There was a thread on this last week.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

Gee, I didn't notice it, and there is a lot of discussion about it on the IMNZ yahoo group.


"IMG is pleased to announce a new initiative at Ironman Western Australia - the John Maclean Foundation Ironman Teams Event. This event has been created to assist the Official Ironman Western Australia Charity, the John Maclean Foundation in raising funds and awareness for children who use wheelchairs.

In what will be a first for Ironman events worldwide, the teams event will be open to all triathletes, with teams made up of three people with each athlete required to do only one leg of the Ironman course, which consists of a 3.8km swim, 180km ride and a 42.2km run.

The John Maclean Foundation (JMF) is the charity of Hawaii Ironman Hall of Famer John Maclean. John was the first wheelchair athlete to complete the Hawaii Ironman and has since conquered the English Channel , the Sydney Olympics and most recently the Molokai Challenge.

JMF provides funding for young Australians under the age of 18 who use wheelchairs. Over the past three years, JMF has provided over $250,000 in funding for new wheelchairs, medical and surgical needs, computers, musical instruments and vehicles. The purpose of this funding is to improve the quality of life for these young Australians and to help them achieve their own goals.

John, who completed the entire Ironman Western Australia last year in a personal best time, will be making up a sporting celebrity team that will include four-time Australian (surf) Ironman Champion , Ky Hurst .

“The Ironman Western Australia team’s event is a fantastic opportunity for us to grow the foundation, while at the same time maintaining strong links with the sport where it all began for me” said John Maclean, founder of the charity and Ironman Hall of Fame legend.

“I’m hoping we can get plenty of teams participating in the race. It’s an opportunity for those athletes who may not have been able to participate in an Ironman event before, but have always wanted be a part of this amazing race.” said John."

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Those who know do not speak, those who speak, do not know.

Don't they have this at Roth as well?

-C

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

Yep, and I heard stories that it was part of the reason WTC and Roth went their separate ways.

The original thread: http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=545679;search_string=IMWA;#545679

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I must be spending too much time in the Lavendar Room.

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Those who know do not speak, those who speak, do not know.

...what I would like to see is an Ironman with a true team event. 4 man (or woman teams). You can draft off your own teamates only for the swim and bike (TTT style). First team to put someone across the line wins. Ideally you have three Bjorn like swim-bike turbojets who can deliver their "runner to T2 in 5:10 of so and then have the runner (who has been "sitting in") all day, bang out a sub 2:40. That would be 7:50, breaking LVL's world record by 1 min.

I met the RD for Roth a couple of years back, seems like the real reason was the $$ WTC wanted and also they wanted mass start where as Roth is staggered. There is no way they could do a mass start in that canal anyway.

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Simple Simon
Where's the Fried Chicken??

yeah, that thread on yahoo for IMNZ is a crack up.

Jeez, people load a whole bunch of stuff onto a triathlon, don't they? IM has become this holy cow that has this kind of sacred status. The reality is, of course, that WTC is a global brand and they will run their brand how they want. It is a business, so whatever pulls the punters in is the main priority.

There is a lot of portentous, pretentious nonsense surrounding IM. People do tend to get super precious about what is only a race. Some of the noises made by people doing an IM suggests they think it is up there with climbing Everest or curing cancer, or something.

IM is only a triathlon. We all like triathlons, and we think they are cool, but life and death they aint. And, under that basis, having teams or whatever is totally fine.

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kiwipat

per ardua ad astra

>>We all like triathlons, and we think they are cool, but life and death they aint. And, under that basis, having teams or whatever is totally fine.<<

That may be your opinion. Obviously it's not every's opinion.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

That would be interesting... but you'd have the "finish" after the first runner, or after the second, or third or fourth?

No maybe about it.

That is my opinion. It is based on the idea that the more people that do the sport, the better.

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kiwipat

per ardua ad astra

but you've got to admit pat's got a point. obviously someone who is one leg of a relay isn't going to feel anything close to the satisfaction of someone who does an IM themselves. if they made out like they were an ironman after doing one leg of a relay, then clearly they've got other issues...

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"At every endurance event, there comes a time when you'll say, 'What the fuck am I doing here?' And then you'll say, 'This is what I do.'"
--John Spas

"...what I would like to see is an Ironman with a true team event."

I think it would be pretty sad to see IM devolve into a team sport where the first person across the line is not an Ironman.

Haim

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"Sometimes you need to think INSIDE the box!" -- ME
"Why squirrel hate me?"

[reply]"...what I would like to see is an Ironman with a true team event."

I think it would be pretty sad to see IM devolve into a team sport where the first person across the line is not an Ironman.

Haim[/reply]

I can't imagine that happening. Most people that do relays are doing relays because they aren't good enough athletes to cover the whole course.

I've done some with my wife just so she can get involved and get her interested and guess what ? she's training for the danskin next may at disney now.

her doing the bike leg for me once made me feel like I was missing something that day - but it planted a seed.

and a new triathlete has begun to germinate:-)

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"the trouble with normal is - it always gets worse"

- Cockburn

"Most people that do relays are doing relays because they aren't good enough athletes to cover the whole course."

Not always the case, in terms of the 1/2 IM I just did, there were 35 teams - of over 100 racers - it is a team race in many ways, and made up over 1/3 of the entire race participation that day - www.superfrogtriathlon.com

>>I've done some with my wife just so she can get involved and get her interested and guess what ? she's training for the danskin next may at disney now.

her doing the bike leg for me once made me feel like I was missing something that day - but it planted a seed.

and a new triathlete has begun to germinate:-) <<

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Excellent! Good for her!

But, it wasn't an Ironman relay, was it? Planting a seed can (and should IMO) be done at a shorter distance.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

no it was a sprint. something about that many teams doing the ironman distance races bothers me. I dont' know if allowing relays at the ironman distance is a good idea. there's nothing 'ironman' about only doing one leg of it.

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"the trouble with normal is - it always gets worse"

- Cockburn

but nor is there anything 'half ironman' about doing the swim/bike/run portions of the shorter events, either. But plenty of those races allow teams, and lo and behold, the sky has yet to fall on our heads.

I just prefer inclusive to exclusive in most things, triathlon included.

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kiwipat

per ardua ad astra