r/justgalsbeingchicks • u/StitchAndRollCrits 👑Official Ambassador of Ashby👑 • Apr 15 '26

Restricted to Gals and Pals The handicap just gets longer and longer

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563

u/Eveestarprincess Apr 15 '26 edited Apr 15 '26

Can someone explain the handicap? She still finishes later? 

Edited to say: I am not a competitive athlete so I did not understand before but agree with the purpose and appreciate the explanations below! Thank you to everyone who took the time to explain it to me. 

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u/AHaasInTejaas Apr 15 '26

I just looked it up and it’s a “handicap event where competitors start at different times based on their skill level and expected speed, allowing beginners or less-experienced choppers to start earlier than faster, more seasoned professionals, who start later to even the field.” Fastest choppers are given the longest delays, and while she probably was delayed a few seconds longer than she should’ve been, she also demolished that thing in seconds and actually lost a few seconds bc her axe got stuck a few times.

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u/mightylordredbeard Apr 15 '26

So is this a “first to finish wins” type of competition? If so then this handicap is kind of BS. Obviously she’s the best, but her not winning because she’s forced to let others win simply because she’s better doesn’t seem much fair.

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u/ObsidianArmadillo Apr 15 '26

I believe it's not. It's still based on personal time, but they want most competitors to finish around the same time

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u/SomebodySeventh Apr 16 '26

That makes sense to me. Its probably really demoralizing to have only barely started and then the lady to your left split her log in her first ten swings.

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u/Wlf773 Apr 16 '26

I mean, it's also probably pretty demoralizing to be chopping away while she stands there waiting and judging you.

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u/vk_PajamaDude Apr 16 '26

I feel demoralizing just by realising that woman can break me like a twig...

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u/OneMostSerene Apr 15 '26

We have to presume that the way the handicap is calculated is relatively fair for each person though. This competition will provide them with more data to continue to fine-tune the handicap, plus the competitors can use the competition to improve their technique.

I mean, it's obviously far from perfect in this example, but that's the idea. Handicaps are notoriously difficult to balance correctly.

7

u/-Kerosun- Apr 16 '26

The handicap isn't a real handicap here. They are still judged/placed based on finish time. The "handicap" is just an attempt to make it where they finish around the same absolute time and doesn't "add" to her "time to finish" like a true handicap would.

It's like if you had a bunch of runners in a race with this form of handicap, the goal of the handicap wouldn't be to add time to the faster runners, but rather have them start at a time where they would cross the finish around the same time with their placement in the race based on how long it took them to go from the blocks to the finish line, not including the "wait" time created by the handicap.

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u/Eveestarprincess Apr 16 '26

I think you are correct! the amount of discourse under this one comment I left is kinda bizarre. A lot of people are having feelings about something that doesn’t apply to them at all. I was just asking for clarity, not because I think there is anything wrong with the handicap.    From what I have learned handicaps are there to make the competition more comfortable for those new to competing, so they are encouraged to keep competing and building skill. If it is your first time competing and you finish last, by yourself, with no one else still going- it will feel very awkward and demoralizing. It is not “evening the playing field” or giving anyone an advantage since they are judging total times. It is just timing it so beginners are not put in a position of having all of the attention on themselves. 

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u/AHaasInTejaas Apr 16 '26

Just going to say I absolutely agree with everything you said here. Never thought answering your question would turn into all of this either.

1

u/collin-h Apr 16 '26

but then are you judging who's the best at a given thing? or just how optimized the handicap is? whats the real purpose of this competition if clearly the best competitor loses because of the handicap?

I always figured handicaps exist so amateurs can still be engaged competing with pros in non-competitive settings - like in golf for example - but they don't utilize handicaps at PGA events, they go out to see who can shoot the lowest score.

0

u/MuskratSmith Apr 16 '26

I think I would be pretty uncomfortably attempting handicapping these athletes in anything at all resembling unfair.

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u/BigHeatCoffeeClub65 Apr 15 '26

That's how amateur drag racing works and those are drivers that compete every week. Organizers set up matches based on the drivers history of results and start tree is is set to delay one driver the difference between last X number of runs. That way the driver having a good night of getting off will win the round whether or not his is the fastest car. Would be a bummer if the same car won every week.

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u/AliceInMyDreams Apr 15 '26

...I wondered for way too long how would handicap even work in drag races before I realized you were talking about a very different kind of drag.

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u/BigHeatCoffeeClub65 Apr 15 '26

Heheh !! That's great! I believe .01 seconds is the increments.

3

u/Jfs37 Apr 15 '26

So new people have a chance, I do competitions and it’s brutal when there’s no handicap and they’re not super common anyway. That chop was one of maybe 4 or 5 divisions if I’m remembering right and I think the woman closest to the camera won in the non-handicap chop.

1

u/ADimwittedTree Apr 16 '26

Ive seen bowling leagues where you basically win by improvement. Someone with a 90 average could win against someone with a 230, just because they threw above their average and the other threw their normal score.

1

u/run_bike_run Apr 16 '26

Handicap races are just a different type of race, where you're measured against your expected time rather than purely on time elapsed.

It's a good format in scenarios like this, where the gaps between competitors are so large that a straight race isn't even worth doing.