Plissken74 wrote:
devashish_paul wrote:
Plissken74 wrote:
Dan Funk wrote:
Plissken74 wrote:
The way I see it is: it is a world championship race. It means not only Americans, Australians, Europeans should be there but also athletes from Africa and Asia. Do you think by fall, we will have people covered with vaccine? if not, how do you think they will be allowed to travel to Kona?
Are you considering that there will be hundreds of athletes who are no-vax party? what do you do with them? (I am not no-vax)
Masks and social distancing will last
for years!
I really can not see how Kona 2021 can happen, in a fair and equal way for all worldwide people.
There are races happening in the United States right now (Challenge Miami) in which international athletes from Canada, EU, Great Britain, Asia, Australia, Brazil, etc participated.
So why shouldn't Kona 2021 happen, if cleared to race?
sorry which athletes? PRO? oh yes. age group from Europe? how many?
I think most of you guys are gettting confused about this age grouper thing. The World Championships are really about a professional race. There will be top tier pros who will make it a worlds worthy field.
The age grouper race is a "revenue fill" show. They make us feel good about ourselves, but we're like the fans in the stadium at a Premier League soccer match. We are paying the tickets. It does not matter what fans are there (how fast they are). We're there to pay the bills even though we are duped into thinking we are special. We're just being used to create a volume business (which is fine).
If kona can happen with or without age groupers, the quality and depth of the age group field is not that important in a post pandemic year. We'll also get to deep and competititive age group field in due course. Pro sports are possible during a pandemic as proven by many sports (and triathlon), so let's just take that and take whatever the age group field is.
who makes the events popular? what about NYC or Boston marathons with PROs only? where would they be today?
age groups keep alive the events and make the businesses running around them
no age groups, no Kona
To respond to your previous comment to me: I don't know the exact demos of age groupers - but know from all the threads here that have related to earnings of a typical amateur triathlete: My assumption is that far more age groupers can afford to make travel to Hawaii easier than most Pros. Ability to get there isn't any easier for an international Pro than it is for an AGer. Probably the opposite in a lot of cases.
And as Dev says, I just think you're wrong on your points above. For example, they ran the London Marathon last year with only a few pros. No AGers. Plenty of "championships" being run across a variety of sport that won't have equal representation this year... but they are going ahead with them anyway.
It's going to be a messed up year. I believe a lot of races will happen. Some people, who are in restricted circumstances, will miss out. Who knows, it may be me?
I'd be disappointed, but the races will go on.