> What does it look like to you ?  If you were the sole 
> judge of
> whether he should compete, what would you say ?  Where 
> would you draw
> the line, if ever ?  Paraplegics in wheelchairs are not 
> allowed to
> compete in marathons because they trash the able bodied 
> competition.

No doubt a quick glance over suitably presented material 
could convince me to make an on the spot a decision.
I haven't spent the time required to form a decision that I 
would consider would make vast sense to most other informed 
people, and I know that attempting to do so would be a waste 
of my time and theirs. But, fwiw (variable) I would see the 
wheelchair marathon issue as a quite different one. Which 
doesn't mean it is. Wheels change things in a way which is 
clear to many. Any lawyer who couldn't argue that case well 
enough would be highly incompetent. One thing that "helps" 
his case is the small body of relevant example material to 
call on.

I know one paraplegic wheelchair triathlete and he would 
outcompete me in just about any competition you could name, 
given equipment suited to his physical arrangements, and 
mine. I may be able to survive in a fight to the death if I 
could escape instantly. If it was held in a locked room I 
would die in seconds. He is so much more physically capable 
than me that any contest would be a non contest. I'd have to 
disqualify him from any competition that I was ever entered 
in to make it a fair one :-).

"Blades" bear some comparison with pole vaulting poles - 
where the change from stiff poles to glass transformed  the 
records. It has been estimated that carbon nano tube poles, 
when/if available, may add 1/3 to the current record of 
slightly over 6 metres. The 1912 record was 4.02 metres.




        Russell


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