If Rankings are based in RT minus the Loads does that mean skipping the countdown at the stage start is allowed? It would save around a Minute.

Yes. And I totally pay attention to the forum, yes >_>

what is the reason for this?

i literally had a cigarette mid run, is it really necessary to penalise this when the game has igt?

For being able to complete the run in as little (real) time as possible, i.e. speedrunning.

i'll say again: igt