I raced at IMLP this past Sunday and can only say that I've never seen a better, more dedicated set of volunteers, each of whom braved the lightning, cold, rain, and (a few) unappreciative athletes. The circumstances were exceptional, given that the swim was cut short for safety reasons. That forced the density of athletes all to come into T1 during a small window of time -- the top of the bell curve, so to speak. The volunteers were overwhelmed but professional in every regard. The fact that any of us got anything back in those conditions, except perhaps our bikes, is amazing.

What's next? Should athletes be complaining that the volunteers didn't double-tie their bags, which caused all of our gear/clothes in our transition bags to be soaked from a full day's worth of rain?

I'm sorry, but I find myself liable for anything that's missing. The policy is consistent whether it's WTC or not. And, neither the WTC nor the RD said anything at the briefing (which I attend at 95% of my IMs) that volunteers would be responsible for lost or stolen property.

I agree - the volunteers were great at LP this weekend. I'm sorry the OP lost their wetsuit and sorry they had a rough weekend but sometimes there is no blame - there is just bad luck. My advice would be give it a few days and see what happens, deal with the RD and WTC with respect and if you need to buy a new wetsuit in the end so be it, the luck will come back around.

shit for brains was referring to people who shouldn't race with things they can't afford to lose. that's just dumb.

every time you get off your bike at t2 do you run it to the bike stands or do you give it to a volunteer? what if the volunteer tosses it down a flight of stairs or trips because he forgot to tie his shoe laces and snaps your frame in half? what if a volunteer had to go take a piss and forgot to notify someone else and your bike is stolen? is WTC not responsible?

look at your next athlete guide. in the past it has said that bike transition has security through the night, it states that you have to show proof of ownership to go in and out/take things in and out.

the OP might have said the volunteer "didn't put my wetsuit in the bag" but he could have said my wetsuit was not in transition when i went to pick it up. there is only 2 things that could have happened.

1) it was misplaced (very possible, await lost and found)
2) it was stolen

if it was stolen it SHOULD be on wtc as they are the ones that are enforcing who gets to go in and take what out of transition.

look, i'm not saying that i personally would sue or do what the poster is doing. i'm saying that i think he has a right to feel the way he does. that and saying that you shouldn't race with things you can't afford to lose is stupid as shit. i don't know how many people can "afford" to lose a multi thousand dollar bike.

My wetsuit was missing after a race last year. I had my name and phone number on the white tag, and I got a call 5 days later from the lady who had been racked next to me and accidentally grabbed it. She said her housekeeper unpacked her bags and noticed that there were 2 wetsuits, but she forgot about it and was just getting around to calling me. She didn't have time to go to the post office and mail it, which is another story, but I did get it back. Hope yours turns up!

Diane

You're making a moral argument, not a legal one. I'm pretty sure the legal stuff you agree to when you sign up says that WTC is not responsible for lost or stolen stuff. If my bike went missing, I would definitely be upset that someone stole it but I don't believe WTC would be obligated to reimburse me. If it was my call and a bike was stolen from transition, I would probably work with the athlete toward some reimbursement. If the bike was damaged, that's another story because I wouldn't know how and when it was damaged. A wetsuit is a different story. You can't really accidentally misplace a bike the way you can a wetsuit. The guy's wetsuit could have ended up in another athlete's bag by accident. I don't think he/she ever replied if their name is on the wetsuit. If it's not, shame on him/her. If it is, there's probably a good chance he/she will get a call in the next few days like what happened to another poster. In either case, I disagree with you that it should be on WTC. Like it or not, this is a risk we all run.

Fine....I'll be the blunt one. This guy sounds like a dim bulb (based on his illiteracy here) and an immature and entitled goof.
The sarcasm sounds like that of a pimply 15 year old. Grow up.

There is always one who has to get personal

You know nothing about me - self entitled ?

Well done you for spotting my spelling mistake, you must have gon to skool - your mum must be proud (note the sarcasm)

Well done you for hiding anonymously on a forum, aren't you the brave one (note more sarcasm)

Dick head

No, they are not. Your bike. Your responsibility. If you choose to trust a volunteer, that is your risk.



