This was my first year doing this event and I wanted to chime in and say it was a very well run event! Really enjoyed the swim venue, bike course was super fast, and the run sucked! The run sucking was my fault though as I came in to this with no training under my belt longer than 3 hours this year, my bike mileage total for the year around 300 miles, and swimming around 10k total for the year. Running would typically be my strength, but after a 40 minute swim and 21 mph avg on the bike, I fell apart on the run...
I personally took advantage of the 1st AG wave option. When I signed up, I had visions of actually training this year and being in 4:30 shape. I didn't realize the time constraints of a 14 month old while also trying to finish building a house... So my plans of actually competing turned into instead actually hanging back at the start of the first AG wave and trying to find open water to swim in. In hindsight, I wish I had started out fast as I ended up swimming around a lot of slower swimmers that I let go ahead of me.
Regarding allowing later AG waves compete for prize money, that is ultimately your decision as a race/RD. However, it ultimately is not a fair situation. Sure, you likely won't have pros complaining about it because they know going into the race that is the policy, so it is not something they can complain about as they knew going in. And of course you aren't going to have AG athletes complaining about it, why would they complain about it as it is a chance to earn money which they seldom get!
Back in 2011, when I was competing towards the front of the AG field in local races, I competed in a triathlon that advertised prize money. It was advertised as being available only to those who entered the first wave which was a mass start, enter that wave and you are eligible for the money, but removed from AG awards. I had a decent race and was 5th across the line. During the race, I knew exactly where I was. 4th place was only a minute or so ahead of me on the run, I could have dug a little deeper and tried to catch them, but I risked blowing up and falling to 6th, out of the money! So I didn't try and catch 4th. The AG race started later and for them it was a time trial start, every 5 seconds. By the end of the day, I had fallen to 12th overall. Someone told me that they had heard the AG racers were going to be given the money, I complained. To this day, that race advertises this as "the Rigdon Rule", that only the elites or first wave are eligible for prize money.
It is easy to say that the elites should have just gone harder or that if they got beat by an AG they don't deserve the money. However, the elites are all starting in the same wave and likely know when they get passed or pass another elite. So they typically have a pretty good idea where they are at during the race, if they are still "in the money". By allowing AG athletes who are able to sling-shot there way through the bike course the opportunity to take the money in my opinion is not fair. If AG athletes are able to take the money, elite athletes should be able to take the AG awards, but I'm pretty sure AG athletes would recognize that as not being fair either!
I think a fair solution would be to continue to allow a "1st wave option", but that 1st wave option should be the 1st wave, not separate from the elite wave and they should start at least 5 minutes ahead of the AG waves, if not 10 or 15 minutes. This gives the announcer and spectators better clarity as to who is "winning" the race. Anyone is allowed to enter that 1st wave, but only those who enter the 1st wave are eligible for prize money and overall awards and everyone who enters the 1st wave is removed from AG awards. So if you are a fast swimmer and you don't care about being removed from AG awards, enter this wave. Or you are a fast AG and think you might get prize money, enter this wave. Everyone who enters this wave gets a "1st" tat on their calf, during the race if you're competing for prize money and you see a "1st" pass you, you know that's a money spot. If possible, this group should be together in transition so you can count bikes when entering T2 and know how many are out on the run... Also, if possible, an updated list of those in this wave should be on the race website, along with the athletes top 1/2 Iron result so athletes can see where they might stack up and if they should enter this wave or not. Cap this wave at a certain number, but allow athletes to switch to it up to the day before. If only 4 women have entered and prize money goes 5 deep, a bunch more will likely switch over. To make this "wave" more likely to get people to enter, keep prize money the same, but add free entry to the following year available to top 10 of each gender.
Tony
http://www.triathleteguru.com