You should have done Ironman melbourne when about 900 people cut the swim. Not by just the bouy but by hundreds of meters.

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Perhaps it wasn't intentional? Someone may have sighted wrong, and dragged some of the crowd with them.

I think you're on to something. But let's stay focused on helping OJ find the real killer.

And not a single official was seen on the bike course that day.

Unfortunately it happens.

When you consider the demographics of the sport though, it is very unsettling. That would make a certain percentage of the cheaters professionals like doctors, lawyers, accountants, and so on, not to mention teachers and others that we assume or hope won't cut corners or cheat in their day jobs. Scary.

toreishi wrote:

Cheating ….I just don't get it

Just be thankful that you don't. It will serve you well in life :)

Scary?

Not at all.
Imagine how they got where they are. All by only hard work and without cheating? LOL!!!

The % of dishonest people with questionable ethics is increasing the further you climb up the socio-economical ladder.

Ever was, always will be.

Cheating in triathlon is rampant.

Cutting swim course.
Drafting on the bike.
Cutting run course.

I see it at every race I have ever done.

I nearly walked away from the sport many times because of it.

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My Blog

Nailed it.

I'm thankful for bad people, if we didn't have them there would be no scale to measure my own awesomeness on.

It's no different than life, relationships and any other pursuit where there is something to gain. Dishonest people will do just about anything to gain an advantage. Maybe 1990 I saw my first blatant cheating with a pack of guys riding along like a sledgehammer through the field at Gulf Coast it was amazing. After that it was just more and more and from what I hear from friends still racing it's a ridiculous plague at every race no matter if it's a tiny little country bumpkin tri or the biggest show in the region.

You'd have to walk away from life!

A percentage of people cheat, and it's probably a lot higher than we'd all like to admit. In some ways, most of us cheat. Do you speed in your car, tailgate, not use turn signals, etc.? Did you take that questionable deduction on your tax return? Did you fail to leave a tip for your server the last time you ate out? What about lust in your heart? I won't even get into the cheating on Wall Street, which is apparently rampant. And politicians? Do you vote for a guy who is an obvious liar, who is cheating on his wife, or "works" the rules on gifts, etc.?

Accepting humans means accepting many of their faults, but doing your best at all times to be an example to others. So, do your races, don't cheat and know you have done the right thing.

I don't expect perfect behavior from anyone. I expect a lot of "sinning", however. (FWIW, I'm an atheist.)

Anyway, cheating in a triathlon is hardly a high order sin. I'd worry a lot more about speeders since Americans kill thousands every year by speeding. No one has died because a racer cut the swim course, to the best of my knowledge.

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

What was the Chris Rock line? "A man is only as faithful as his options."?

A lot of people are as 'honest' as the current level of enforcement... sad, but true. There is also a whole lot of rationalization that goes on and as previously mentioned personal integrity and honesty is a sliding scale, no one is at the start of it, we all rationalize our way part way out into the grey one way or another.

It's not all bad everywhere - really.

about half dozen years ago I did a small "sprint" tri, and I didn't check the layout of all of the bouys ahead of race time. Unknowingly I cut past one (kinda like the side of a triangle). A life guard on a board told me (yelled to get my attention). I stopped, looked at the bouy I missed and swam back and around. Cost? maybe 100 - 150 meters. Still won the AG :-)

Going back - a few decades, a racer I know quite well (same age) won the overall at a tri. The bike course was a spaghetti situation, multi loops, jogs, cut-offs, etc. He actually knew the course but, an "official" directed him through a small short cut. After he finished he had the integrity to double and triple check the map and what course the other guys actually rode. Turns out he paid the price for being out of the water first (ex-division 1 swimmer), and he was the first guy - and only guy directed through the shortcut.

He disqualified himself. No one would have known. Kinda like golf.

Some people do have integrity, some people do make honest (but stupid) mistakes (my example).

I'll have to say unlike many posters, I don't see many issues in the races I go to. But, I am mainly focusing on my race and not somebody else's. I don't need some trophy that I didn't earn.

Enjoy the journey, and, let others take the paths they want to take (perhaps karma will catch up with them).

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

You didn't cheat. Neither did countless others. Focus on that. Don't be like the rest of the media and glorify/ obsess about the bad people in society.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

tate wrote:

.....teachers and others that we assume or hope won't cut corners or cheat in their day jobs. Scary.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/...-cheat-in-exams.html
"A survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers last year found that more than a third of teachers admitted using tactics that could undermine their “integrity”."

if your not cheating you dont want to win bad enough

Just get faster. Less traffic, less drafting, more fair racing.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com

I'm with you. I don't get it either. I'm no saint, but I can't imagine cutting a course in a tri. What's the point? Especially if you're MOP, all you're doing is jumping a few spots in the rankings. You can't even get a good measure of how fast you are, so no way to see if you're improving...

Odds are far, far more likely that it was an honest mistake. It's highly unlikely that 10-15 people in a small chunk of space immediately around you would ALL be so dishonest that they would ALL cheat. Just think about it - if a majority of the people around you are cheating, it's vastly more likely that they just were sighting off feet (and not the buoy) and it was an honest (but still penalizable) mistake, almost certainly unintentional. No way that like half the people around you are that dishonest in a race where there's nothing to gain from gaining 20 seconds.

+1, you nailed it

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What are you people, on dope?

—Mr. Hand

You have a strange definition of the word cheating.

How is speeding cheating? Who are you cheating? Fail to leave a tip? What if they were horribly rude and obnoxious? Why should I tip them?

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

+1 (except for the tip thing). Tipping is only the because corporations refuse to pay people enough. I hate it. No one tips the police, a mechanic, a salesman, a banker, an office worker, a window washer etc for doing their job. The only reason that I'm expected to pay and extra 15 to 25% for a meal is because the restaurants don't pay enough.

Thus, "cheating" is a continuum. What some consider crossing the line others don't. Do what you feel is right.

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BC Don
Pain is temporary, not giving it your all lasts all Winter.