Have you ever had your wetsuit checked to confirm it was yours when leaving transition? No! There are no bib tags to tie to your bib number. It is like your goggles. There is no way to confirm they are yours or someone else's. They only check the bike number and bag numbers. WTC doesn't "enforce who gets to ... take what out of transition". They don't check bag contents, etc. or all the other crap people have in their hands.

I know this is waaaayyyyy off topic, but you just touched on one of my pet peeves.

Don't call this guy out for being anonymous when you have no personal information in your profile either.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I know he was replying to your comment but think he was referring to ahhchon? If he was referring to him, then I kind of agree. Again sorry for your predicament, but you seem to be more level headed now. Hopefully you'll be getting a call from someone who accidentally had 2 wetsuits in their bag.

maybe they should. someone walking out with 2 wetsuits could potentially be obvious judging by the size of the bag. they could always ask to check. what next, walk out with a few helmets etc? i'm not saying that the WTC definitely owes him something. i just spot a flaw in the system. for the most part we triathletes run by the buddy/honor system where we trust that no one is going to steal from each other but in the end WTC must provide some sort of check and balances to make sure people are not stealing from each other.

sooner or later some punk is going to realize he can just take wahtever he wants from transition. or what if an athlete gives his card to a friend and the friend is some kind of clepto and steals a bunch of stuff? granted, both instances are slim but i would hate to be on the wrong end of that. ya'll speak a big game, but if you lost your 700$ wetsuit you would be bumming like him and searching for answers as well.

I am sorry to hear about your lost wetsuit.

I was an IMLP T1 volunteer. We TRIED OUR BEST to help everyone out and overall I think we did a pretty decent job. As someone mentioned here, at one point it became quite chaotic but we kept our cool because the athletes needed help and an stressed out volunteer wouldn't be much help to a stressed out athlete. Our instructions were simply to help out and make the transition easy. To do that, I personally believed that we had two responsibilities: (i) Help the athlete change into his cycling clothes, riding gadgets, shoes, helmet, etc; and (ii) Put the wetsuit, goggles and towel into the T1 bag. I personally put the wetsuits and goggles of all those I assisted into the T1 and I would like to think all of us did. There really was nothing else to put into those bags except for those two items anyway. Sometimes, the athlete decided that he did not need his sunglasses, or gloves, or compression socks, so we would put those back into the bag. To be sure the contents do not spill out, we tied the bags well before putting them aside. There were a few times the athlete realized he needed something else from his bag after giving it to us so we had to find his bag in the pile. That was not easy but we were able to find his bag again.

By the end of our shift, we were all soaked, drenched and tired but happy that we could have helped. A good majority of the athletes were honestly thankful and said many kind words of gratitude before they continued on in their IM journey. Knowing what it is being on the receiving end of this job, we all did our best.

Frankly, I do not recall wayward wetsuits lying around when we were finished with the entire transition job. We cleaned up the place pretty well and anything we found valuable (a pair of sunglasses, etc.) was handed over to the IM official in charge of the tent. The only reason I could think for a lost wetsuit is that it ended up inside someone's T1 bag, particularly someone who did NOT have a wetsuit to begin with. That would have been unfortunate, but that would have been an honest mistake. I do hope you find your wetsuit. I am an Ironman too and I would not want to lose any of my stuff in any transition area - regardless of value.

Whatever I have described here happens in IM LP every year, give or take a few little changes. I know as I have raced and volunteered IM LP a few times.

I do hope you find your wetsuit.

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....my 11th trip to IMLP and I thought the same thing regarding the volunteers. I went up to someone who seemed to be running the show when I picked up my bike and asked if she was in charge and she said she was....(I think she was waiting for me to drop some @#$% on her?).....I told her that I thought they were outstanding.

FYI....I packed all my stuff in my own bags when I was finished and got everything back!

Yeah I'd be bumming but not blaming. He's even come around and admitted he wasn't in the right frame of mind when he posted this originally. Have you done an IM? There's a lot of people to check, it would take awhile. It'd essentially be a security line at the airport, after doing 140.6.

WTC does a decent job as is. It could be worse, they could do no security on T1 and T2 bags like SN bags. Rest assured you won't see anything back from SN bags