a few other vids. Time the start staggers yourself. Don't forget that some times are far different because of pushing in the turns. You'll see a good example in video 4 where the Orientals from Philly and Concrete (Netherlands) take the turn really wide.