03/06/2026
𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐝, 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐲.
What's happening at gives me a cue for a broader reflection on support, influence, and interference in unsupported races — assuming this specific case is as clear-cut as it looks.
From my own experience, and drawing on my philosophy background, the issue is both fascinating and frustrating, because so far, I don’t see any solution
Rules are meant to draw a clear line between fair and unfair. The problem is, I've never found that line to be clear. The concept of unsupported is pretty clear, but as soon as we dig into what it means, it’s chaos. The idea that things must be "available to everyone," rather than clarifying things, makes them murkier in my opinion.
Here's a theoretical example inspired by last year's , which included a ferry crossing:
1. I book a Moby Lines ferry, board it, cross the sea, and keep riding.
2. I find a fishing boat heading the same way. They offer me passage for a fee. I pay, I cross, I keep riding.
3. I meet an Albanian family sailing from Ancona to Vlora with their private boat. They're kind, they offer me a free spot, I get to the other side and keep riding.
4. I'm very persuasive, a talented salesman, and I talk a stranger into taking me across. Same outcome.
All four options are, in principle, available to anyone, n planning, no friends, no pre-arrangement whatsoever. they're just luck, or depend on money or oratory talent. So what exactly sets them apart from "unsupported" principles? In the end, I'm trying to finish the race using whatever I find along the way, and not doing anything detrimental to other riders.
I know this is a provocative example. But it's meant to show that the threshold doesn't really exist — or rather, it's nowhere precise.
In philosophy, this is the classic paradox of the heap, or sorites paradox: if you remove one grain of sand at a time from a heap, at what exact point does it stop being a heap? Is 5 grains enough to make a heap? Or maybe 6, 10, 1000? And why?
[goes on in the first comment]