Then you must of missed the last lake norman triathlon. The guys in the elite wave the 2-9 guys off the bike came in within 23 seconds. 8 guys within 23 seconds and you don't believe there was no drafting. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and fifth came off within 2 seconds total of each other. How can you tell me these guys where not riding together.

One of the guys I know who races in the elite wave who is a strong rider has stopped doing these races because of the drafting. BTW some of these guys in the elite wave and age group waves do a time trial over at the speedway. I have noticed in the results that the age group times are faster in a TT than the elite but come the triathlon the elite guys times are now all of a sudden faster. Sometimes by almost 2 minutes.

sorry this took so long to respond as I was away.

Then you must of missed the last lake norman triathlon. The guys in the elite wave the 2-9 guys off the bike came in within 23 seconds. 8 guys within 23 seconds and you don't believe there was no drafting. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and fifth came off within 2 seconds total of each other. How can you tell me these guys where not riding together.

One of the guys I know who races in the elite wave who is a strong rider has stopped doing these races because of the drafting. BTW some of these guys in the elite wave and age group waves do a time trial over at the speedway. I have noticed in the results that the age group times are faster in a TT than the elite but come the triathlon the elite guys times are now all of a sudden faster. Sometimes by almost 2 minutes.

sorry this took so long to respond as I was away.



Sounds like you are an official. If Set-Up has 2 motorcycles for the big sprint races like latta, lake norman, triangle, etc they should have just 1 motorcylce just follow the elite wave the entire time. Even turning around once you get to far ahead. I have also see them do this at worlds where they will go ahead then wait on the side then write down the drafters numbers, etc.

I agree.

I have always been a competitor. Regardless of the race, I want to have the opportunity to race head-to-head with the people that I want to race against. Racing "ghosts" as you say is no fun. This sitiation is further complicated when it's a multi-loop bike and run. The you have absolutly no idea what place you are in until the results come up.

Fleck

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I've been thinking about not knowing your place during the event. How difficult would it be to place a portable electronic display or two on the course that could display some of this info?



For example, put one of these along the bike course (perhaps on a hill, so riders are going slow enough to read it) and one on the run course.



When a competitor passed over a timing mat, the display could show something like:

Name.................AG Plc...Ovrl Plc....Time back from next AG competitor......Time back from 1st ovrl
Joe Competitor......3............9............................0:01:12...................................0:03:45

With a large enough display, even on a packed course, most people should be able to get some feedback on how they are doing.

This probably isn't practical for smaller races, but the 1000+ events could probably handle the extra cost.

Thoughts?

--Marcus George
UCLA Triathlon
http://www.triathlon.ucla.edu

I don't know bighead. I ran my cumulative clocktime spreadsheet on the Lake Norman elite male results and it looks like it was a very close race. Really hard to tell since there were no transition splits. One of the elite males received a penalty about something. Am not certain what your complaint is really about.

Depending on speed and course circumstances even a 1 second gap can be entirely legal under age group rules.

10 mph = 14.67 fps
15 mph = 22.00 fps
20 mph = 29.33 fps
25 mph = 36.67 fps

If you have concerns about the Lake Norman race in particular perhaps you should post over at the Set-Up forum at http://trimycoach.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/index.php

If are concerned about rules enforcement and fair competition it might be eye opening if you made steps to become a USAT official. You see the whole range of athlete...the elite level racing tactically to the first timer on a mtn bike drinking a slurpee just trying to finish.

Talk to Henk he is from the Charlotte area he can get you pointed in the right direction if you are interested.