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| Posted 03. May, 2003 |
| Towing |
I have to say that I was surprised to see runners being towed during the trail run at last week\'s Ace Race. The distance involved was only 7 miles or so and I would have thought that a reasonably fit person would be able to get round under ther own steam. In my opinion it should be banned for such short events. I\'d be interested to hear what others have to say on the subject. |
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| Posted 03. May, 2003 |
| why not? |
i don\'t like the word \'banning\'. It sounds too restrictive. It\'s a word that is used too much in today\'s society. I may agree that I don\'t really see the point in towing over 7 miles, but then again perhaps they were just trying out how all that towing business works in a race type situation? I wasn\'t there that weekend so I don\'t know who or why they did it, but if people like to tow, let them tow. They\'re not hurting anyone by doing so. |
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 Barbara Sacre
Leicestershire
UK |
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| Posted 03. May, 2003 |
| Towing=Teamwork |
One important aspect of adventure racing is teamwork (not applicable to Solo\'s) working together to reach the finish. A team is only as strong as its weakest member, who may vary during the race. Chris perhaps the person being towed was not a runner. Stronger members of the team may help a weaker member by carrying gear, towing or feeding. I do not think the lenght of the race matters. If I was in a short race with racing snakes I would expect them to tow me. Last year one member of my team towed his three teammates during a mtb stage, because he was so strong. |
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 David Ogden
Malaysia |
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| Posted 04. May, 2003 |
| Is this the first troll to hit Sleepmonsters? |
Are you just trying to wind us up Chris?
As David says, towing = teamwork, which for many people is what adventure racing is all about - and as the top two teams (al least) were both towing on the short runs (despite the fact that all of those involved *could * have made it around under their own steam) then I think you might reasonably assume that they were doing it because they believe it gets their teams around faster.
The best adventure racing teams use lots of techniques to help them go faster and to even out the workload, but the thing to do when you see them doing something that you haven\'t thought of is to put it down to experience and then copy what they were doing yourselves, not to try and stop them doing it.
By the way Barbara, towing can make a massive differrence over 7 miles. |
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| Posted 04. May, 2003 |
| towing |
ah, well,
learned something new again today. |
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Barbara Sacre
Leicestershire
UK |
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| Posted 04. May, 2003 |
| Jealousy or a delicate ego?? |
Chris is just jealous cos he hadn\'t thought of towing and lots of teams were overtaking him!!
(the best kind of tow is a bike tow from another team up a hill...without them knowing of course!)
Or may be his ego is too delicate!! ;-)
I agree with David and Jon. Give it a try Chris and see what happens! |
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 Karen Hanson
London
UK |
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| Posted 05. May, 2003 |
| how about being pushed |
you dont even need to be towed, i was once pushed while running down hill because i was slowing the team down.
the speed that i got up to was scary but it shaved buckets off our time. |
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 Kevin Richardson
Isle of Wight
UK |
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| Posted 06. May, 2003 |
| The reason \"those\" teams towed ! |
As Jon has already said it seems as though you are trying to wind people up, but if this really was a serious point, then you still have a lot to learn.
Towing is the best way to ensure that the whole team travels at the same pace and evens out the speed difference between the fastest and the slowest runner, this is especially important over shorter distances as the shorter the race distance, the faster the pace.
It is not about helping someone that can’t run, it is about making an already competent runner run even faster. Towing means that the person being towed is forced to run much faster than their normal pace and believe me – this is a lot harder than sauntering around at your own comfortable pace. If you think it is easy then you should try it !
As you use the last ace race as an example consider this, I was towed on the last run and thanks to that act of team work it meant our team as a whole ran the second fastest time of the day; 4 minutes behind Mark’s winning time, not 25 minutes behind as I see from your result, maybe next time you should try it yourselves ! |
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 Sarah Gorman
Lancashire
UK |
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| Posted 06. May, 2003 |
| Towing the line |
Totally agree with Sarah\'s sentiments about making a good runner faster, as a previous tower and towee, I can say that it really works. Getting a tow is just one of the ways in which a team can help each other. It\'s this willingness to help and be helped that make the difference between team at all levels.
The excellent effort that Proventure made on the last run - which I would guess was largely down to a really strong team towing effort won them the race. We certainly didn\'t tow as much as in previous stages, which was one of the reasons we lost so much on the last run.
Chris, you are a brave man in suggesting that the people being towed aren\'t up to completing the distance. You are in danger of incurring the wrath of Sarah and Astrid (both of which are quality runners in their own right) - brave man !!!
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 Tom Gibbs
Somerset
UK |
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| Posted 06. May, 2003 |
| Invaluable |
Without a tow this weekend at the Quest would have slowed us down no end - it also keeps you together as a unit - there is nothing more soul-destroying than forever playing catch-up and Phil making everyone \'dib\' is a brilliant plan. |
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| Posted 06. May, 2003 |
| I wont cross the start line without my tow line and my ox!!!! |
I was going to go on and on, but now I have calmed down.
