pacing footracers

[d.kathrens@genie.geis.com]

This weekend our small town is celebrating Homecoming. They make a gala event of
it, with a parade, a 5K footrace, egg tossing, sack races, tractor and horse
pulls, hay bale tossing, etc.

Due to popular demand I will ride in the parade, threading my way between the
antique tractors and fire trucks on my unicycle, but my wife had another idea:
what if I were to "race" alongside the 5K runners. I have a 26" uni that I can
fit with 5 inch crankarms so I would have a chance (I think) of finishing
somewhere in the middle of the field.

If I suggest to the officials that I participate in a non-competitive capacity
(and am not immediately denied) my next concern is the reaction of the runners.
Some of these will be serious regional contenders and this race is part of a
points series. Does anyone here think my participation could invalidate the race
results or cause violent protest from the runners? I intend to stay out of the
runner's way and not interfere with anyone on foot. Comments?

Dennis Kathrens

[Scott Dudek]

In article <199509161747.AA018883670@relay1.geis.com>
d.kathrens@genie.geis.com writes:

Due to popular demand I will ride in the parade, threading my way between the
antique tractors and fire trucks on my unicycle, but my wife had another
idea: what if I were to "race" alongside the 5K runners. I have a 26" uni
that I can fit with 5 inch crankarms so I would have a chance (I think) of
finishing somewhere in the middle of the field.

If I suggest to the officials that I participate in a non-competitive
capacity (and am not immediately denied) my next concern is the reaction of
the runners. Some of these will be serious regional contenders and this race
is part of a points series. Does anyone here think my participation could
invalidate the race results or cause violent protest from the runners? I
intend to stay out of the runner's way and not interfere with anyone on
foot. Comments?

Why don't you start after all the runners cross the starting line? All of the
good runners will be up front, and I highly doubt that you could catch anyone
who cares about the race, as the top runners will be running in the neighborhood
of 5 or 5 and 1/2 minute miles, and you will have to go slowly at the beginning,
weaving through the stragglers.

Scott