So will the ITU change the distance now for the WC and all races going forward?

I know I am being picky, just don't understand why triathlon doesn't stick to accurate measurements for the courses - other sports do.

Agree with almost all of this but not sure he's ever been the Britsh X-C champ - schools yes and possibly junior but I don't think he has a senior title.

In any event, with multiple 180 degree turns, a jog down the home stretch and an uneven course to contend with he ran 1 second slower than our 2nd place 10,000m runner (yes I'm aware how unfair that is but it's still a crazy stat!)

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"Are you sure we're going fast enough?" - Emil Zatopek

ITU does even have sprints distance races on it's WCS schedule.

I guess you are just being over picky about it (which is ok), because it's not really all that big of a deal. I'm sure with the course that they wanted to have (featuring all the British monument places), it simply was long each lap.

It's kinda a yawner, really. It doesnt really matter. All the guys are racing same course, same conditions.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

Nice job for hunter kemper, solid race and a good way to finish. Finishing 14th with the level of competition shown today has to be a slight consolation to not getting a podium spot. Now Huerta was another story, his splits were just terrible, i applaud him for his hard work in getting to where he is but that was simply a total fail for USA triathlon. I was watching his training day video over on tri mag's site and when i saw him swim my first thought was, "wow he looks uncomfortable/slow in the water." Sure enough he swims 19min with a wetsuit, that right there takes you out of the race. Then his run split of 34:39 is again just not up to olympic standards. The swim still bothers me, if USA Tri is going to pick two people to represent the USA then pick two people who guaranteed will at least be in the main pack of swimmers. That is why i was frustrated that Chrabot was not selected, sure he most likely would not have been top 10 but he would have been mop to fop on the swim and would hammer that bike. The the USA at least gets some camera time during the race!!

Then again i don't think any american could have held on with the top three today, so in the end it really dose not matter.

It is simply logistics. You need to build a course of between 6 and 8 laps on the local roads, ending up with a course around 40k. Marathon courses can be flexible in their start position, triathlons need to start and finish at a body of water (unless split transition). So within the criteria they ended up with a course of 43k, which would be preferable to a course of 36k if they had only 6 laps.

if USA Tri is going to pick two people to represent the USA then pick two people who guaranteed will at least be in the main pack of swimmers.

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Mind you, USAT didnt pick those guys. They earned it through the qualification process that Chrabot went through as well. Huerta and Kemper did something that Chrabot couldnt do, and that was to qualify. So in that regards, your statement is inaccurate. Now if neither made it by qualifying and they were given discretion spots, you're point would be more valid.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

There is no British championship, but English, Scottish, etc. The nearest to a British Championships is the Inter-Counties Champs. Alistair has never won the senior title, although Jonny came 5th or 6th this year.

And ultimately, if you're going to fudge the numbers, adding 3km for a ride that is draft-legal won't generally dramatically change the outcome of the race. Add say 1 more kilometer to the run or 300m more to the swim (roughly the same time equivalent), and you'd quite possibly have different orders of finish.

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Tri Authenticiy
"Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials. How could he make them understand?"--John L. Parker, Once a Runner

In the end Manny Huerta earned his spot on Team USA per the qual requirements and Chrabot did not. What happened in London does not change what happened in San Diego. Matt Chrabot had his chance and let Manny take it away.

It is not about fudging the numbers, but setting a course in centre of a major city and working with the options you have available to you. Unless you have a dead turn, half way up a road, it is rare to get an accurate bike course drafting or not.

Apparently the run course has been measured as accurate by the same guy who certifies the London marathon course. See @tomfordyce on Twitter for details (he is chief sports writer for the BBC)

I was there today and as well as a great race it was also a great day for triathlon - the crowds lining the course were massive, 10-15 deep all round the course and making a hell of a noise! It will be very interesting to see what it does for the profile of triathlon here in the UK over the next couple of years.

I was there too, but didn't see you! ;-) But it was an awesome atmostphere, absolutely brilliant!

