Thanks for the link. This may be the most significant change at Kona in years. It reflects a fundammental change in the concept of amateurs racing the same race as pros. It also opens up the notion of wave starts for Ironman distance races in general. This actually may be a good thing given the overcrowding of the mass start with the growth in the participation levels at the IMNA races.

Hey.....that's why it's called an Ironman. If it was easy, everybody would do it. The mass start is one of the attractions. I know. I've been in the middle of that mixmaster a couple of times in Kona :-)

Kicked-In-The-Face-During-The-Swim-Start-Kahuna

bs. First of all, IMNA has nothing to do with how Kona is run by WTC, and anyways, IMNA has done early starts for pro women before. This is just an experiment by WTC to see how it goes for them. They got rid of the stagger rule this year right? They are just tweaking things. Letting the pros out 15 min. early really isn't going to affect the numbers in T1, there just aren't that many pros compared to AG'ers.

Is that definite?

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

I have to admit that I was quite peeved when I got word of this. As someone who was hoping of finding Mr. Siebberson's feet and giving him a run for his money I feel shafted. Yes they want to showcase the pro's out there, but it is OUR (AG's) World Championship too. Why leave us out of some of the potential spotlight? We have trained just as hard and for many of us, have done it with many more distractions. And in the grand scheme of things how many amateurs really "mess up" the order of things in the pro race anyway? I mean as soon as the bike starts BAM!!! There go the pro's away at there crazy 24mph for 4:40.

Just a swimmer crying out at a lost dream.

Kona for the first time will be an absolute blast none-the-less. This stuff is so much fun.

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
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I don't agree with the 15 minute head start. Keep with tradition and let everyone strart at the same time.

I think the women should get the head start, but not the men. AG men mess up the women's race, but not really the men's race.

Getting rid of the stagger rule works for me though.

But you can't make concessions for everyone. The minute you start doing so it becomes unfair to someone. So the best thing to do is to not make concessions at all. Everyone start at the same time....

I will not disagree with you that IMNA can do whatever it wants and WTC does not directly control how IMNA put on its races. I do think that this is something more than tweaking. Tweaking is when they actually added a start line in 1994 and made the athletes stay behind the line before the gun went off. Tweaking is gving the pros a ten meter headstart. Having two separate starts in Kona-- thats a fundamental change.

agree.

I think it's fair that women get a head start...there are some really tiny pros that are risking quite a bit in the water.

the guys should start with everyone else.

Should they eliminate the 17 hour cutoff again? The minimum age requirement? Bring back support crews for the athletes? Some changes and tweaking are a good thing. I think it's good that they are trying to improve certain aspects of the race while still being willing to retract certain changes (like the stagger).

I once had a goal of making it to the Olympics (and believe me this week's swim practices have been awesome) but, with no love of draft legal (or any sport that involves judging or tactics... give it to me raw please... point A, point B... GO!), I now see Hawaii as OUR (LC/IM TRI) Olympics. So if we are all there as equals... should we not start as equals?

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
Garmin Glycogen Use App | Garmin Fat Use App

equals? in Kona? this is highly overrated...no two persons are equal there...the proof: no two persons have the same rank :-)

I also agree that this is a good idea. The pro woman are smashed by age group men. What will be interesting is that the slower woman swimmers will be out there by themselves all swim.

I don't however agree with the age group athletes having waves. They should still mass start.

So you have two clocks running; 1 for the pros and a clock that starts 15 minutes later for the AG'rs. Some dark horse AG'r finishes the race in a time that is 2 minutes faster than the 1st pro to cross the line.

Who wins the race?

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

Even with a head start, the slow pro women swimmers are still smashed by age group men.

that may have been possible years ago, but let's face it, it's getting more and more professional, and no AGer will win overall.

We aren't talking about a 10 meter headstart, we are talking about a 15 minute headstart.

The idea that pro women are getting smashed by AG men, etc, is ludicrous. Everyone gets tossed, hit, kicked around during the swim in any triathlon. This goes far beyond "tweaking."

and do you need the prize money of Hawaii to live and pay your bills?

Does anyone see something in the fact that the WTC makes this change Friday PM, during the Olympics, during the Summer? It almost seems that they want this buried before it becomes news.

What does prize money have to do with this?

Lets face it, the Pros that are using triathlon to pay all of the bills are few. This is a sport driven by age groupers, and paid for by age groupers. There would be no sponsorship without the age groupers. Why not find a way to make things easier on the people that this sport is about? I invite any starving pro that has a problem starting with the rest of us, to get a job like the rest of us.

I have a better idea. Start the pros at 6:45 a.m. Start all those over 50 at 6:50 a.m. and the rest at 7:00 a.m. :) Maybe we could get the AARP to put pressure on WTC? :)

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank