Personaly, I have never been witness to this sort of negativity. That's not to say that it does not exist.

Agreed. We all compete in the same sport. Not sure what the problem would be.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Jealous..

Might have something to so with draft legal racing, the source of all evil. Since elites are behind draft legal racing they must be the real root of all evil.

Elites get free bikes 'n stuff. Bastages!

I hear and/or see almost none of this in triathlon...not the case in many other sports (road bicycle racing comes to mind!).

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

I would respectfully disagree with your assessment. I can't think of too many sports where I can walk up to a world champion after a race and start a 20 minute long conversation with him (Peter Reid at Columbia this year). I see lots of pros making themselves accessable after races to hang out with the rest of us mortals and at the very least doing a good job of acting like they enjoy it.

There is animosity, but I think it's directed at the system (in this case, draft legal racing which isn't even accessible to us who would even be willing to give it a try) as opposed to the people.

I agree with you crmartin9,

Every time that I have seen an elite athlete they have been very nice and took the time to say hello. At IMFL I passed one, (he was on the second loop of the run and I was on the first) I didn't realize who he was and I said some encouraging words to him and he sounded very grateful and very pleasant even though he was having a bad day.

jaretj

I agree with you completely, and having watched a few draft legal ITU races in person, I find it an exciting format to spectate. It would be a logistical nightmare to use that format for age groupers.

In my over 20 years of triathlon I can think of only one instance where I felt an elite/pro was out of line. Could have just been my perception, but it was one pro that get a time penalty for openly cussing during the bike segment of the 1995 US Pro Championships. The inappropriate behaviour was his reaction to the penalty during the awards cermony.

Other than that, I have never experienced any pro that was out of touch with where they came from, and that's the age group ranks. Perhaps this is a perception issue. But, the fact of the matter is that our ITU Elites don't make that much money, don't live an extra cushy lifestyle, and don't take on the persona of many professional athletes (basketball comes to mind).

We have a camraderie in this sport because of its nature. We need to cherish this and promote it because of the lifestyle it creates. Jealousy for those that race faster than us will get us no where.

Rocketboy

I second the comments on Peter Reid. He is one humble and cool character. After he flatted (front tire) this past Saturday at Laguna Phuket (w/o a spare tire) he offered his bike and shoes to an unknown racer who was having chain issues but used his own front tire. Peter said size was close and wasn't sure how well guy would do with aggressive bike set up, but was extremely unselfish. Unfortunately this fellow got a flat 10 km down the road, but definiteley has a story to tell to folks wherever he is from.

I've never seen any animosity towards the actual elite athletes from age group triathletes. I've seen people a little ticked with the organizers (I still think that the Hawaii lead off for elites was handled terribly and they could have put together some sort of buoy line for age groupers to stay behind so we could actually be in the water warming up instead of stuck on the pier in a bottleneck at 6:57!) but this doesn't have an impact on my feelings towards the athletes.

Do you have any examples of this? I don't think I've ever seen any animosity in either direction.

This is one sport where the athlete athletes seem to still serve as hero and/or mentor to other, lesser athletes.

Seems like AG's in-fight much more than they complain about elites. The elites in this sport seem much more humbled and balanced ... then even the MOP AG'ers.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Pros are not necessarily better people, they are faster people

TomH, I don't have any examples right now, but I'm sure if I looked around on slowtwitch there would be plenty of statements made about how age group athletes don't need to be associated with elite athletes.

I think think elite athletes are great, but it just seems that some age group athletes resent elites for some reason.

Non-drafting and ITU-style (which is what the pro's do) racing are different, but they are both a part of the SPORT of triathlon. Some of you mentioned that you would like to try ITU-style racing, but those type of races are not available to just everyone. I'm like you, i would love to try an ITU-style race, but I think you have to realize why these type of races are not open to everyone. Triathlon is honestly not the safest sport when compaired to simply running or cycling. So when you have 300 athletes in a race i think you can safely say about 50% of them are fairly new to the sport. With those kind of numbers in a draft-legalformat, can you imagine the possibility for accidents, both minor and serious?

But basically my point is, I posted the original question to find out why do some age groupers seem to resent elites. Even though we race different styles, I can guarantee that without the elite athletes and their participation in the olympic games that our sport would not be so well off as it is today.

I don't sense the animosity and in general they are great people.

