Just got a text from an athlete--it's officially NO WETSUIT!!

What are the water temps lots of folks coming out with wetsuits on?

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Giddy up, there's no reason to look behind you, you're not heading that way.

78.1. Over 1200 - over half the field - took the wetsuit option.

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Sylvan Smyth | http://www.sportstats.asia | sylvan@sportstats.asia | Starvas

That is truly an amazing number given that most people don't use the same crutch for their swim training if they work out in a pool. On the other hand, does that mean half the field thinks they are Kona contenders?

I am a terrible swimmer, but if the race is non wetsuit thats what you do. Personally I think this option should be eliminated.

Not neccesary that half the field feel they have a direct shot for Kona, but I think most people choosing "no wetsuit" feel it is the honourable things to do. I have coached many athletes who did not believe they have a shot at Kona/Podium, but they said, "If that is what the top guys are doing, I am racing under the same rules....I don't want a short cut".

I think you will find that there is a large number of athletes truly in the game for the personal challenge and they don't want to take the easy way out. If it is a no wetsuit day, they are going to race under those rules.

Kudos to anyone racing with that mindset.

The leaders are all in the last 13.1 miles.

This race looks really good. Fun to see some of the fast AG guys with a chance to mix it up for the win.

I only wish the coverage was better so we could see some more of it.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

Hi Sylvan,
What Dev and a few others wrote in this thread and another thread, is there any way you can make following these races like Boulder easier on-line? For example,
1) is it possible in these races with no pros to be able to click on All Males, for example, to see the current standing of males?
2) is it possible, as was done in the past Ironman races, that when athletes cross timing mats, their position in the race is then automatically up-dated?

Thanks.

That's a question for Ironman. I'll pass it on, but all we're doing is sending them the raw data. I know they have a lot of new stuff in the pipeline, Ironfan, GPS tracking, etc. I hear ya but I don't have a ton of influence with the end product.

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Sylvan Smyth | http://www.sportstats.asia | sylvan@sportstats.asia | Starvas

How do you track who wears the wettie vs who does not??? In the official results, I don't see any asterisk or other marker denoting wetsuit. Are we sure no KQ-ers wore wetsuits??? It would seem to me that an asterisk would be the minimum to denote wetsuit swim, or better yet, have two separate sets of results. Start the wetsuits 20 min after non-wetsuits and make it two separate races. As the results stand now, there is absolutely no way to determine who wore the suit and who did not.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I have been wondering this as well and no one seems to know the answer. Did someone take the time to do timing chip/start time verification to see if all of the award winners and KQers didn't wear wetsuits? Seems like that would have been difficult to determine. And as others have noted, quite a few people in the front of the pack at the swim exit were wearing suits.

I was one of the last non wetsuit swimmers into the water. One of the morons, apparently. They held the wetsuit swimmers for about a minute until the timers said it was all clear. The guy on the PA system was making these announcements as I was getting my head into the water.

The gap between the gun and the first wetsuit was less than 5 minutes so you'd except almost random intermingling.

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Sylvan Smyth | http://www.sportstats.asia | sylvan@sportstats.asia | Starvas