Why Have Unverified Results On The Rankings?

[Mike Caviston]

I don’t understand why anyone would take the Rankings with anything but a very large grain of salt. What does “Verified” mean? When I finish a workout there is an option to get a verification code, but what does that prove? Who verifies that it was me doing the workout, and not a bigger younger substitute, or me and three friends rowing a relay? What does “Race” mean? Most people who designate “Race” provide no information about when and where the race occurred. I should be able to look up the official results from the actual event. Does anybody authenticate the race claim?

Like others, I’m curious about how I stack up against my peers or even those younger or heavier than me, but I don’t expect to learn much from the Rankings. In my category for the previous couple of seasons, the top 2K times are well below the current world record, but they are marked “Verified”. For 2K, I personally don’t care about anything but results from live, in-person races at a venue with all contestants competing at the same time in the same place (even if the results of a virtual race are beyond dispute, the performance was not done under the same conditions as an in-person race – a separate topic I could go into in great detail, but not now). If I want to get a sense of how I stack up against others for distances like 6K or half marathon, I don’t take a fast performance in the Rankings seriously unless that person has competed at some time in public so there is a verifiable point of reference. When I was in my 40s and was the current record holder in my division and winner of several indoor titles, there was an individual who never raced in public but for several years entered the rankings at several distances. Interestingly, though his claimed 2K was slower than mine, his scores for distances/times from 1K to 60’ were at the top of the rankings and much faster than I could row (in fact at age 49 he ranked a 60-minute piece of exactly 18,000 meters!) But there were several scores submitted by people I had actually raced against, so I could get a more honest idea of what was reasonable.

All this only applies to those who (like me) are curious about best performances and accurate comparisons with others. I don’t mean to offend anyone just trying to keep track of their workouts (which don’t have to be validated to my or anyone else’s satisfaction), but combining a workout-tracking platform with competition results (“Ranking” is in the title, which by definition is judgement of performance) is bound to lead to conflict.

[Elizabeth]

I wasn't aware that anyone except a race organizer (e.g. British Rowing for BRIC), the ErgRace app, or C2 employees (upon request) can cause a score to reflect "Race" - do you know differently, Mike?

[Mike Caviston]

All I know is that as that as I scroll through rankings and click on names with "Race" next to their results, sometimes a recognizable race such as British Indoor will be named, and I can check the results and find out more about the race (other results, venue, etc.) but I have to take the time to look up the BRIC web site. Other results with a "Race" designation list a race that produces no results in Google, and still others simply say "Race" with no other information, making it impossible to look for more details. It would be a good policy if whoever enters the "Race" designation were required provide a link to the offial race web site. I wish in general it were easier to find official race results, since no source (C2, RegattaCentral, Row2K etc.) lists all races in the world and poking around different countries' championship pages is tedious and frustrating for us priviliged 'Muricans who only speak English. I'm curious about how my 2K races from the recent racing season stack up.

[jamesg]

I use mostly ergdata but this a.m. used the PM5 code for a 2k (av 124W), since I sometimes get the ergdata sequences wrong. If I load without code, it's a promemoria to see where I was for something similar, such as a single interval in a set. The wods include work such as 12x1 minute; and by the time I get to number 12 I'm quite sure I'll be warm enough to risk sudden death.

[H2O]

Verification only certifies that the row has taken place as submitted but not by whom.
You could hire someone to do the rows for you.
Obviously nobody does this.
The problems only show up when people submit a time for a continuous row which in fact was rowed as an interval
or put in completely ridiculous times beating the WR in impossible fashion. This is easily identified.
Otherwise I am willing to trust the honesty of the community.

[Carl Watts]

There is no honesty in the community, that's why threads like this have been popping up for years.

Events like the monthly Challenges were so annoying, I stopped rowing them. You literally row your guts out for a month solid with practically no days off to be beaten by people just manually entering dream numbers.

Its really simple, everyone in a competition has to have an online logbook, its publicly visible for at least the duration of a challenge and all rows are verified only and dump the manual entry of any meters completely from the system. If your row "Crashes" its too bad, I ended up with multiple options to get a verified row so you just need to get organised with your hardware, after all you are serious about this competition right ? Chance of losing a row completely is non existent with a PM5 that's been out now since like 2014. If you are still trying to run a PM2, its time to trade it in, they stopped making it in 2003.

[Ruin Christmas]

Well I already ratted on 2 people ahead of me and C2 DQed them, so I may be a grifter and a snitch, but I'm doing my part.

[Erik A]

If you are still trying to run a PM2, its time to trade it in, they stopped making it in 2003.

My Son is down in Antarctica this winter and they have C2s down there but only with PM2s. if i had known that i could have let him take my fully refurbished PM3 down with him.

[JaapvanE]

You literally row your guts out for a month solid with practically no days off to be beaten by people just manually entering dream numbers.

And some people just row for their own enjoyment and don't care about verifying or what others think.

Events like the monthly Challenges were so annoying, I stopped rowing them. You literally row your guts out for a month solid with practically no days off to be beaten by people just manually entering dream numbers.

The challenges are no competitions? They are just there to trigger people to row X meters in Y days. Nothing more, nothing less. No winners announced, no prizes to be gained. The rankings are there to show people that you are not alone and to inspire people.

I usually just join and sometimes do a bit extra if needed, but usually I'll just keep following my schedule.

after all you are serious about this competition right ? Chance of losing a row completely is non existent with a PM5 that's been out now since like 2014. If you are still trying to run a PM2, its time to trade it in, they stopped making it in 2003.

While not require a test for doping and illegal electronics while you are at it? You are taking these challenges waaaaaay to seriously.