IAAF to Disallow Women's World Records in Mixed Races

Yesterday's NY Times has an article that describes a recent IAAF ruling women's road race performances in mixed-gender races will no longer be considered for world records. Shockingly, the ruling means that Paula Radcliffe's 2:15:25 will no longer be considered the world record, being replaced by her fastest time in a women's only race, 2:17:42 from London 2005.

For Women's World Records, No Men Allowed

This strikes me as a terrible idea. If pacing is an artificial aid to racing performance, then why not ban all pacing, specifically, men pacing men. The gender of the pacers is not relevant; the pacing is.

I once read an essay that decried pacing in track races, arguing that the worst thing that ever happened to Track was Roger Bannister breaking the four-minute mile with substantial pacing assistance from Bannister's teammates Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway. Now, every big meet hires multiple pacemakers to enhance the possibility of records.

Pacing helps. Everyone knows this. It's also a fact that it's much harder to find pacers for women's races. But do these things by themselves mean that men pacing women is fundamentally different than men pacing men?

And what happens if a woman sets a WR record, and then one of the other competitors subsequently fails a "gender test." Does the WR no longer count because it was set in a mixed-gender event?

It seems to me that the IAAF is struggling with the issue of gender in Athletics, but its decisions are increasing, not dispelling the confusion.