i don't think anybody had any issue, in concept, with the start times TriEqual advocated for. the consideration was the impact on other stakeholders. could you make the pro women's race better for them without making it worse for others? others would be volunteers, those in the local community, specifically police, motorists, business owners, and then of course the other athletes (pro men who'd have to start earlier, AGers who'd have to start later).

the only particularly badly affected cohort are the 65+, 70+, and older AGers in kona. was the midnight cut-off an imperative? what bad thing happens if we run to 12:10am? i don't know.

Yup. Chances are good he will be playing croquet in St. Pete. ;) (just kidding gary)

I think the start times for Austria are fine.

For Kona, they have it upside down. The age groupers should all start at 6:15 a.m. At least they get a few of hours of reduced heat and wind. Let the pros battle the wind and heat for 9 hours or more, instead of someone like Bob Scott or Madonna Buder. Start the female pros at 11 and the males at 11:30. Of course, the networks would whine.....

Just my .02 worth.

Oh, they shouldn't have changed Austria this late in the cycle. Implement the new start times next year, if appropriate. Why throw this wrench in the machinery at the last minute?

Generally speaking I think WTC does a great job, but lately some of these races have not seemed up to par and I think it may because they've expanded so quickly. Management needs to get its race directors under control and start setting meaningful rules for things like water quality, when to shorten a race, start times, age group waves, etc. It's been kind of a wild west show with some of these RDs. In their defense, I've notice some uniformity creeping into the races, but it's mostly about what's on the web page. It's all boilerplate.

Well, in reality, only a few AG cyclists would get caught since they would have nearly a 6 hour headstart. As Dev said, the run course would be busy, but it would be quite a spectacle to see the top Pros running when most of the people still out there would love to have that action rather than the dropping sun as their only entertainment.

Not suggesting this is ever going to happen, but it seems much better than the drafting disaster that exists now

Jack

I want every race to start at noon. Not everyone in the world rolls out of bed at 4:30 am.

Have you not heard or seen the AG race stories the last few years. The majority of the AG field comes out of the water very close together which puts tons of riders on the road at the same time.

Jack

Imagine this at Cozumel! I'd lover to see r h e pros coming in at midnight. It would keep the great Cozumel crowds out there.