So the USAT Nationals calendar is up and there will be an age group sprint race in Milwaukee in August 2015. That race will qualify athletes for the 2016 ITU Age Group Sprint Worlds event that we now know will be Draft Legal (DL).
I'm hoping for a constructive discussion (too much to hope?) on how we might - if we were the decision makers - fashion that Milwaukee sprint into a safe and fun DL race. A racce that would serve as a proper qualifier for the 2016 ITU DL Sprint Worlds. A few thoughts in no particular order...
- No process at all. We've never had a qualification for AG non-draft sprint Nationals so we could leave it as is and just make the new DL bike rules plain and let however comes correct race for a qualifying spot. I've already seen the easily anticipated "there will be carnage" posts. I think, not so much. I've race age group DL events in other countries and they work. I like to think that American's can do it too (a maybe not with their lawyers on speed dial).
- We try to entice a few regional RDs to add a DL race to their existing non-draft events. This adds expense so to reduce their losses combine a DL Collegiate & Junior Elite (not Youth) athletes to fatten the fields. This is essentially already done at a few EDRs.
- We make athletes prove that they've finished a few mass start bike races (road or crit) within their registration process. If they've race non-draft triathlons and they've race a few Cat 5 mass start bike races - they might be ready for a DL event.
Thoughts?
Ian
Ian Murray
http://www.TriathlonTrainingSeries.com
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Twitter - @TriCoachIan