Redline Rule Changes: Understanding the '25 Cut-Offs & Penalties (No More 7-Minute Cap!)

The 2024 Landscape: The 7-Minute Station Cap

For those who competed in the Redline Fitness Games in 2024, you may remember a specific rule regarding station completion: the 7-minute cut-off. If you gave it your all on a station but just couldn't finish it within the allotted time, your time for that station would be capped at 7 minutes. This was intended to keep the competition flowing and prevent excessive delays.

And as the data from events like the Men's Singles Competitive '24 shows (Figure 2 below), plenty of athletes, myself included, encountered this 7-minute barrier on certain challenging stations. The Deadball Burpees and the Sled Push Pull, for instance, were common culprits where athletes hit this time cap.

According to that rule, the times for those competitors should have been adjusted to reflect this 7-minute maximum for the station if they exceeded it while still attempting the workout. However, a deep dive into the 2024 competition data revealed an interesting quirk: only a very small number of competitors (around 3, from my analysis) actually had their final 'Net Time' negatively adjusted specifically due to this 7-minute cut-off rule being strictly applied in the 'Time Adj' column. This suggests that while the rule was in place, its application in terms of final time adjustments might have varied or been handled differently in practice for most who timed out while working.

The 2024 10-Minute Penalty: For Incomplete or Unattempted Stations

There was a second, more severe rule in 2024 concerning stations a competitor couldn't, or chose not to, complete. This typically resulted in a 10-minute time penalty being applied for that station.

For example, if the timing mat data showed an athlete spent 3 minutes and 30 seconds on the Sled Push Pull but ultimately couldn't finish it (and was judged as such), the 'Time Adj' column in the results would often show an addition of 6 minutes and 30 seconds, bringing the effective time for that station to 10 minutes. I assume it was up to the head judge at each station to make the call on whether the 7-minute "still trying" cap or the 10-minute "incomplete/not attempted" penalty applied. From observing the data, there was some variance; sometimes a 7-minute effective time was logged, and sometimes a 10-minute penalty, even for similar raw station times recorded before incompletion.

Across all events in 2024, the 'Time Adj' column showed interesting patterns: there were approximately 175 positive time adjustments (penalties added), only 8 negative time adjustments (time subtracted, very rare!), and even one instance of a zero-second time adjustment for a relay team on the Sled. These adjustments highlight the impact of penalties and cut-offs on final standings.

Big Change for 2025: No More 7-Minute Station Cap!

Now, for the relevant news for Redline 2025 participants: the 7-minute per-station cut-off rule, where you'd be capped at 7 minutes while still attempting a station, **is gone!** This simplifies things considerably for both the head judges and competitors..

Instead, the focus shifts entirely to completing each station. If you are unable to complete any workout station, a **10-minute time penalty** will apply for *each* station you cannot finish. You can move on to the next station, but that hefty penalty will be added to your overall time.

So, what does this mean for your 2025 race strategy? If you're struggling on a station, the consequence of ultimately not finishing that station is a fixed, significant 10-minute penalty. This makes training for *completion* of all stations, even if it means pacing yourself slightly on your weaker ones, more critical than ever. Pushing into the red and failing a station could be far more costly than taking an extra 30-60 seconds to ensure you finish it. Worst case if you cannot finish a station.

Strategic Implications for Redline '25

This rule change has a few strategic implications:

• Completion is King: The primary goal for every station should now be completion to avoid the 10-minute hit.
• Pacing & Knowing Your Limits: It's even more important to know your capabilities on each station. If you're borderline on a heavy sled or high-rep deadball burpees, is it better to go a bit slower and guarantee completion, or risk it all for a faster split and potentially fail? The data suggests the former is usually wiser.
• Mental Game: If you *do* get stuck, you have a choice: spend potentially a very long time to finish, or strategically take the 10-minute penalty and conserve energy for upcoming stations where you might excel. This will be a tough race-day call.

So, if you find yourself struggling on a station in 2025, take a moment. Catch your breath, assess the situation, enjoy the incredible atmosphere for a second, and then make a smart decision to either dig deep and complete it or strategically move on and smash the rest of your race.