It is not just at ironman races that people have the "I'm the centre of the universe" attitude. You see that in our society regardless of where you are ...... waiting in line at a movie, grocery shopping, every day when you drive a car.
In my experience, people racing at ironman events are usually more courteous than the general public. When I did my first ironman race, after 10 years of racing short course and half ironman events, I was very pleasantly surprised by the swim start. I was prepared for much more abuse than I took (It was at IM Canada and there were 1800 starters) considering some of the age group wave starts that I had been in.
I think that at ironman races the biggest etiquette problem is the "bike pee". It should never be done when anyone is within about 20 bike lengths on a windy day!
One other thing that I just thought of. In Penticton you can lend your training wheels to the bike support team so that they have spare wheels for technical difficulties. My tire was fine on my rear wheel when I lent it out but when I got it back it was worn right through to the inner casing (probably got used and the rear brake wasn't adjusted properly for that wheel so the user was locking up the rear and peeling rubber off my tire). If you ever get in a situation where you swap and borrow gear from someone, check it over before returning it.
In my experience, people racing at ironman events are usually more courteous than the general public. When I did my first ironman race, after 10 years of racing short course and half ironman events, I was very pleasantly surprised by the swim start. I was prepared for much more abuse than I took (It was at IM Canada and there were 1800 starters) considering some of the age group wave starts that I had been in.
I think that at ironman races the biggest etiquette problem is the "bike pee". It should never be done when anyone is within about 20 bike lengths on a windy day!
One other thing that I just thought of. In Penticton you can lend your training wheels to the bike support team so that they have spare wheels for technical difficulties. My tire was fine on my rear wheel when I lent it out but when I got it back it was worn right through to the inner casing (probably got used and the rear brake wasn't adjusted properly for that wheel so the user was locking up the rear and peeling rubber off my tire). If you ever get in a situation where you swap and borrow gear from someone, check it over before returning it.