The RD should never be left to their own devices on wetsuit rulings... otherwise miraculously hot tub like conditions always seem to be .1 deg under the threshold... In most (if not all) provinces in Canada, if the race is sanctioned, you'll have at least one official, and generally more than that. They will be responsible for knowing the rules and correctly applying the matrix. It's pretty simple to take the temperatures... I personally when I officiate always liase with the race announcer to broadcast the decision and any guidance... For example a longer course race last year, I took my 3 readings, two were above the cut-off, and one was below... based on the rules, I went with the lowest temp making it wetsuit legal by .3 of a degree celsius... So while we announced that it was wetsuit legal, we warned people that given the relatively high temps, wetsuits were discouraged... Many people wore them anyways, and I had a few people who opted to wear them because they were weaker swimmers note to me that they were bordering on overheating by the end of the swim...

If it's ITU proper, there will definitely be multiple officials, one of whom (Chief Swim) is responsible for that decision... They also usually have a medical delegate assigned as well who will be consulted for any exceptions (see Fyn multisport worlds last year, where shockingly water and air temps meant that several of the races should have been non-wetsuit, were it not for the copious amounts of jellyfish that prompted the swims to be wetsuit optional and prompted them to offer vaseline at the swim entrances to protect people's faces and hands).

It always amazes me when an RD comes up to me at a race and states the water temperature (that they "just took"), yet doesn't have a water thermometer... I wish I had that level of psychic power...

All that is correct but I was answering to why USAT won't follow that protocol and the easy answer is that it would be too much of a pain in the ass. As I've said, there have been USAT sanctioned races where they don't even have officials. So then it becomes the RD's call/issue to handle.

So ITU can have this great rules and procedures because they have the protocols to instill that their races are held to that standard. USAT could do the same it would just mean less and less actual "certified" races cus RD's would then not be able to race to that type of policy.

So thus it's easier to just have a blanket rule (I guess 2 blanket rules w/ wetsuit but no awards category now), than to have a complicated but very worthy process...that is less complicated when said officials are there properly to execute said process.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

If there are no officials, other than the insurance, what exactly are they getting for the sanction fees... If I were an RD charging and paying the sanction fees, I would not be happy if I then got no officials for my race... I do unsanctioned races with more motorcycle officials than you see on a WTS course (and they literally ride around and do nothing, they certainly don't call drafting, because that might scare a nubie off... the only thing they do is look for accidents...)... I've certainly raced at, and officiated at races where there are not enough officials for the race's circumstances.... but there were at least 1 or two there, who could at a minimum enforce the wetsuit rules and monitor transition/mount/dismount...

It is more complicated to apply the air/water matrix, the old version was simpler, where if the air temp was below a certain threshold, then you looked at the matrix, and essentially subtracted half of the difference from the water temp... (If the air was 58deg and the water 64 deg, your official water temp would be 61degrees...)... It's rare that the matrix makes a difference, since most of the time if the air is cold enough to make a notable difference, the water temp is wetsuit legal to begin with (the matrix comes more into play in terms of water temp thresholds for shortening the swim...)... It's only if it feels cool outside and the water is just above the wetsuit cut-off that you would need to bother with the air temp in terms of adjusting (again, with the exception of when you get into the ballpark, where you need to shorten distances and maximum stays in the water...)...

I'm pretty sure in the US even at USAT sanctioned events, it's the RD's responsibility to get the officials; not USAT. IE- the race pays the official(s).

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Wow! I think it's somewhat similar in the UK, where the race decides how many officials they want, and then the federation provides them with a list of those nearby who would be available for that race, and they get some say in picking the ones that they want (and the RD pays the officials directly)... I'm kind of glad it's not that way here... I mean all RDs have their officials that they like and don't like, and similarly, most officials have RDs that they like and don't like (and maybe even here, they do some negotiation with the provincial governing bodies to try and get the people they like)... But ultimately, I go where I'm assigned, and if it's not your favorite RD to work with, you learn how to make it work (I'm lucky that generally the RDs in the races near me, where I tend to end up officiating, are ones that I get along the best with...)...

I'm not sure how you can expect an RD to want to ensure proper rule enforcement at their race... Nobody likes getting a penalty, even if it's because they are gaining an unfair advantage, so most RDs tend not to like seeing participants get penalized, because they are less likely to sign up again the next time. It's only when you get so many complaints about drafting that maybe they fear losing more people by not enforcing the rules, than by giving a few folks penalties... but for the wetsuit issue, nobody complains if a race is wetsuit optional, so most RDs are reluctant to ban wetsuits, even if the temps merit it...

I *think* the federation provides list of “local” officials to RD’s but I still think it’s the RD’s responsibility and expense to actual use said officials. As I’ve said I’ve been to local races with no officials. I’ve even done a half distance myself with no officials. It was what it was, small scale race etc. I don’t know if it’s technically allowed to not have an official etc as part of sanctioning...but I also don’t think there are enough officials to actually require them.

And I’ve sat through the course I won’t certify myself due to my coaching “conflict of interest” and don’t want it to be seen as that.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Agreed. I have no issues at an unsanctioned race that there are no officials, but any sanctioned race I'd expect to see just one. I did my first officials course because I was running a team (and we'd had a wrongful DQ the previous season that it took me a week to get overturned for one of our athletes), and figured someone should know the rules well (this is actually mandatory in cycling, in order to be certified as a director sportif in the race caravan, you need a level 1 commisaire's course). I did accept the certification, but mainly officiated at races where I had few athletes competing (they generally don't like it when I am officiating, because they know that if anything I am harder on them, to make sure there's no claims of preferential treatment... and because I taught them better... if I ever nail one of my athletes for a helmet violation, I'll bust them upside the head ). I do tend to bump into more friends and athletes from my team when I am officiating (and when I race, I always bump into officials I know who will threaten to give me penalties if I am anything other than an upstanding citizen), but it's never been an issue (it probably helps that at many of the races where this is the case, I tend to be in a head ref type role, so I am not actually making as many FOP calls, I'm more making decisions based on the calls of other officials...).

When I did my first course, I would say that there were a number of coaches in the course, and I only wish that more coaches attended officials courses so that they were more familiar with the rules (since many ask panicked pre-race questions and tend to panic rather than calm their athletes)...