Thanks! They actually got back to me within 20 minutes and said they were going to speak with the timing company. They wanted to hold off sending me my third place award incase things need to change, which means they're willing to make the change if they find enough reason. This made me happy enough. Even if they come back and say they can't do anything, I'll be happy that I tried and I'll know what really happened.

a little off topic...Early 90's I raced motorcycles in Colorado (MRA) small time, but there was some money involved...Major Pros would sometimes make their way to the tracks if they were "coming thru town" and would crush it...Doug Chandler was one of them, he would destroy the field and pit in on the last lap so not to take $$ or points from the local guys...a very classy move.

It's not about you getting 2nd instead of 3rd, because, honestly, no one cares about that except you.

What everyone should care about is some douchebag standing on top of the podium where he doesn't belong. This isn't a first-timer making a mistake. You say he has done a 70.3, so he knows enough to know he didn't win legitimately, and knows he didn't ride over 30 mph. The guy needs to be busted.

Why do I care? Because I was passed by a peloton of 25 riders at a 70.3 on Sunday. I saw them an hour later on the return from the out-and-back, and they were still together. Cheaters piss me off.

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<The Dew Abides>

+1
They way I see it:
1. he accidentally missed a loop, he knows he didn't ride 30mph, he didn't report himself and got on the podium anyway => douchebag
2. he intentionally cut the course => douchebag
3. ?

Anyone that has any time in the saddle would have some inkling of their capabilities. There is no way - I repeat now way that this guy doesn't realize that his 30+ mph course average is a mistake. He should have DQ'd himself if it was an honest mistake.

I heard back from the timing company and they were pleased that I noticed the fast times. They took a day to look over the results and corrected the ones that were clearly bogus and said he submitted the correct times to the RD and USAT. Feels good to know they did the right thing. It's a bonus that I now came in 2nd in my AG.

I agree, and have seen an athlete do that.

The guy in my example was leading the bike and a volunteer told him to take a turn that offered a small short cut. He realized it after the race - but, before the awards were given out, and DQ'd himself. And, this was a guy that probably would have won anyway. No argument, no excuses. (I should have known the course, is what he said).

Class guy. So, good stuff DOES happen.

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I saw this on a white board in a window box at my daughters middle school...
List of what life owes you:
1. __________
2. __________
3. __________

Then there's others that will carry on like they really won the race.

There's a pretty competitive sprint tri in my area that brings out the local/regional top guns. I perused the results after the race one year and noticed the fastest bike split was done by someone in the F45-49 AG. Her average speed was like 2.5 mph faster than the male who won the Elite race and had the fastest bike split. Clearly she cut the course somewhere. Her swim averaged something like 2:30/100m and her run was at 10:00/mile pace. Did not stop her from stepping up to the podium and taking her 1st place medal.

There were lots of kudos on Facebook later... "Awesome bike split!" yada, yada, yada. I was the first to chime in and say that she clearly cut the bike course as there was no way a middle aged female AG'er rode 29 mph for 15 miles. Of course I got piled on as some sort of sexist, male bully (and I'm the least sexist man I know)... until the RD came on to explain she only did about half the bike course and DQ'd her. I was amazed some people thought a 47 year old woman with average at best ability somehow averaged close to 30mph for bike, and got venomous at me for pointing out what I thought was very obvious.

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Last year I trained and traveled to a race where I thought I would meet a very good racer in my age group. I had a great race , he beat me out of the water , I passed him early on the bike, I was having a great race and missed a very small part on the run. I figured it out before I finished. I went to the race director and DQed. my self. It had cost time to train, money to travel , I was just sick But I had to tell.

People are generally stupid and rely way too much on emotion over reason and logic. I am surprised you are still surprised by this.

I just don't get people in general sometimes, it isn't sexist to think this about ANYONE male or female. The numbers don't make any sense at all.

I raced with a guy one time where they bumped him up in the pool start line up and he had a crazy fast swim, bike and he had a silly run split because they didn't factor that in... There were a couple of minutes they adjusted before awards and made him seem a little more believable/human but still an Elite level swimmer and biker... he ran a 15 minute and change 5K. He was a legit runner... passed me and looked like he was jogging. :)

And why not be surprised? Here's another anecdote...

