Proposal 37: Downhill: protected riders [ Revision 2 ]
Committee: MuniSubmitted on 2019-05-10
Status: Failed on May 27, 2019
Background
A protected rider is allowed to race in the DH Finals/Elite race under certain circumstances, even if he/she fails the qualification.
Why: a simple mechanical problem or other unlucky situations in qualification could mean that otherwise very strong DH riders miss their main competition, the DH finals. It is in the interest of the sport, audience, sponsors, etc. that the strongest riders compete in the finals.
Who would be protected: in general, only the top riders. For example, the 10 fastest DH riders at the previous world championships would be protected at the next world championship.
The concept of protected riders is also used in other sports. For example, in the mountain bike DH world cup, the top riders based on previous performances are protected.
Proposal
NEW: 5D.12 Downhill: Protected Riders
At the Downhill competition at Unicons, it is recommended to apply a rule concerning protected riders:
The Top 10 male and the Top 5 female Downhill riders based on their results at the previous Unicon are protected. If a protected rider fails Qualification due to a mechanical problem during the qualification run, the rider will still be allowed to participate in the Finals in addition to the riders that qualified the regular way. Assuming 20 finalists, the protected rider would be added as the 21st rider on the start list. A mechanical problem is defined by the occurrence of a broken unicycle part or significant air loss in the tire. A mechanical problem needs to be reported to the Referee directly after the qualification. It is at the discretion of the Referee to decide if a mechanical problem has occurred.
The specifics of this rule concerning the number of protected riders can be slightly modified by the Muni Director based on the number of participants in the Downhill Finals, but need to be announced 7 days before the competition.
Body
The majority of subcommittee members discussing this idea was in favor of a rule that is limited to mechanical problems. Also, protected riders that have a mechanical problem in qualification will be added to the finals *in addition* to those that qualified the normal way in order to not exclude any riders capable of qualifying.
References
Discussion
View DiscussionChange Log:
- Revision 2 changed by Ben Soja (12 May 17:49)
Added a sentence about how to add protected riders: "Assuming 20 finalists, the protected rider would be added as the 21st rider on the start list."
Replaced he/she with "the rider"- Revision 1 changed by Ben Soja (10 May 12:10)
Votes on this proposal:
11 out of 13 voting members have voted.
Agree: 7, Disagree: 4, Abstain: 0.