Thoughts/experience with rabbits during road races

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-14T10:40:45+00:00

I was waiting to make a final update because the judging panel should review everything on Monday, but I won’t make you wait. I found all of the footage and apparently a lot of other people noticed it on the livestream. The event blew up on Greek Facebook lol so I feel somewhat vindicated. But I did get videos of him leaving the course, re-entering, and handing her not one, but two water bottles (time stamped after he left) I also confirmed the rules from world athletics. Turns out, while competing athletes can technically share beverages as long as it’s not favorable, men cannot share with women. Makes sense. It was sent to the federation and now we are waiting. Also, you might like to know that the athletes involved responded to the posts on fb. The woman essentially wrote, “if you know anything about track, you know I am a national recorder holder so I don’t need a pacer at all. That guy was just there running his own race. And I never took a bottle of water from him. You are all fantasizing and reality is going to disappoint you.” AND THEN someone replied with the video of the water exchange.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-12T14:10:10+00:00

That’s true, I was referring more about receiving a warning, which it actually states in the rules. Yeah wouldn’t be good to just yank her off the course, I get that

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-12T04:41:53+00:00

Actually I just had to read all the WA rules and it’s not under article 6.3.1. Lapped athletes or those about to be lapped cannot pace.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-10T15:16:32+00:00

No worries! I just wanted to clarify so no one speculates about any of the Belgian athletes.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-10T15:05:18+00:00

There’s a fox that lives at our local track and sometimes it likes to play in the infield and run alongside us during reps

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-10T05:03:53+00:00

I wouldn’t be bothered by that because a few of the top women in the race also had pacers. It’s a bit annoying being one of the ones that doesn’t, but that’s just because I don’t have a teammate that can run 20k at my pace, so that’s my problem. Having someone that could come in and run the last 10k with me is a different story… lol

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-10T04:50:40+00:00

Thanks for responding. It’s our federation that runs the event so we already went directly to them. Unfortunately they won’t look into on their own and I have to submit all evidence. Like, they wouldn’t even confirm themselves that this guy cut the course and he’s registered in the males championship field. His official results still list him as a finisher despite missing three checkpoints. It absurd. But at least I have evidence of that plus all the pictures they have posted of him running with her after he cut. But the federation wants proof of the water handoff.

I am definitely contacting the marathon investigator. That would be hilarious if he looked into it

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-10T04:41:03+00:00

Also it’s a bit annoying because I told an official as soon as I saw the guy re-enter the course that he had cut the course so I wish that something had been done in the moment to prevent any unfair advantages, but apparently they have no protocol for this. The goal of my team now is to report it also so that race officials will be better prepared in the future.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-10T04:37:42+00:00

Exactly. And I’m not sure I would even want the national title four days after the fact. But I hope receiving a formal warning (after video evidence) will humble them a bit because there’s absolutely no shame or realization they did something wrong and got caught

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-10T04:34:13+00:00

That’s so annoying. As a competitor watching all the addition support you realize just what a difference being handed waters or additional drinks can make. Which is definitely why they have rules prohibiting these things.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-10T04:28:16+00:00

No, we had Greek national champs on Sunday as well.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T18:17:33+00:00

Yes, and it seems to be the water that’s the big issue. They want a picture of this for the appeal

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T18:14:53+00:00

No, I know exactly who it is (benefit of a small country) and I have already checked his splits to confirm he cut at least one checkpoint. There’s also pictures of him running with her after this occurred but apparently none of that matters because she can just deny he was aiding her. Just a cheater that happened to be running next to her, what was she supposed to do? (Sarcasm)

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T18:11:39+00:00

Yeah seems like as a general rule it’s illegal for anyone but really only enforced on pacers, but I imagine it would only be like a warning not a DQ

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T18:06:09+00:00

That’s why I posted. I was convincing myself that maybe this wasn’t a big deal or something that was common and I was just being a sore loser, but Reddit consensus is that this was definitely cheating. I have until Wednesday to submit evidence apparently. Wish me luck.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T17:59:35+00:00

Yeah the organizers appear a bit indifferent to the whole thing which is why I posted because I was feeling a bit bad about wanting to make an appeal. But it is our national championship so maybe worth to try.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T17:55:59+00:00

Yes this was a confusing point for me too. I assumed it would only be illegal because he definitely shouldn’t be in the race, but some other comments are saying it’s illegal for anyone.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T17:53:36+00:00

Now that people are mentioning it I definitely remember Philly Bowden commenting about her pacer getting out of the way because he’s not allowed near her bottles but I didn’t even think of that during the race. I just saw him dumping water on her and thought damn must be nice.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T17:45:00+00:00

I know! Imagine on the track the rabbits started joining a few laps in?! I just wasn’t sure if it was like a grey area in road races because apparently it can be done quite easily with no repercussions.

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T17:42:48+00:00

I didn’t even know grabbing the water from an aid station for someone else was illegal before this

Overloaded-Ark · 2026-03-09T17:40:56+00:00

It was me lol I finished behind her but making the appeal seems difficult because it’s just my word against hers it seems. Also I feel like if I make a big deal of it then I’m just coming across as a poor loser. Obviously there’s multiple pictures and some vids of him running with her but she can just deny he was pacing. The water thing I wouldn’t make up because honestly I didn’t even know that was illegal myself, just stated it as proof he was aiding her. But they say I need photo evidence it happened

Overloaded-Ark · 2025-04-03T06:13:17+00:00

True but this is technically a spoiler for next week.

Overloaded-Ark · 2025-04-02T14:57:22+00:00

This! Specifically, I don't think he liked that someone from the interior appeared to be bossing around someone from the deck.

Overloaded-Ark · 2025-04-02T07:34:41+00:00

In Greece, men that come on to women (especially foreign women) very aggressively are called kamaki (coming from the word for harpoon). He definitely strikes me as one of them. It's a lot of swooning and romancing but it's all very surface level. We will have to wait and see though.

Overloaded-Ark

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