That isn't a real hard standard to meet.
Finishing within 10min in a Olympic distance race shouldn't be hard for a pro. If they can't then they probably shouldn't be a pro anyway.

I thought the rule was 5% in ITU racing?

I think think the 5% is for earning ITU points. As for being easy to finish within 8% of winner, take a look at how many pro's in Ironman come within 8% of the winner, esp women.

5% is the cut off if you (they) want to earn ITU points

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S�rgio Marques
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Seems to me like a good idea. IMO though it won't afect the decisions to finish a race or not..

If you are not going to finish a race, you will probably be more then 8% away from the winner or else you won't really know and finish it anyway wishing you make it to the 5% cutt off and earn ITU points.

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Good point, not to many would drop if within 8%. I was thinking more about how the rule will put pressure on pros that race long course, to have at least one strong finish a year. The 8% will certainly thin the herd of ITU racers that never get to catch the A train.

ohhh but let me get this straight, this only applys to the ITU boys and girls, right? or even the Long-course guys have to make one ITU race and finish within 8% of the winner???

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Cut-off is 5% for the men and 8% for the women.

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its my understanding that it applys to all races, as a pro card is a pro card. I was just using ITU as one paticular situation. I think the rule will have an imapct on the ironman field as well. Pros will end up having to finish within an hour of the winner in an Ironman. That can be tough for some.

Disclaimer: I am not at all familiar with the rule you cite.

If the rule is as you wrote; to maintain a pro card "a 'pro' must finish at least one race a year within 8% of winner", I don't see a problem. In fact, I would think this would result in more pros finishing events rather than fewer pros finishing.

As it reads, I interpret it to say that for someone to be a pro that individual must be able to race at least one race within the standards of other pros. If a person has horrible luck and experiences mechanicals in numerous events or some other dumb luck those races won't be held against them. In order to maintain the license only one race per year is required to be finished within 8% of the winner.

I read it that every race is a clean slate. Out of 10, 25 or 50 events a year to keep a pro license the competitor must finish just one of those events within 8% of the race winner. Although I know I couldn't meet this standard, it seems like a reasonable requirement for someone who is deemed as a professional in their sport.

"I am not at all familiar with the rule you cite"

It was just sent out yesterday to Pro's via e-mail. I think its a very reasonable rule myself and I say that knowing that it will weed my g-friend out of ITU. There are quite a few athletes out there with pro cards that cant/wont meet that reasonable standard.

so for the male pros at IMH the 8% cutoff is 9:14 only the top 14 made it. Interesting!

I'm just a newbie here but...

why would this make a difference? Unless the pro-card is for a specified distance (IM, Oly, ...) it would be kind of easy to cherry pick a small race (even a sprint) with a shallow field to fulfill this 5% 'requirement'.

OTOH if the requirement was 5% at the relevant world championship and the pro-cards were distance-based (aka, you'd have to qualify at every distance) it would be a lot more challenging...

IMO, if a pro can't finish within an hour of the winner in ANY Ironman in a year, they really shouldn't have a pro card. Seems like fair to me, as even the top age groupers can get within an hour.

You can't mention IMH cause every top male goes there cause of all the sponsor contracts, even if they aren't fit to race with the best. But that's only DA race, they have plenty of more "tries" before it.

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Different standards for the men and women? WTF. Apply any attempt a logic to this topic on the prize purse and see what happens.