As far as I know they do not let you finish. I remember reading they pulled Rudy forgot his last name (double leg amputee) off the course for missing the Kona bike cutoff by a few minutes.

It's even worse than that.

A bunch of years ago, a friend finished the swim at Kona (well within the cutoff). She headed out of T1 and rode just over a mile, and ran over a huge chunk of glass, shredding her tire. The spare tube she carried wasn't enough to fashion a repair. She ran the bike back to T1, still within the swim cutoff time, ran to her bike rack, got the spare tire (and another tube) from the supplies in her bin, and replaced the tube and tire, then ran out of T1 with her bike for the second time.

An over zealous official grabbed her and stopped her from continuing. She explained the situation, all to no avail and was pretty much forceably dragged from the course.

Later she appealed the decision with the race director and was told that she should have been allowed to continue. Too late, her day and race was ruined.

In short, if you miss the cutoff, your day is done.

I almost missed the run cutoff about 20 years ago. But that was because of A) 15:30 cutoff time (not the traditional 17:00 cutoff), B) bulging disc in my back, making even walking quickly, extremely painful C) truly horrendous wind, rain and hail on the day. With careful calculation and monitoring of my walk/jog pace, I made it with 15 minutes to spare. Phew.

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TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

They pull your timing chip so that you have no official time. They will not allow you to continue with the race, no matter who you are. They've stopped Sister Madona in the past.

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My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

This is what I thought. In that case, I think I see an issue from IMLP. Someone who has a double letter last name skipped the 2nd loop on the bike and went on to the run. Perhaps a volunteer made a mistake or a bad judgement call and let her on. Either way, she went on, missed a few check-ins on the run and went through the finish. She posted to her instagram that she got 'DQ'd' by missing the cut-off but was allowed to continue, then posted a video of her crossing the finish line and thus grabbing a medal. It does annoy me, it shouldn't but it does. She was on the cover of women's running a few months ago so she in a place of influence so it doesn't sit right with me. I guess what's worse is that according to Sportstats and IM.com, her result still stands as official. With the apparent 2nd fastest bike split and a 14+ hour finish, I'm sure they can't have just missed that in their analysis...

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

You mean the 4:51 bike time isn't accurate?

Actually, I thought the 13:07 T2 was a bit too fast for her, but now that you mention it...

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Related question - The last male swimmer to get out of the lake at IMLP this weekend was told by Mike Reilly that he made the swim cutoff. Mike told the swimmers left in the water that they only had to be standing in waist-deep water in order to be considered for the swim cut-off. The guy was out of the water and went on to finish the bike and the run, but his finish on the IM tracker app said he DNFd the swim. His official swim time was 2:20:18. With the new rolling start I'm wondering why IM doesn't have someone watching the swim to stop people from getting on the bike like they did when it was a mass start? And I've never heard this rule about only having to be standing in waist-deep water.

No and from what I understand it's because of permits and safety. They have permits up to a certain time and the roads need to re-open after that. If you were to not listen and go out on your own and finish it despite them telling you not to I think they could be liable if something happens. I talked to someone who worked at Ironman once and he told me people do try to go back on the course after they have been pulled off and they had to physically stop them from doing so. Because of this, no it doesn't matter who you are they won't let you go!

I understand why they don't try to pull off swimmers that don't make the cut in a rolling start, it's too crazy and complicated to try and identify and stop those who go over 2:20. In a race like this, I suppose T1 is long enough they could have someone call out the bibs that don't make the cut and have them stand by their bike but it's difficult to pull that off in most races.

Also, I agree that rule makes no sense. It's when you cross the timing mat that needs to ve within cut-off.

In thinking about this more, while it is still likely she spoke to a volunteer who was nice but ignorant and they let her go on to the run course to "finish" it is far more likely she rolled into T2 as if she finished the bike and purposefully shirked the rule to get her finisher's medal. She admitted that she was 'DQ'd' maybe to cover herself when she got caught but it is still wrong in my mind to go through the finish line not having completed the full course. Oh well, as long as her result is properly stricken from the record soon, live and let live, I guess

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

There is no rule about "waist deep water" ... your time starts & finishes at the time "mat" in rolling start races.

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Dave Latourette
http://www.TTENation.com