I did a short sprint last summer where I was beat for best bike split by the eventual winner of the race, a 29 year old woman. It's not sexist for me to say I've never been beaten on the bike by a woman before, I just hadn't been until that day. A legit swim and run, and I didn't have any reason to think the bike was fishy until I saw the splits a week or so later. It was a two loop 5mi course with plenty of side roads to cut off a portion, and it was not marshalled by volunteers at every road. It wasn't a superhuman split by any means, it was just an impressive one - 24 mph average speed. I didn't know her name (I know most of the racing folks around here), so I looked her up and found her next best was a 20 mile bike race where she averaged 19 mph. Um, maybe a rough course? In that same race were a few names I recognize that I usually ride ahead of that were riding at ~21mph. Um. Maybe a rough day? Whatever. Shit happens. A couple more found results later I had to stop looking, I realized what I was seeing. Benefit of the doubt given, I assume she trimmed the course without realizing it.

The one time I knew I cut a course (by accident) I asked to be disqualified immediately. I know before I start roughly what my finish time is going to be, and I start asking questions if I finish drastically different and I don't know the reason immediately, but surely not everyone knows their ability to that extent and has no idea how well they are going to do or not ahead of time. It's not over-emotional, unreasonable, or illogical to win a race thinking everything is legit if you don't have any expectations of your result. I think it's entirely reasonable to doubt the 47yo woman from the OP's story knew she cut the course and was doing anything with sinister intent. There are those people for sure (recent St Louis marathon for example), but do they really materialize at local super sprints?? I hope not.

Happened to me over the weekend. Pool swim tri (400ms/16mb/5k). My buddy's 17 yr. old kid, who's a State qualified swimmer and very good CC runner, was seeded #1. I was #48. He goes in pool and swims 1:30 faster than anyone behind him. 4 miles into bike, a train crosses the course (oops, thought all permits were secured). Anyway, kid is out front but no real proof of how long he had to wait on train. Officer says 6 mins., and supposedly no one caught him from behind in that period. Hmmm, fishy. Anyway, I catch and pass him around mile 13 of bike, and he catches me on run but only finishes 15 seconds ahead of me. So prelim results come out and I'm the overall winner. But as time passes, I hear the RD and on-site timer are mulling a change to the results to show the kid as winner because of the bike time stoppage (ghost 6 mins). Long story short, he got the win at the end of the day but the next evening it was changed back to show me as overall winner. The boss timer contacted RD and said the change should have never been allowed...train stoppage just an unfortunate event and the true time could not be proven.

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I remember racing a top guy last year. I look at the race results and see it says he saw a 20, which was impossible. I even asked him to his face and he said he could. Never have his results been close to this.
He started in the wrong wave. Even the timing folks were supporting his cheating. I filled a protest but nothing happened. Then I see the next day his results were magically changed. Anytime I see this AA results,
I just shake my head. Why some top folks need to cheat is something I will never understand.

.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

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Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Glad it worked out for you. Kudos to the RD and timing co. for being reponsive

To be honest, I'd say that in just about every race I've ever done with multiple loops on either the bike or run, there is an obviously suspicious split in the results. I can't think of a time that the results didn't get corrected.

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Formerly DrD

Are you from Houston? Given the quality of the timing company for the majority of our races, this happens more races than not...

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-Andrew

In 1993, I did the swim portion of a relay down in Annapolis. The relay wave was near or at the end. Our cyclist was going very fast and catching the leaders, although a lap down. He was directed home, rather than on his last lap, and so he was short. This startled our runner, as you can understand. We finished first, but we told the RD what had happened.

See the results (last page) for what the RD did about it: http://raceforum.com/archive/93annapolis.pdf

(also look at the overall leaders for some really fast bike splits, especially compared to their relatively poor swim/run splits)

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"Go yell at an M&M"

^this

Generally, in the races i've done with multiple loops, there are always racers with bike or run splits that definitely don't match up with the other portions. They seem to happen in the older age categories too for some reason. Thankfully, the timing officials that are used in my local races are always quick to update the results and the final standings are not affected.

And you guys weren't even the fastest bike split of the relay teams!

Oceanside 2013, a number of guys in my AG, including podium finishers (and folks that commonly finish on the podium in such races) cut a buoy on the swim. I could see a kayaker racing toward that front group (as I swam to the correct one), and expected to see this group turn. They did not. Nor did they DQ themselves. I have no doubt it was a mistake, but still...

maybe he was in such a bad way he couldn't? the IM before my last one I DNF'd. I went straight to medical on lap 2 (of 3) of the run, do not pass go, do not collect $200. I told everyone in medical that i had abandoned (they actually had convinced me to abandon) and after 3 L of IV fluids I limped home. It never even occurred to me to talk to the race management - I ASSumed it was obvious. however, if it had not be caught by the next day and i had noticed it in the results i obviously would have emailed someone.

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