Importance of F3J Towmen

Given the recent debate within SAMAA about the importance of recognising towmen as fully fledged team members. I thought I'd post these two photo's forwarded by Jojo Grini.

Here is the US junior team on the top step of the podium with their towmen sharing the moment. To their left is the Italian team with manager and two towmen!!!

Here is Lionel Brink towing for David Hobby in the infamous last flight of the senior fly offs in the 2006 world championships. I wonder what made the Australian team (who had two pilots in the fly offs) choose both South African towmen to tow for them. Could it possibly be that we had selected two excellent individuals to fulfill this vital role.

Sadly it is difficult to explain the importance of good towmen, as well as the direct effect that these towmen have on the pilots overall score, to a bunch of petty bureaucrats who couldn't find their butts in the dark using both hands and flash light, let alone even spell F3J.