In article , "Ken
Roberts" wrote:

Seems to me that skating up a hill is observably different from
herringbone -- and therefore consistently-enforceable, if there are
observers.

Gary Jacobson wrote
At Konig Ludwig Lauf this year I saw many people skating
up the steep hills. Why? I don't know.

Because skating up a hill is easier and/or faster than herringbone. And
switching to skating engages some different muscles than classic striding
and double-poling, which helps fight against fatigue.

And when I sked the Vasaloppet, I saw many people skating
around the 80 km mark.

I don't have a big problem with people who sincerely intended to do the
whole race pure Classic, but their grip wax stopped working -- provided they
are not podium-contenders. I guess Jeff's idea of removing the bib seems
like a reasonable way to self-identify the situation. Maybe we could have a
separate category on the official results list, say "FNC" for "Finished but
Not pure Classic".

Actually I feel sorry for people who try to do the whole Vasaloppet course
with Classic technique. Except for that first big hill, it's a beautiful
skating course -- and it was beautifully groomed for skating last year when
I did the Oppet Spar Skridsko.

Somewhat heretically, I can find no basis for disallowing diagonal-skate
in a "classical" race.