Q: Hey, I’m super excited about the new Club Scoring Races this year. However, I’m not an MIT graduate, and I don t know how the fact that we can drop our worst two races impacts our racing strategy. The permutations are mind-boggling! Can you help shed some light on things???
A: This is what journal writers are here for! You don t need to be an MIT grad to understand the basic premise. Just as The Rock said, it just doesn’t matter that we can drop two races this season. For all intents and purposes, we need to show up and kick butt at every race!
Q: Wait, I m confused. I thought the purpose of us being allowed to drop a race was so we can focus on the ten races we want to. Now you re telling us we can’t do that?
A: In a word, no. We need to treat each race as if it counts. Remember, this is a competition, our goal is not just to rack up the most points, but to prevent our neighboring clubs from racking up the points. That s how to win under this set of rules. And the easiest way to prevent other clubs from getting high point totals is to beat them in every race.
Q: So in other words, we don’t get a race off?
A: Unfortunately, for all intents and purposes there are no races off this year. Enter each race to win. Under this system, the goal is to screw your neighbor. So even if we have ten great races, we need to kick butt in the final two competitions to ensure we don’t let our competitors pass us at the end.
Q: Okay, good, so we have all the motivation we need to run Snowflake this Saturday. By the way, with the two dropped races, how do we keep score during the season? It would take forever to figure out midseason which club will drop what race……
A: You re asking too much! I mean, you don t ask the timer at the three mile mark of a race what the team scores are during a race, so why should you expect to to know what position we re in during the season? One of the disadvantages of the new scoring rubric is that no one knows where they are until the end of the year. Imagine trying to keep score at a golf tourney where every golfer gets to drop his or her worst two holes. It would be impossible to do!
Q: Wow, that was not the answer I wanted to hear. It s almost as if someone is trying to marginalize the club competition by preventing teams from keeping score during the season! But wait, what happens if a scoring race gets canceled for weather related reasons? I mean, will we still be able to drop two races? Or will they add a scoring race to the schedule? Or will we just be able to drop one race?
A: Hey, just because four scoring races got canceled over the past five years and another race got canceled due to a rainy day scoring malfunction doesn t mean it will happen this year! Don t be so negative!
Q: You have no clue to the answer, do you?
A: No, no clue at all. Most likely there will be an emergency meeting of the Club Council, and there will be a huge fight over what to do. The debate will get so heated, it will be worthy of a Pay-Per-View showing. Call your local cable operators!
Q: Okay, I ll make sure to place an order… One more question. You kept saying, for the most part every race counts. What does that mean?
A: Good catch. To be honest, there s a very good chance the March 8K won t count.
Q: Why is that?
A: You see, most likely the Westchester Track Club and possibly the New York Athletic Club will field full teams to that race. So even if we kick butt that race, we might get a relatively poor team score due to the added competition. Hence, count on the March 8K to be one of the two races we ll drop at the end of the season.
Q: So you re saying that the NYRR basically encouraged us to drop this race? That doesn t make any sense! This was supposed to be the most competitive field next to the marathon. And for all intents and purposes, it won t even count as a scoring race? I mean, isn t this a major oversight of the NYRR??
A: For it to be an oversight, you re assuming thought went into to putting together this schedule……
Q: Wait, doesn t this also apply to the NY Marathon as well? Will we be be forced to drop this race due to the added competition?
A: That s unclear. Some years the marathon has been labeled an undroppable race. However, I haven t heard of any rules about that this year. Besides, it makes sense for the NYRR to allow clubs to drop the Marathon. Numerous clubs believe that the excessive and outlandish entry fee of the Marathon prohibits their club from fielding a full team, and I feel that these clubs should not be punished for this. To ensure that all clubs are on an even playing field, clubs should be allowed to drop this race, whether it s in the rules or not.
Q: So if we are going to most likely drop the NY 8K, are you saying that come March I can run the New Bedford Half-Marathon instead of the 8K without feeling any guilt over not running in a club scoring race?
A: Absolutely!! Go and run New Bedford! It s a great race with a loaded field the likes of which will we will never see at a Five Borough Half-Marathon. Besides, by running the race, we re showing that our club can compete with the top clubs of New England on their home turf! What better way is there to show club spirit than to take on the powers from Boston? Go CPTC!!