tucktri wrote:
And can the whole debate about whether Kona is a world championship or not just rest? It is. For the pros. Ask any of them and I'm sure they will say it is. They don't need some corrupt quasi governmental body to sanction it as such.Kona is obviously the most competitive long distance tri in the world, but the funny thing is that probably hundreds of the best long distance triathletes in the world aren't actually there. You have a small field of the top of the top guys and gals (who were willing to chase points racing all over the place), and then a shit-ton of age groupers - most of whom should really be mid-pack to back of pack pros. The current qualification system for ager's and pros is great at discouraging those mid to back of pack pro types from racing as a pro - because it's way easier to qualify as an amateur. So they stay age groupers indefinitely.
There really shouldn't be a distinction between pro and amateur in triathlon. It makes sense for ITU draft legal - where there's a clear hierarchy of races and professionals - but not for long course. As it stands now, the distinction is utterly meaningless anyway. Most pros have full time jobs and barely break even racing, and there are plenty of age-groupers who 'should' be racing pro (though it's well within their rights to not do so). It would be so much simpler if qualification for races like kona were just in general categories - open, masters, and grand masters. As it is with running.
Of course I don't think that model would be most profitable, and since that's all WTC cares about, we won't be seeing it any time soon.
___________________
Twitter | Kancman | Blog