Yes but that is not the sense in which most races - horse or otherwise - are timed, is it? The horse race will finish at 10pm and whichever horse is in the lead at that point will win? Uncommon. More… (View Post)

OK then, my wife's uncle had a French punk girlfriend in the early 80s: newly arrived in London from Lyon and wide-eyed with awe at the vivacity of the place. A courtship ensues. One day the pai… (View Post)

Right. From here on, I am adopting a poster-quirk (a la Morris Dancer refusing to use the 'like' button). I've passed 10,000 posts now so I think I'm allowed. I will refer to what… (View Post)

The finishing point is normally an arbitrary point in space, but not in time. Time is the variable you are measuring. In almost all races, the finishing point is an arbitrary point in space, and whoe… (View Post)

But that makes no sense whatsoever as a descriptor. It invites comparison with a race where a particular location is the winning line (like the 100m), but it's a race where who runs furthest win… (View Post)