HuffNPuff wrote:
devashish wrote:
A KPR system for age groupers would suck for most because it would reward those who allocate their money and vacation time to a large number of WTC races per year (I'm not saying you have to be rich to race WTC event, you can get by driving old shitty cars and spending car payments on racing....). Or reward those in geographies where they can quicly drive to many and not have to fly...I can drive to 5 WTC races in 3 hours radius (Tremblant 140.6 and 70.3, IMLP, Muskoka 70.3, Syracuse), and 2 more if I extend out to 7 hours (Timberman, Pocono).
I am not advocating for an age group KPR system, but I think it makes good sense for WTC, not for us. Further, I would bet in the 50+ age groupers it would not seriously alter the types of people who already go. I am in the M55-59 but know a good number of guys who no longer work and have the resources to race multiple halves and fulls. Those guys have the time to train hard, get more rest and race for slots all over the world. The only change in the upper age groups might be to reward consistent FOP performances rather than one top performance.
I'm in the boat of the guys who can not only race many times per year due to driving distance to WTC races, but can also fly to many because that's what I choose to spend my cash on. And it is kind of stupid, because earlier this week for the first time ever I checked the WTC standings (I was actually going there to look at the pro KPR standings and our of curiousity started browsing age grouper) and I was 11th worldwide in 45-49....WTF....I'm a 10:47 tourist at IMLP...but I raced Oceanside, Tremblant 70.3 St. Croix and IMLP already this year....you can quickly see how the guys with moderate results racing a lot of their races move up their "standings". Just in my home town of Ottawa alone there are over 10-15 guys in 45-49 who are faster than me on any given day. So as it stands the system is favouring those on the "Petr Vanbrousek" age grouper plan....guys who race a lot and get moderate results vs guys who race really fast but not often. To make it worse, the age group points are based on percent of winner. So I can be at 95% of the winner in 2 races yet cumulatively 45 minutes behind the 2 guys over 2 races, yet in the standings, I will be waaaaaay ahead of either guy who races half as much. How does this send the best athletes to Kona? Don't get me wrong, it is highly favourable for guys in my boat, but just because it is good for guys who race at a moderate speed a lot, does not make it right for an age group Kona qual methodology.
I much prefer the age group "one shot method". Show up to the race, and go as fast as you can. Beat your peers and you're in for the show (a true competition), or finish high enough and hope someone declines and you get in on the rolldown.
If they are going to have a KPR method for age groupers, the points should not be based on a percent of winner, but rather allocate points by your age group placement per race, and perhaps give double points for an Ironman vs half IM. At least that is a better method than straight time percentage.
Sorry for the hijack on the Chatanooga thread. Good to see it will have 50 slots per the "current qual system".
Dev