dr steve wrote:
sounds like a wave start to me! pro wave elite wave and then to mob.... why would pro's and " elite's" want a wave but you think most don't?
Perhaps I misspoke (misswrote?). Yes, if we want to get literal, there is currently a "wave" system in place now - albeit a pro wave and a rest of us wave. Adding an "elite" wave would add another, but I wouldn't equate that with a true "wave" start where you have 10 or 20 different waves.
As for the rest of the racers, or the mob, I do believe there are those of us who like the mass starts. It is one of the iconic aspects of an Ironman (WTC) race. And, as easy as it is to avoid the most chaotic aspects of that mass start (staying to the side or the back), I'm not sure why we should consider eliminating it.
By way of analogy (I know I'm going to get in trouble here, but oh well....), I was recently at the running of the bulls in Pamplona. As we were crammed in the street waiting for the bulls to come, the Americans in the crowd were all saying the same thing: "This would never go down in America. Too much liability." Which I think is a sad commentary on our general mindset. There were no releases to be signed, no waivers over there. I guess the city and organizers trust that a reasonably intelligent person would understand that running along a narrow stone street with thousands of others and 14 tons of terrified bulls could result in injury or death. Nobody forces you to run in the street, you choose to. Bad things happen to people almost every day of the run. You run at your own risk.
I'm not sure how a mass start is any different. Put 2,000 people in a body of water and fire off a canon, and there is going to be some collateral damage. Don't want to run the risk? Then don't get in the water. Want to compete but don't want to get in the fray? Fine, start in the back and let the pack clear. But changing the entire nature of an event that in inherently chaotic and sometimes brutal, to me, seems like the wrong answer.
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. - D. H. Lawrence