Bryan0721 wrote:
I don't think there's any such thing as a European course that isn't short. We see fast times over and over again in Europe yet when those same competitors compete on U.S. courses their times are slower. IMO most fast European times, especially in this case when it comes to multiple fast age groupers, is directly related to a short course.
Do you have any hard facts behind this opinion?
I did Regensburg this year. Horrendously difficult bike course, IMO. Yet in my age group, the times were insane. The guy who got 3rd at Kona last year for M18-24 was 9:15 in Hawaii. He qualified at Regensburg going 9:24 in 2011. He got 4th. The first three people simply didn't want to go. So he comes to Hawaii and gets 3rd. "in the world" after getting 4th in his local IM. And got 3rd this year, dropping another 9:15. Two people were under 9:00 in my age group; 8:52 and 8:59. The guy who went 8:52 was seventh OVERALL. He beat most of the pro field and went 4:42 bike split. Michael Raelert beat his bike split by 7 minutes. So this is definitely a race you would be referring to.
At the end of the bike leg, my computer said 112.4 miles. It was actually long. I started it at the mount line, not the bike rack. I came into T2 at 112.3, racked it at 112.4. Sorry to burst your 'America is obviously better than Europe and anything that says otherwise is simply wrong' bubble, but these guys are just in shape. There's so much less of this finisher sticker mentality (which, due to build up injuries and having already forked over thousands to do this destination race, I was guilty of), and so much more of wanting to win mentality. As for 'coming over here', ever think maybe we aren't getting their best? Either the best people don't want to pay $2000 for a plane ticket to Hawaii that would cost us only $700 from the states. Roll down is huge in Europe in alot of age groups. And for the top athletes who do come down, alot of them don't see Kona as the big race because it's not in front of their family, their home town, etc. They focus on the European championships and do Kona on the side.
Obviously I'm not talking about everyone, but these categories of people do exist. So don't just sit back and say, 'wow thats fast, its obviously a short course'. Maybe they're just that good...