Agreed... thanks for being thoughtful and supportive, Ed.
I just went through 4 years of racing in W45-49 AG and we have been the last wave for at WC 70.3 every single time... It's agreed someone has to go last but IM can and should do a much better job of mixing up wave orders year over year... I understand that they have a system to manage athlete density through T1 but, for example, they could easily swap W40-44 (which go first) with W45-49. Being shuffled out of transition HOURS before the race start is very challenging, especially when the weather is either hot or cold.
Ironman have definitely screwed the AG women's field a LOT with the last minute changes. I understand that the city council forced them to consolidate so even though Ironman couldn't do much about it, they could do a much better job around communicating the changes, offering athletes options... and frankly just saying that "we're sorry..."
lyla wrote:
Thanks for your support on this, Ed. As someone in the very last wave, who had to rebook all travel, I am more than a little angry with Ironman at the moment. Like you said, they have done little to show they care about the women’s race.
I find it interesting how many/most of the comments about “well someone has to go last” and “it is what it is” are all coming from men. You start the race at virtually 10am and let me know how you feel about it. I was in the last wave at Age Group Nationals a few years ago and while it sucked waiting around to start, the worst was feeling like you were inconveniencing the volunteers who were hot and tired of being out there and drinking warm Gatorade.