If a perfect anti drafting technology was available would Ironman actually adopt it?
In my opinion, drafting in Ironman is a huge problem that has gotten worse and worse and has dampened my likelihood to continue racing Ironman in the future if something does not change.
As many on here have pointed out Ironman seems to be consciously increasing it's focus on the masses - those looking to finish. That said there is still roughly 20% of the racers that are Kona competitive. That stat may be slightly off but it is a quick math estimate.
Now, before a whole host of unrelated questions come up - affordability, accuracy, etc - , let's for the sake of this post assume the below:
If:
1) An anti drafting technology existed (was able to accurately indicate time in drafting zone)
2) It was deemed to be accurate through testing
3) It was affordable (my definition of that would be less than $50/participant)
4) It is initially used as a pilot to confirm actual official drafting calls
5) It is small enough to put on participant bikes/and/or participants
I am sure there are some I am forgetting some that you all will bring up - but let's just assume there is a solution that works perfectly. What are the chances that Ironman would actually implement this anti drafting technology? My initial gut reaction was of course they would, to be able to have this kind of information would keep races honest and would take away any athletes from trying to argue against the raw accurate data vs a judgement call of an official. But then when I started to think about it I am not so sure. Because the focus and $$$ has shifted more to the "ironman finishers" (not taking anything away from these individuals at all) than the pointy end of the field, I question whether Ironman would even adopt such an anti draft technology since it would only be pertinent to a minority of the field.
My guess is that many of you feel the same way. After seeing the rampant cheating going on at Ironman TX - my initial reaction was screw this, I'm done with this distance because it has come down to who cheats best than who competes best/who the best athletes are. I have also altered the races I enter which I know will be more honest (hilly courses) where drafters are more likely to be dropped on this hills.
We all know too many athletes who get away with cheating because of always looking over their shoulders looking for officials and dropping back or making the pass when the official is present only to go back to their old drafting ways once the official has moved along. As a competitive age grouper who typically finishes within top 5 of my AG at fulls and 70.3 it is honestly just depressing to see how much drafting takes place. If there was a tech that could accurately hold people accountable at all times it would completely even the playing field. I have considered just going back to Olympic distance races because the cheating/drafting takes the fun out of the game. All I would like is for a fair and honest race where the best competitors win.
I look at other sports like the NFL (implementing playback/review) and tennis (playback review) which in both cases are used to verify human judgement calls. While this technology existed within both sports for years before it was actually implemented it ultimately took hold.
Look forward to hearing all your guys thoughts. I am also aware that I am most likely posting this question towards the demographic of the pointy end racers so it would be an imperfect survey of individuals who would lean toward wanting to adopt such a technology. There are also plenty of individuals who are fast blatantly draft as part of their race strategy and would hate to have such a technology introduced- would love to hear the insights from those people as well in a forum where you are anonymous.
In my opinion, drafting in Ironman is a huge problem that has gotten worse and worse and has dampened my likelihood to continue racing Ironman in the future if something does not change.
As many on here have pointed out Ironman seems to be consciously increasing it's focus on the masses - those looking to finish. That said there is still roughly 20% of the racers that are Kona competitive. That stat may be slightly off but it is a quick math estimate.
Now, before a whole host of unrelated questions come up - affordability, accuracy, etc - , let's for the sake of this post assume the below:
If:
1) An anti drafting technology existed (was able to accurately indicate time in drafting zone)
2) It was deemed to be accurate through testing
3) It was affordable (my definition of that would be less than $50/participant)
4) It is initially used as a pilot to confirm actual official drafting calls
5) It is small enough to put on participant bikes/and/or participants
I am sure there are some I am forgetting some that you all will bring up - but let's just assume there is a solution that works perfectly. What are the chances that Ironman would actually implement this anti drafting technology? My initial gut reaction was of course they would, to be able to have this kind of information would keep races honest and would take away any athletes from trying to argue against the raw accurate data vs a judgement call of an official. But then when I started to think about it I am not so sure. Because the focus and $$$ has shifted more to the "ironman finishers" (not taking anything away from these individuals at all) than the pointy end of the field, I question whether Ironman would even adopt such an anti draft technology since it would only be pertinent to a minority of the field.
My guess is that many of you feel the same way. After seeing the rampant cheating going on at Ironman TX - my initial reaction was screw this, I'm done with this distance because it has come down to who cheats best than who competes best/who the best athletes are. I have also altered the races I enter which I know will be more honest (hilly courses) where drafters are more likely to be dropped on this hills.
We all know too many athletes who get away with cheating because of always looking over their shoulders looking for officials and dropping back or making the pass when the official is present only to go back to their old drafting ways once the official has moved along. As a competitive age grouper who typically finishes within top 5 of my AG at fulls and 70.3 it is honestly just depressing to see how much drafting takes place. If there was a tech that could accurately hold people accountable at all times it would completely even the playing field. I have considered just going back to Olympic distance races because the cheating/drafting takes the fun out of the game. All I would like is for a fair and honest race where the best competitors win.
I look at other sports like the NFL (implementing playback/review) and tennis (playback review) which in both cases are used to verify human judgement calls. While this technology existed within both sports for years before it was actually implemented it ultimately took hold.
Look forward to hearing all your guys thoughts. I am also aware that I am most likely posting this question towards the demographic of the pointy end racers so it would be an imperfect survey of individuals who would lean toward wanting to adopt such a technology. There are also plenty of individuals who are fast blatantly draft as part of their race strategy and would hate to have such a technology introduced- would love to hear the insights from those people as well in a forum where you are anonymous.