In light of recent results i.e. Ironman Texas, there happened to be a few individuals who not only beat the entire pro women field but also edged out more than a handful of pro men. This happens at just about every race and most likely has been discussed at some point but at what point in your racing career do you bite the bullet and get the heck out of the age group field?!?! If the first 2 podium spots of the age group are occupied by individuals swimming sub 1 hour with a 4:30 bike and a sub 3 hour run while taking out a handful of pro's what the hell is going on?!?! Just hand them over a Kona spot and put them in some personalized ''people with good genes who ran at a D1 college but are only fast enough to be a B or C grade pro but do not want to get their pro card because they will get lost in the shuffle'' class. Thoughts on sandbagging?

That is by no means what the discussion was about but thank you for your useless input.

That is by no means what the discussion was about but thank you for your useless input.

That is by no means what the discussion was about but thank you for your useless input.

Fwiw, I raced in a non-pro race this weekend in Clermont. It was Saturday night. Then I got up and did a non-pro half-marathon as well this next morning.

The reality is we have pro races, >$5000 by USAT, in the US, you need a pro card. If it is not a pro race then you are more the welcome to race, you just can't do a pro race and then enter the age-group field. You have to race as a pro. The reality is I am not a human punching bag all the time. Please don't use a word like 'steal'. I woke up out of bed, walked two blocks and did Ironman Wisconsin. I didn't take someones Kona spot. I didn't train for it, I didn't even know if I could get further than 1 hour into the bike. I wasn't going to travel half way across the world to DNF a race and find out. Sometimes racing in your backyard is best. I do it often. In fact if you look at my bio, take a look at what I say my favorite workout is.

The reality is the local paper wrote it up like I "bandit" the race and that wasn't cool. Although I don't care, you have people in the community that go up to my mom and think their son "bandited" the race like someone does the local 5k. Although I have thick skin, that doesn't mean she does, and that isn't cool. The reality is Ironman got paid for the entry just like anyone else. I wasn't given any special treatment because I was a pro that no other age-grouper would be entitled to. I didn't have my own porta potty, I didn't get an appearance fee from Ironman. Did I shake the foundation a little bit, sure. Did Ironman learn something from the experience, well it has be communicated at least to me that the process has officially changed. I think that is a good thing. The same mistakes won't be made again and I am all for improvement for everything in life.

But back to the topic. I didn't run D1 or D2 or even D3. I learned to swim at 26. I just try to find a better version of myself every day of my life. I look at my competition as people who challenge me to get out of bed and work harder regardless of their background. Should Ironman move to a time-based system or some other system. I don't know but right now Kona is a pretty special thing. There is limited space. I admire anyone that wants to fight to change the system for the better. The reality is you have arguably two of the best age-groupers in the sport at Texas. Ryan finished 4th at the World Champs and has his bowl. Clay is one of the best as well winning two Ironmans last year. Is that sandbaggin? Or is that just racing??? I don't know.

Should we have separate pro distinction for anyone that is a pro but didn't race ITU, how about if they didn't learn to swim until 25+. How about if you are pro and you work part-time, or full-time etc. The answer to me is no. It is a level playing field but the bar is there, keep it simple. The sport continues to get faster and faster and that is a reality. The reality is also the course was short. The course was short on the bike, the run, and it was an ideal day. Matt Hanson went 17 minutes faster than 2015 the year he won, Ronnie went 25 minutes faster finishing 2nd instead of 3rd in 2015. The course was smoking fast, no doubt about it. Moving it earlier helped too but the reality is if we scale Ronnie and Matt's performance, Clay going 9:00 is what the bar was at. That is very typical fast age-group time. If you got a smokin fast time on Sunday cherish it because unlike the 2012 Ironman St George, that time is going to look good on the resume.