But I'll tell you one thing that annoys me about elites: They drop out of too many races if their having a bad day. Almost 1/2 the MPro field dropped out in Kona this year. I'm not exactly sure why it bothers me so much. They have many excuses. My favorite is one about saving energy for the next race. Can you imagine if other athletes in other sports did things like this? The Spurs are down 20 at halftime to the Twolves and aren't feeling good so they decide not to come out for the second half? So they can save their energy to play the Bulls tomorrow? (For our international readers: Man U down to Arsenal 2-0 so they quit to save energy for their game vs. Blackburn)

If people pushing their son, walking their bike 8miles, are missing an arm or leg can finish, the world's most gifted athletes should be able to finish too.

I have no animosity towards the elites. I have personally met Tim and Nicole Deboom and found them to be genuine and nice people. They were encouraging as I prepared for my first ironman. Just plain good folks. And at Alcatraz this year I met Kate Major. Also a warm and nice lady. I think it is great that in the world of triathlon that the "stars" are accessable and my experience is that they have been great people. Just try and meet a star NBA player--it just won't happen. I wonder if it has something to do with the nature of endurance sports. It draws dedicated and commited people who all strive hard. It's kind of like a quote I heard on the 2004 IMH NBC broadcast. It doesn't matter if you are 1st or 1000'th. You will all suffer out there.

My 2cents

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Jon Bergmann
http://jonbergmann.com

"But I'll tell you one thing that annoys me about elites: They drop out of too many races if their having a bad day."

Excellent point. This does bother me a bit too, particularly at big-time season-defining races like Kona. I'm sure they have their reasons, such as trying to salvage their fitness with a payday somewhere else. (After all, they are trying to make a living at this sport.)

Speaking for myself, I kind of lump this under the heading of "jealously." I don't have the resources to go jet off to another race the following weekend and get a last minute comp'ed entry to pull this kind of stunt if I'm not feeling 100%. But the flip side is I can take a lot of satisfaction out of my result by battling through obstacles regardless of where I place. When I show up to race, I go there to do my absolute best until they drag me off of that course kicking and screaming.

[/reply]

Is it this race a 'big time season defining race' to you or them? Or maybe you feel it should be to them? Obviously it can't be that big time if their willing to drop out.



And as for resources, from my understanding most pros aren't exactly rolling in dough. They race for the money. How can you knock a guy for trying to make a living. If he feels its in his(her) best interest to stop and race another day who are we to judge. These aren’t entertainers; they’re often humble, often under-rewarded Athletes.

If the pro is an "up and comer" and trying to garner potential sponsorships, the last thing they need on their resume is a 10+ hour IM finish, Kona or not...

As to the "animosity" factor...as others have written, I have not *ever* experienced anything like that with any pro, and I've been around the sport since the mid-80's. The only jerks I've encountered in the sport are a handful of top AG'ers who think they're more important than everyone else...but never have I met a pro who wasn't humble, gracious and very giving of their time.

Allow me to clarify:

1. You're right that "big-time, season-defining" race means different things to different people. But I think we can agree that IM Kona is big-time and you should only show up if you've put in the training, planning to put everything on the line, and give it your all. I can understand pulling the plug if you decided to go off of the front aggressively and blow up (Macca in 2002, for example). But pulling out less than halfway through the bike (Lessing and Van Lierde, for example), makes me wonder "Why did you even bother showing up?"

2. By "resources," I do not mean exclusively money. The biggest resource that most pros have that I don't is the time to train and race. And they have access to homestays, comp entries, and other assistance that I don't.

I'm not knocking the pros at all. Just comparing their situation to my own, I can understand why they drop out of races. I just don't condone it.

This isn't a response to anyone directly....more of something I keep hearing over and over which I think is bull. I can't stand it when I hear someone say "that is how they make their living so it is ok to drop out" or whatever. If a pro wanted to they could make a very good living doing online coaching, fitness consultation and a HOST of other part time endeavors to make a good living. And no I do not believe it will not take up that much of their time or distract them from their training. Even if assume an elite/pro athlete works out for 8 hours a day, they still have about 7-8 hours to do other things. And most of them could likely incorporate their workouts on off days with a job. I mean, the "health industry" is a multi billion dollar a year industry. I would hope they wouldn't say they couldn't get a tiny piece of that each year.

In my opinion, if they are crying about having to make a living and all that garbage then A) maybe they need to switch careers, B) get more creative by coming up with ways to make money or C) pack it in.

For the record, I don't think there are too many pros complaining about not making enough money or whatever. I think (or at least I like to believe) they are doing it because they love to do it. I also believe the "World Championships" should be the last major race of the season. I think if that were the final Ironman until like January or Feb., maybe more pros would see it differently and not drop out to save their legs for a race a few weeks after.

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BA coaching http://www.bjornandersson.se