Have heard the same repeatedly from many folks. As much credit as the IM organization deserves..they also need to take a hard look at improving the basics.

I wonder how many just ended up dumped on the body - I know I took at least 1 if not two on every station. 2800 people that's around 5000 water bottles every station.

That and the perform stuff is pretty gross.

I dumped A LOT of water on my head. Sorry, I should have left it for you.

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

No, the RD should have enough water on the course. You paid $$$$ to race an IM event, having enough supplies on the course should be a given.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Oh my....sorry to hear. I had a few friends in the 13 hour crew and that might explain some splits!

Swim, bike and run faster. There was plenty of water for the folks who finished way before you. ;-)

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

How long did it take you to complete the race just out of curiosity? It's def. Motivation to get faster, supplies tend to run out for the slower folks.

This is really surprising at its not like a new race or anything. Hope you OK today!

supplies tend to run out for the slower folks.

It's pathetic that WTC ran out of water. Didn't they know how many people picked up their packets? I'm assuming there was no packet pickup on Saturday so minimally they had 36 hours to account for perhaps a higher percentage of starters than they $$banked$$ on. Didn't they know that the forecast was for a hot day? Everone has access to a weather forecast. The slower folks deserve full support too, they paid just as much. There is no excuse.

True story:

One of the early years of IMLP one of the run aid stations ran out of Coke early on. The folks manning the station felt so bad about it that they went to a nearby convenience and purchased all of the diet coke on hand to take back to the aid station. As you all know, those athletes are so skinny they must be watching their weight;)

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Genetics load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger.

Given the fact the same thing happened last year, shows that the WTC doesn't care.

As much as their are hub-bubs when people drown, perhaps the only way the WTC will get on the ball is if a few folks drop dead from heat exhaustion and it is clear that there were no fluids available on the back end of the course.

i didn't see any aid stations without water or ice (finished in 13+hrs with an embarrassing 5 1/2 hr run/walk) but every aid station with cola had only fully carbonated drink. i don't think anyone thought to tell the volunteers to open the 2 liter bottles to de-fizz them (the spare 2 liter bottles under the tables were all sealed).

gastric distress was a major problem out there yesterday. at least half of the people i chatted with were having huge trouble with their stomachs. anyone know how hot it got?

on the bright side, the massage/medical tents did a great job of taking care of people who were in trouble.

I wonder how many just ended up dumped on the body

I know this sounds silly, but this is an issue - and it's getting worse as time goes on. If you wander around many of the bike aid stations, later in the day you see a lot of half and 1/3 full water bottles lying on the ground! This is wasted water. Should they have had more? Maybe they could have, but word did start to get back to race command and here's what race organizers did - they went out and for the run, bought extra water at retail( and they were already ready with extra water because they knew it was hot), essentially selling out the whole town of Penticton for this( palettes of the stuff), plus buying sprinklers and hoses so that people could run through the sprinklers at run aid stations and not dump bottled water over their heads.

Read this carefully and try not to be offended: Dumping water over your head, has very limited to no effect in central core cooling. That is most related to your overall hydration situation ie water that goes in your mouth and stays in your body!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

How many kids had been in that kiddie pool? Any of them leave something behind?

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Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

I just threw up in my mouth a little reading that. I volunteered at IMLP two years ago on the run course and watched the sponges get recycled and cleaned and the black water that was coming out of the sponge-washing tub was disgusting. But then the 'clean' sponges would go right back in the cold water tub, get handed out to athletes who would wring them out all over their faces and get the water in their mouths as they were doing so. So when I pointed out to my coach, who was racing the pro wave, how gross it was to be drinking someone elses dirty sponge water from sponges that were stuffed under arms, down tops, down pants etc...he gloated a little saying that is why it is good to be fast, you get first crack at the sponges. Until I reminded him it was a two loop run so he still got leftover spongewater on every aid station the second loop. Then I think he gagged a little. But drinking out of one of the pools, yuck!!!!!!!

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I would never put one of those sponges anywhere near my mouth ... but then, like a lot of things about long course racing ... some things are better to just not think about ...

I was wearing one of those desoto long sleeve cooler shirts, and I kept the whole thing wet pretty much from Oliver onwards and I was super cool the entire time. Seriously, completely comfortable, like having AC - even going up Yellow in the dead heat. Didn't help as much on the run though.

I dissagree! Dumping icel cld water over your head does cool your body temp down. Its the same thing as people putting ice in their suits and hats. Also it creates cooling as it evaporates, much like sweat... Despite this, for $650+ to race an Ironman what people do with their water is entirelly up to them and the thought of rationing water during these races should not even take a nano second of anyones time. It should be totally assumed that all necessary items a racer is expecting is available to them during the race. My god, race fees are astronomical and little things like having enough water (no matter what the conditions) is a trivial item to have to debate. RRD's should prepare for the worst case scenerio and its not lke this is the first IM for RD. They should have been prepared for a hot day.

I'm not debating that they shouldn't have enough water, but in my experience, dumping cool water on your body makes you feel better for all of two minutes. After that I'm back to dealing with heat on the run. However, I'm sure this is very much a ymmv situation.

Is IMC a "actual" WTC event? I thought they just licensed "Ironnman" to a different race organizer for IMC.

I guess either case they still have a responsibility, but the fault I think lies primarily with whoever actually organizes the race (which could be WTC, but I didn't think so).

Despite this, for $650+ to race an Ironman what people do with their water is entirely up to them and the thought of rationing water during these races should not even take a nano second of anyone's time. It should be totally assumed that all necessary items a racer is expecting is available to them during the race. My god, race fees are astronomical and little things like having enough water (no matter what the conditions) is a trivial item to have to debate. RRD's should prepare for the worst case scenario and its not lke this is the first IM for RD. They should have been prepared for a hot day.

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This times a million.

Whenever you have the logistical issues of that many athletes there will be problems. Its a for profit company. Why should they change when the race probably just increased its numbers and has sold out for 2012? This is why I choose not to do WTC anymore. After evry race people bitch, then sign up and pay more. Go figure.............Sorry. I guess I will get flamed

This was my first ironman and I was one of those back of packers that ran into no water at 3 aid stations before yellow lake. Road up to one aid station after discarding my empty bottle, only to find out there was no perform or water. Volunteer picked up used water bottle, took lid off and filled it half full with a garden hose. I had no choice but to take it but I really was not happy drinking it. Had to wait in line for hose fill at 2 other aid stations so I lost more time that way. I know I did not drink enough, i was bone dry by the time i hit the yellow lake summit. It looked like they had bought store water at that aid station so i had a new bottle there. Suffered the rest of the day. Oh well. I loved the course, the volunteers and so much about this race. I wish that everyone had paid their HST tax so we could have had nice medals though. Picture that last sentence in pink.

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No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up
Laura