I was watching the replay on nbcolympics.com, they didn't have any announcers for the men's race

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"I like you. I'll gladly sit down and have dinner with you after the race. But when the gun goes off, I pretty much hate you, and I want to stomp your guts out. That's racing." -Rappstar

http://train4autism.org/

But remember it was a 26.6 mi bike, not 24.8, so an extra 4 min or so on the bike ==> 1:42 for standard OD.

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

:-)

Well look at this way...you'll get your own back at Kona.

Yeah, thinking the same thing. Brownlee was so strong today- that 1:42 comes as he drove the race in all three disciplines. No sitting in. Just an awesome display of power.

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Tri Authenticiy
"Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials. How could he make them understand?"--John L. Parker, Once a Runner

I am not at all contesting that Huerta earned his spot correctly and justly, rather i am suggesting that the USA selection system needs attention. As a US citizen i don't care about who qualified, i care about sending the two best triathletes to represent the USA at the olympics.

wow. that sucks. NBCs approach to the olympics is such a fail.

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@rhyspencer

According to YOUR selection process, Hunter and Manny Huerta were the two best guys the USA had for London. Just like according to our Canadian selection process, Paula Findlay and Kathy Trembley were the two best women. Now just like you disagree with the US selection process, I hate the Canadian selection process by committee :-). I'd much rather have seen Brault qualify outright for the Canadian womean just like Huerta did for the US men. I prefer when the athletes settle who is the "best" on the field of play, and not let random selectors with political slants and other power plays decide in the back room. All the drama generated by Simon's tweets would have been immaterial if we just had selection races in Sydney, San Diego or Madrid to pick out team. Then it would be clear that Findlay was not ready to race. At least Manny proved that he was more ready than Matt, and we can't take that away from him. Matt never proved that he was the best man. Anything else is just conjecture.

Well the problem is, i'm not really sure what selection process you'd want to change too. My guess though is that at the next selection the athlete wtih the best/most points will get an "auto" spot (IE, the best points chaser), and then we'll also have one (or more*) qualifying races to fill the rest of the team, and then discretion slots if needed.

I dont think Chrabot or Shoemaker were any better qualified for a 1 shot deal over any of the 2 guys that qualified. I honestly think we could draw them out of a hat, and we'd have finishes like we had today (maybe they do better than Huerta's bad swim, but finishing outside top 3 really doesnt matter in terms of exposure at the olympics).

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

Biggest thing I'm actually excited/proud of is just the pressure of this race and the results that happened today. The 3 biggest names in the sport, all stepped up and represented the best of the best and that has me stoked. I'm super happy for all 3 of those guys, as they have been the clear cut best guys over the last few years.

I'm proud of the ITU racing these past 2 races. Photo finish in the women's race and a world class all time performance in the other.

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com

Not too much I hope: it's hard enough getting into the races as it is.

More seriously, that was a terrific race. Nice to see a couple of fell runners showing the rest of the World how to do it.

Rob

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Vanity Blog http://triathlonfoolishness.blogspot.com/

Agreed, a tough way to end it for a class act. The following article shows how much he put into this race as well - at a point in his life where it is harder to do it (I have daughters the same age).

http://sports.nationalpost.com/...h-define-his-career/

BTW, we actually spoke in Kingston Dev, but I didn't realize it was you (meaning Dev from ST fame) till later. Never saw you on the course though. Wild day.

Sorry I did not hang around in Kingston....when they converted the 2K swim 56K bike-15K run tri to a 7.5k run-56K bike-15K run duathlon on account of the 70 kph wind gusts and the crazy waves that made it difficult for rescue staff to go out on the water, I decided that with an IM in 2 weeks, this would be too much running. Rather than tempt myself by hanging around, I thought the safest thing would be to hand in my timing chip and ensure that I did not even get tempted to race.

It was very cool that Simon Whitfield called in from London UK and wished the competitors good luck....just before the Typhoon like storm blew in. Amazing that the guy would take time out of his Olympic prep to call into the local race in his home town.

Dev

Great, another mistake in my IMMT prep.