Towing is what Team work is all about it. Try it and learn somnething. Ban it indeed!! How utterly obsurd. You may have noticed that ALL the top teams tow. and that is why they are TOP teams - because they WORK TOGETHER. Chris I can only imagine you are a solo runner desperately in need of a team to show you all these amazing tactics. |
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 Lucy Poole
Surrey
UK |
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| Posted 06. May, 2003 |
| I wont cross the start line without my tow line and my ox!!!! |
I was going to go on and on, but now I have calmed down.
Towing is what Team work is all about it. Try it and learn somnething. Ban it indeed!! How utterly obsurd. You may have noticed that ALL the top teams tow. and that is why they are TOP teams - because they WORK TOGETHER. Chris I can only imagine you are a solo runner desperately in need of a team to show you all these amazing tactics. |
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Lucy Poole
Surrey
UK |
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| Posted 07. May, 2003 |
| Ban Towing |
I\'m in favour of a ban because we could then use our redundant tow lines as whips. So your team-mates could be whipped into going faster instead of being towed, thus achieving the same objective. I also quite fancy the idea of being whipped before the start(a \"whip-up\" instead of a warm-up would be much more effective at getting the adrenalin going). Naughty, but nice. |
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 Brendan Bolland
Merseyside
UK |
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| Posted 07. May, 2003 |
| Secret Discipline |
That\'s just what I need for a secret discipline in the Heb, Brendan! and for the Ceilidh we can have \'party whips\'. |
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 Gary Tompsett
Strathclyde
UK |
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| Posted 07. May, 2003 |
| Bondage |
I don\'t agree with my team mate, Bispham Bolland, about dispensing with tows- when he was running ahead on night nav, he was able to dispense invaluable teamwork instructions rather than concentrate on lugging people about-however, as the instructions were resticted to one, namely \"COME ON!!!\" the rest of the team want him to tow again. |
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 andrew gorman
Lancashire
UK |
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| Posted 07. May, 2003 |
| towing - only one down side |
Towing either on foot or bike is (as I have learned only recently!) brilliant. If used just for the mental boost alone while struggling the tow is a great idea. The only downside could be that towing could tow someone to the point of burning out. The person towing or the person being towed could fall foul of this. But towing should certainly be here for good.
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 John McBride
none
UK |
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| Posted 07. May, 2003 |
| Towing Tantrums |
Is there no-one out there who supports the use of towing !!! Someone somewhere must agree that towing is a good idea !!!
Towing works best when it is attached to the back of a rucksack, for this you can buy something resembling a nail in hardware stores which clips the bungee on really well. There are various sizes and the largest one seems to work best. Ask the guy in the hardware store if he has a \'big tow nail\' he should be able to help.
I\'ve just realised that if i\'m quick, i can have my name on the latest reply for every single subject. No-one reply to anything for the next 10 minutes, i can do this.
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| Posted 07. May, 2003 |
| Tow rather than weight |
As someone with creeking joints and cycling feet. I.e. soft as baby bottoms, extra weight causes me problems, worse knees and blisters. So I am much happier when I have spare energy (and it does happen), to tow rather than carry extra weight. This speeds the pack up, but does not put extra loading onto my body. As smashed feet and knees occur going down, not up which fortunately is when help is usually most required. |
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 Dave hooper
Somerset
UK |
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| Posted 07. May, 2003 |
| towing is the way of the jedi |
...Marc, have you nothing better to do today?
Tried to stay away from this, but you\'ve dragged me away from my work. Towing is a great technique that will equalise the speed within the team, and create team synergy, not too mention the options it gives you in the event of a mtb mechanical.
Having used towing for far too long to remember, I have never had anyone burn out within a team, either tower or towee. The concept of pacing within a team is the same regardless of assisted momentem.
ps I believe that the hardware shop only sells the aforementioned item in black, and currently has limited stock.. |
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 Conrad Philip Wing
Yorkshire
UK |
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| Posted 07. May, 2003 |
| Was that 10 minutes? |
I think youjust wipe the 10 minutes Marc Laithwaithe need!
And I\'m 99.999999% in favour of towing. And 101% in favour of me being towed!! |
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John McBride
none
UK |
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| Posted 08. May, 2003 |
| burn out |
burn out is possible with towing as a very enthusiastic team mate of mine found out. after towing on the bike section and on the run he had no energy to complete a final special stage at one of the old high tech races in wales. trying to heave this exausted chap over the slipery slope almost made our team dnf.
by all means tow but share the load |
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Kevin Richardson
Isle of Wight
UK |
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| Posted 09. May, 2003 |
| £175.00 |
Has anyone any advice on using my Volvo for towing an Indespension Trailer? |
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andrew gorman
Lancashire
UK |
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