What does RF stand for on XC?

[Shrapnel]

I was looking at results from an event this past weekend, and I saw that someone got "RF" on cross country. What does RF stand for?? I've never seen that before.

[GreyDun]

Rider Fall

[Shrapnel]

Rider Fall

O ok.

But, if the rider fell, shouldn't it be an "E" for elimination??

[Hilary]

Yes, but it explains a lot more than E. E Can mean you had 3 stops at one fence, or 4 stops at 4 different fences or you fell off, or you missed a fence.

We now have TE for Technical Elimination (rider brain fart), and Mandatory Retirement for a horse fall - vs. just R for the rider deciding to call it a day.

I like that it explains what happened. It does mean you have to understand that a rider fall = elimination, but since it's a rule, we all should know it and can make that leap when reading a scoreboard.

[ezmissg]

O ok.

But, if the rider fell, shouldn't it be an "E" for elimination??


Just guessing here, but I wonder if they are using RF as a more distinct code so that they can gather data more efficiently.

If so, seems like a good idea to me.

[kookicat]

Yes, but it explains a lot more than E. E Can mean you had 3 stops at one fence, or 4 stops at 4 different fences or you fell off, or you missed a fence.

We now have TE for Technical Elimination (rider brain fart), and Mandatory Retirement for a horse fall - vs. just R for the rider deciding to call it a day.

I like that it explains what happened. It does mean you have to understand that a rider fall = elimination, but since it's a rule, we all should know it and can make that leap when reading a scoreboard.

Agree- it's much better now it's more detailed.

[lecoeurtriste]

The new designations went into effect on Aug.1; it seems that the USEA/USEF are trying to give each reason for non-completion its own designation (for clarity--E, R, MR, WD, TE, RF, S).

[tle]

S?

[fooler]

s= scratch

[tle]

But isn't the definition of a scratch one that never shows up... therefore never is *really* an entry in the first place? If they're not an entry, how can they receive a score - letter OR number?? I know a former organizer who never reported scratches... worried that someone at USEF would want starter fees for extra names (which I really don't blame him for thinking that might happen).

[deltawave]

I think up until the moment you trot down center line you can still "scratch", but after that you must "withdraw". Wouldn't bet the farm on the definition, that's just sort of stuck in my head.

[tle]

Sure. But up til you trot down the center line, you haven't "started" the event... which to me means you will get a score, even if it's a W.

I wouldn't be teh farm (if I had one) on me thinking correctly, but it just isn't making any sense why when looking up a competition record, you'd EVER see an S. The only reason I can see for tracking these is maybe for either organizer information (someone who consistently S's) or for horse buyer information - but S is about as descriptive as a generic E -- you don't know if they S'd for horse injury or because their truck broke down and they couldn't get to the event. Either way, they didn't go and a gap in competition record would be just as useful as tracking yet another Letter.

[deltawave]

Maybe it's as simple as how the scores are actually recorded and reported by the secretary. Sometimes the big hand-written scoresheets are the main form of record-keeping, and if they put in a scratch for Joe Blow, that is recorded for convenience on that big "master" scoresheet and transferred over when the official report is made. Events that don't use that method might not bother to record the scratch in Joe Blow's column because they're generating a new scoresheet after every phase. Does that make sense?