They truely are the 3 legends of Belgian backyarding. Everyone could have predicted that they would be the last 3 standing in Belgium. I kind of like that they finished it together, after sharing 110 hours of running together with the rest of the team. This edition was a team event and not an individual event, so I don't see the need to have only one team member remaining and finish solo. Massive kudos to Merijn, Ivo and Frank the Tank 💪
After such an incredible display of human endurance and teamwork they can do what ever they like! Over 450 miles and no meaningful sleep for five days they kept us absolutely riveted to the various media updates every 50 minutes. I can't even start to imagine the how their minds process things amidst the trance state and hallucinations that their bodies must go through. - Okay, disqualify them - don't recognise the record - would Harvey accept he was still the champion? Would Big Dogs be the true apotheosis if the Belgians were not there? What Laz has created is a thing of beauty and no backroom, rulebook lawyer should be allowed to spoil it!
I think the records have to recognised without question, it was an incredible achievement by all involved. At the end of the day I guess Lazarus' decision is final. What was his decision by the way?
Indeed. However, within that team competition is an individual competition also. I still think it’s a subject worthy of debate. What does it mean to win, to compete?
Ok I know its feels wrong that none of the 3 wanted to run 1 more loop to win outright. From an outside perspective it feels like a bit of a shame that we can't quite say 1 person won to get the WR, that perhaps one of them could have gone further. However, try to put yourself in their shoes for a moment. For day after day they have been part of the best team in the world, mutually supporting and motivating each other to keep going. Eventually, 3 runners are left, just a few laps from the WR. They each owe the others something for being part of that team that helped them get were they are now. Finally, the 3 of them break the WR, reaching 110 laps. They each know what it took to get here, what we can only imagine, and know that they all deserve the WR that all 3 of them earned. What I'm trying to say is that without the loyalty and friendship that made them feel that stopping together was the right thing to do, they never would have made it further than any one person has been before. I could be completely wrong about all of this, but watching the event as it happened, this felt like the right ending.
Laz strikes me as a rebel at heart, so maybe he actually enjoys the fact that the Belgians have essentially given his rules the middle finger in the past two world championships. For me, they’ve earned the right to do whatever they want after 110 yards. I’m pretty sure it won’t be the same situation if the three of them are still going at Big’s next year. Of course you could ‘punish’ them by not allowing DNFs onto the at large list, but would you really want to exclude the three best backyarders from the flagship event?? Anyone who is salty, the solution is easy, 111 yards… put up or shut up.
@@jonathancost4927 I think they went through such an adventure together the end result didn’t matter as long as they finished as a team…. It was their decision to stop together and I respect them for that 💪👍 good effort.. there’s no I in team….
For the keyboard warriors thinking they are judges, reading the rules and understanding them would be in order. 6) Winner/Results . The winner is the last person to complete a loop . All others are technically DNF . Results of each runner in terms of distance covered are to be given. . If no runner can complete one more loop than anyone else, there is no winner.
How can ignore those 110 laps? The competition from the other countries was just not good enough. That’s why they could decide on a tie. Next time the competition knows what to do and try to beat the Belgians.
We can't ignore the 110 yards. And I think that's why we are talking about it. If the race had only gone to say 48 yards for example, the punishment of not getting the golden ticket would be enough, because the tied runners would not get on the at large list either. But because they achieved such an incredible number, the draw is forgotten and is really irrelevant to the runners as they have all they came for anyway.
@@FilmMyRun I'd expect there to be a winner in something like the high jump, but they've gone soft and allowed a draw, which thankfully they don't in the backyard, you're both losers. Imagine the FA cup final, teams drawn at full time, and ref asks if they want to continue to extra time and penalties, or just call it a draw and share the title - ridiculous
Rules are rules Stephen, and BYU rules state that there has to be a winner, a tie is not allowed, otherwise the event is classed as a failed event, you said this yourself. Therefore, Belgium should have been DQ’d, simple, they broke the rules!
I guess Laz makes the rules and he can decide what to do in such cases. He probably feels t would be churlish to enact the rules so aggressively in the face of such an accomplishment. That said he is very strict on some rules. See if the race had only gone to say 48 yards for example, the punishment of not getting the golden ticket would be enough, because the tied runners would not get on the at large list either.
The rules have been enforced perfectly. There was no winner. They still get credit for the laps run, but none of them is a national champion, and none of them get a golden ticket. If the rule was that only the winner’s laps count (in other words, everyone but the winner is DQ rather than DNF), then the sport would make no sense. For example, you’d have to say that Megan’s new women’s WR doesn’t count because she didn’t win. The truth is, yards completed always have counted, and the Belgians ran 110 yards, so they get credit for them, whether they DNF’d or won outright.
I think they are gaming the competition. Because they are on the at-large list, they know they will go to Tennessee. I think their race should be cancelled and their record... not recorded. In other sports they would be disqualified. There are rules. You follow them. Period.
@@FilmMyRun Matt and John did not do so in 2021. They followed the rules, and gave us an epic competition (perfectly captured by an excellent movie...). That is what all this is about. The aim is not to beat distances. There are actually ultras that are longer. The aim is to be the last one standing. Which involves physical prowess, but also mental strength. Since they all reach 110, they could have gone longer.
You should read the rules before being the internet judge. Rules where followed, the result is correct to the rules. 6) Winner/Results . The winner is the last person to complete a loop . All others are technically DNF . Results of each runner in terms of distance covered are to be given. . If no runner can complete one more loop than anyone else, there is no winner.
@@Diegozijnyoutube I think the nuance is in the sentence….’if no runner can complete another loop….’ The argument would be from others that at least one of them could have completed another loop.
Record should be null and void unless there is a true winner in line with the rules. That's the ethos of the event, go til you can't go an more. Its disrespecting the event to quit like that.
So with that logic, anyone who isn't the last man standing has no true personal best laps, they should be void and nullified to hell. Also the rules state that in order that on the last lap the person does not finish said last lap they still are a DNF, so in the spirit of the rules this happened. So the rules were followed.
