trmcgeehan

What happened to Jure Robic in the Race Across America? It looks like he dropped out while leading with only 50 miles to go. I tried to find out on the RAAM website, but didn't see anything. Tom McGeehan, Somerset, KY

paednoch

Jure was victim of horrible race organizers and fly by the seat of your pants rule enforcement. Evidently some of the course "officials" out there are not real good at their jobs. Here is what Happened. Before the beginning of the race at the starting line Jure had to go Pee so he went in a bush nearby and was penalized 15 minutes (before even pedaling one stroke of the race which makes me wonder what if he would have gone pee in a bush last week? would he have gotten the penalty for that one too) Then later on (during the actual race) Jure got caught on the interstate behind a slower rider. The rules say no passing on interstates. A face official pulled up next to the slower rider and talked to them then motioned for Jure to pass. After Jure rode passed the race official penalized him 15 minutes. Later on during the race Jure's team took a mis-turn onto the 2008 route. By doing this Jure had to ride 8 miles FARTHER and through hillier terrain and heavy traffic. When He got to the check point (finally) he was penalized 30 minutes (which is justifiable). Jure was leading the race and actually gaining strength. When He got to the final check point he told the Race officials and RAAM to go and F&@K themselves and dropped out. he may have even won but he was too Pi$$ED. I got the information from gleaning the web. However his blog has most of the information.

DMF 

Penalties have to be upheld by the stewards (assuming they have stewards). So these are not just a series of mistakes by single officials. A sad day.