The perp should be easy to find...someone who owns a Buoy Knife

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Coach at KonaCoach Multisport

There's a Star Wars marathon on TV and you are on Slowtwitch!?

I did not collect it and it is not in my possession. The photos were posted on a Facebook discussion thread by locals in the Woodlands area.

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STRIKE FORCE RACING
QR Cd.01, HED 3, Rudy Project, Cobb Saddles, DeSoto

I actually know the guy who did this...and he feels terrible...in fact he shed a Tyr

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Coach at KonaCoach Multisport

The Legend of Buoy Boy

The Mystery of Loch Ness IM Texas.

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**

Use your words to describe the part that was cut from the pb.

Woodlands Woody

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Coach at KonaCoach Multisport

My grandfather told me the cheaters were coming with their pull buoys.

This is just the beginning......

There's just one pull buoy cheater we know of.......and just look at the devastation. Next thing you know there are 100, 1000, 100,000, one million or more. Think of the damage they could do.......

This is a dangerous new species for sure. More stealth than even Finman himself.

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**

Dev, there were a couple spots where you could hide contraband. There were a dozen or more people hanging onto the dock, it could have been hidden under the edge of the dock the day before.
I also noted at one point it looked like the start buoy was getting pulled down by folks hanging onto it. I'm all for an in water start but they were asking age groupers to get in the water 20 minutes beforehand (6:40 am). For some that's not an issue but there was reluctance from a great many that just didn't want to tread water that long without a wetsuit.

I wish they'd number swim caps. Having no way to clearly identify swimmers (via photo or eye witnesses) makes rules enforcement impossible.

Overall IMTX was really well organized and the courses were great.

I am currently developing a full body scanner that detects flotation devices and other swimming contraband. If you're hiding water wings in the crack of your ass, even under a 10mm wetsuit my machine will find them.

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**

mojozenmaster wrote:

I am currently developing a full body scanner that detects flotation devices and other swimming contraband. If you're hiding water wings in the crack of your ass, even under a 10mm wetsuit my machine will find them.

Just get ready for.. thats not water wings .. I had Mexican for breakfast. ..

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Just Triing
Triathlete since 9:56:39 AM EST Aug 20, 2006.
Be kind English is my 2nd language. My primary language is Dave it's a unique evolution of English.

mojozenmaster wrote:

I am currently developing a full body scanner that detects flotation devices and other swimming contraband. If you're hiding water wings in the crack of your ass, even under a 10mm wetsuit my machine will find them.

As long as we have the legal right to opt in lieu of a groping.

I was wondering how this might be used to cheat and why the modifications.

If you wore baggy swim trunks over top of your spandex tri shorts could you slide this up one leg of the baggy shorts? the cut off side would go against the fabric of the shorts.

increased drag would likely nullify the advantage of the floatation though.

They've been numbered at every other IM that I've done (not 70.3's though), including IMTX last year. They weren't numbered this year because the caps apparently came in late and were not available at packet pickup. I didn't get mine until I was at the transition area early Saturday morning before the race.

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"Unless you have a ... GF who might put out that night and that night only ... skip it and race." - AndyPants 3-15-2007

There is one DQ listed in the official results and the swim time was 1:11:xx.

Perhaps that was the reason?

I can't believe you STers are actually in arms over the PB.

If you can swim a 1:10 IM swim, I guarantee you are not needing a PB. It's not fast, but it's not like you're going to miss the cutoff.

If someone does want to 'cheat' with a PB, that's their loss. I seriously doubt a KQ bound aspirant is going to be rockin' a secret PB.

Cheating is totally lame, but being up in arms over something this trivial is nearly equally lame.

The PB has quite the water line on it. Looks like it was in the water a lot longer than a couple hours. Was it even involved in a 'crime' yesterday?

It could have been concealed by a woman in her top. Weird looking boobs, but easier than a guy stuffing it in his speedo...

