That's my plan so you at least won't be the only person getting yelled at. So happy they switched to this, the previous first-come, first-served method caused so much congestion behind the island.

Best of luck racing!

Good! I was dreading having to wait there for so long! I was planning on bringing a folding chair and handing it off to my wife when we go!

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

I knew I should have done Louisville this year instead of Chatt.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

That's the way it's worked at IMTX- show up close to start time and find your place. Warning though. If you want near the front you will have to work your way through the mass of people.

I'm fine with that as long as others are. Last 2 IMs I did just slotting in wherever was the norm. I was just worried because of Lou's history of first-come-first-served.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

That and last year I was in line about 2/3 back. When I got to the changing tent, there was a line out the door of guys waiting to get into the tent. I was like OH HELL NO. Out the way, I gotta go! I'm not a great swimmer, but if everyone seeds appropriately, this will make a huge difference for me this year😁

Or over a fence. I mean, not that I've done that before.

I had the fastest swim at IM Louisville last year.
I arrived late. Wound up at the back of the line.

I think it was advantageous to be passing people on the swim and the bike.

and THAT will be the big question. How well did the self seeding go in other races this happened at?
I can imagine a few people seeding a bit faster thinking they'll gain some benefit.

Self seed with an aspirational time and you risk (deservedly) getting clubbed like a baby seal from the folks who appropriately seed themselves.

They did this at IMMT. It was really good. Made it nice for first timers like me as I didn't have to get plowed over by everyone. Also gave me some time to finish my Cliff bar, situate my Garmin, and get my self composed.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

I'm doing IMLOU first time this year and have a couple of questions:
How do athletes get from transition area to the swim start? By foot?
With the self-seeding and 7:30 AM age group start how late should I arrive there? I'm targeting 60 min swim.

Thanks!

Yes, by foot.

I'm planning on a 65 minute swim, I swam 67 last year. 2 weeks ago I swam 71 in WI. I will line up at 7:00.

You will have to walk a bit to get to the swim start.

I did this event in 2008-10, and watched my wife do it in '14. Because of first-time jitters causing everything to be stressful, I was a bit annoyed that I had to walk so far back even after arriving at the bike to inflate and to check in my race-day bags. To me, it didn't seem fair that it was first-come, first-served, because I knew, from other message boards, that some people who were worried about even making the swim cut-off got to the very front because they knew they'd have the extra buffer of 2:20 from the time the LAST swimmer got in. My thought was that if an entrant can't even expect to make the swim, why even enter? I thought this especially since I was a FOP swimmer (57, 57, 55 respectively, as it turned out, for my three races there) and that I'd probably be swimming over people the entire time. Turned out, I was swimming over people the entire time. But, in the second and third years, I didn't even really care, since I knew that swimming was the least worrisome part of the race, and that I could pretty much coast and go under :60.

I suggested to the RD, with whom I was friends, that at least a swim self-seeding should be considered, maybe even an assigned seeding. It would be easier on everyone, without the added burden of having to wake up at 3:15am just to check in and walk an additional 1/4 back from the swim start because of the early birds. I even suggested that swim self-seed times be considered from other races, with a priority being all 140 races, with corrals up to 1:20; then 70 races, with corrals up to :38; then all others, self-seeded. A system of either number ranges on bibs or some color of bracelet/bib would work well, PROVIDED that the corrals were big enough to avoid scrunching people together. It works at major marathons, why not IM?

I hope this is a step in the right direction, though I do think there still will be lots of people moving up in line.

Other than that, with the races being in October, they won't deal with the heat issue as much as they did back in the early years when it was in August. They learned to make sure there was enough water and fluids out after one particularly hot race year.

Agree with everything you wrote. I was considering doing louisville this year and the first come first serve swim start was the biggest negative for me and one of the biggest reasons I decided against it.

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