Yes, either that water was extremely dirty or the pull buoy had been floating in water for some time either on this or another occasion. How far was the swim exit from the start? Is it possible that someone used it prior to the race to help conserve energy treading water? If so I'd say not only is it probably not against the rules, it's actually a pretty good idea! The cut-off section is confusing though. I can see no reason for it other than concealment on entry into the water which would suggest that if it was used prior to or during the event whoever did so thought it was illegal, even if it wasn't.

I got my swim cap on Wednesday no issues. To everyone out there who says 1:10 isn't close to being someone who could qualify think again. In my age group 9:40 something was the last spot. If you can hammer the bike and run you may need a little extra help in the swim. Hence the cheating. My guess it was shoved into a one piece suit at the belly level get into the water then at the start put it on ur back. Hence the water line or inside the leg inside the short to allow for kicking till. Bet doing it this way could save 5-10 min. If anyone is curious no I was not the culprit nor do I know him or her. I swam a 1:21. I suck at OWS. Hahah

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Kirk Noyes

Downtubes are for Dinosaurs

It could have been concealed by a woman in her top. Weird looking boobs,

Or by a huge load of yesterdays Mexican Seafood brunch in davhamms shorts. Either way, the crack detectives (no pun intended) of Slowtwitch will figure this one out within the next 96 hours or less. For sure!!

.

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**All of these words finding themselves together were greatly astonished and delighted for assuredly, they had never met before**

I wonder if it was even used. Could be someone was worried about being able to finish the swim if wetsuits were banned so he/she hid the pull buoy somewhere to use if necessarily. When the race confirmed as wetsuit optional, he/she did not use it.

I cannot figure out any other reason. If you were worried about finishing, why not wear a wetsuit? If you were going for a Kona spot, I cannot believe he/she would need a pull buoy or that it would provide that much of an advantage.

Just weird.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

but putting a pull buoy up there wouldn't speed you up. It would likely slow you down as it would drive your hips down...more drag. Not to mention the actual buoy

Whole idea gives me sadface. My first IM will be Zurich next year and I can't imagine feeling the same sense of achievement I'll feel after it if I cheated like that. What's the point??! You'd just get your ass handed to you even more brutally if you did con your way to Kona!!

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Quote:

I can't believe you STers are actually in arms over the PB.

If you can swim a 1:10 IM swim, I guarantee you are not needing a PB. It's not fast, but it's not like you're going to miss the cutoff.

If someone does want to 'cheat' with a PB, that's their loss. I seriously doubt a KQ bound aspirant is going to be rockin' a secret PB.

Cheating is totally lame, but being up in arms over something this trivial is nearly equally lame.

Are you serious? I'm not worked up about this, but cheating isn't the loss of the cheater. The others lose, the ones who followed the rules and get bumped back a position or two by people who cheated.

Basically, you're saying that if a person isn't trying to get to Kona it doesn't matter. Let them use pull buoys, fins, draft, pacers, outside help, etc.. Who cares?

I actually think people shooting for a Kona slot may be more inclined to cheat. Competition is tough and if you're a weak swimmer losing a few minutes in the water could put you out of the running. I qualified for Kona at IMWI 2010 with a 1:12 swim. I felt trained to go about 1:05 which I felt still put me a little behind, but I thought I could make up for it on the bike. I had a bad swim and when I came out of the water and saw 1:12 I immediately felt like Kona was off the table for the day so I just decided to have fun and make the best of it. I fortunately made up time on the bike and got 9th in my AG. There were 8 slots and one rolled down to me. I missed 8th place by about 3 minutes, which was the difference between what I thought I could/should swim and what I actually did swim. My point is that a couple of minutes matter a lot when trying for Kona. I targeted an hour swim in my training but prior to the race none of my swim sets indicated I could swim anything faster than 1:05. It was frustrating and I was afraid the swim would keep me from getting a slot. I personally wouldn't cheat but I can see where the temptation to cheat would come from for a person who wants a Kona slot and is weak in the water but really strong on the bike and/or run.