All,
JackRabbit is planning to offer an Indoor Triathlon this winter. We did this last year on a small scale and want to do it this year on a bigger scale. I wanted to solicit the opinions of the forum on how we're going to run the race, and ask for suggestions to help us make it a good one. Feel free to comment on any part of this.
Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Because of the logistics involved in moving a hundred or more athletes through the limited resources of a facility, an indoor triathlon must be time based rather than distance based. That is, you win based on going further in a period of time, not going faster for a fixed distance. Furthermore, we're limited to the equipment in each facility -- it is completely impractical to set up trainers and have people bring their own bikes, for example. From a practical perspective, that means that the bike portion of the race must be done on spin bikes. That in turn means rankings must be done based on a score of some kind rather than an actual distance.
Each participant is given an approximate start time so they know when to show up. We measure their total distance for 10 minutes in the pool, 30 minutes on a spin bike, and 20 minutes on a treadmill. Racers are graded on a curve -- the furthest distance in each category gets 100, the shortest gets 0, and the "score" for the race is the total number of points. All three events count equally towards the final score. (Racers will also see their actual "distances" in the results for whatever they're worth).
In the pool: We will have no more than two racers in any lane in the pool at any one time. Each group of racers will start at the same time, and the "head ref" for the pool will use a whistle to mark the start and stop time. No diving starts (two people in a lane, remember.) When the stop whistle goes off, all racers must stop in place. Racers who have made it more than halfway down a lane will be given credit for 1/2 of a lap. Racers who move after they have come to a stop and before they have been given permission by the head ref will lose credit for one lap. Racers must wear a swim cap, and cannot wear wetsuits. Hands and feet must be uncovered (No paddles, gloves, fins, boots, etc). No snorkels. No "thong" bathing suits (don't ask...).
T1: Racers will be given between 10-15 minutes to go to the locker room, change into clothing for cycling & running, get to the cycling room, and adjust the seat, handlebar height, and resistance of the spin bike to whatever they feel is comfortable. (We may be able to provide a spin bike for people before the race so they can find their settings before the race starts -- depends on the facility.) We do *not* want people getting injured by slipping & falling in their rush to get to the bikes, so we give plenty of transition time. Furthermore, in some facilities the only way to get to the bikes from the pool is via a rather slow elevator, or several flights of stairs, so we need to allow for that in each facility.
On the bike: Racers can set the resistance on the spin bikes to whatever they want, and can adjust the handlebar height & seat height to whatever they want. Racers can adjust their bike mid-ride if they desire. Racers can not bring their own pedals -- we will provide pedals with toeclips. Each bike will be outfitted with a bike computer that will measure "distance" by counting the number of times the flywheel goes around. All computers will have the same circumference programmed in to measure distance, and we'll try to make it accurate to the circumference of the spin bike wheel so the "distance" reported has some basis in reality, however it is NOT meant to correspond exactly to the actual distance cycled. Bike computers will not show cadence. The head ref for the bike area will ensure that the trip counter on each bike computer is reset to zero before each group starts, and that nobody false-starts. Racers will be allowed to bring one water bottle with them for the bike which must fit in the water bottle holder provided on the bike. Racers will be provided with a towel while on the bike to wipe up sweat if they wish.
T2: There will not be a formal transition area for T2, however racers may choose to bring a change of shoes, a second water bottle, and any nutritional products they would like to consume which they can keep in a duffel bag. If we can, we may provide gels and/or energy drinks to racers. Racers will be allowed a relatively short time to transition from the bike room to the run room, but the exact time will depend on the facility.
On the run: Runs will be done on the treadmills that are provided by the facility. We will make an effort to ensure that all treadmills are of the same brand and are calibrated accurately, but cannot guarantee that all treadmills are exactly calibrated. The maximum speed on most treadmills is 10 mph, which is slower than the max speed of some runners. Therefore, runners may choose to set the incline to receive a multiple on their run distance. While the runner may change their speed during the run segment, they may NOT change the incline -- it must be set before the start button is pressed. Any racer that adjusts the incline during the run will be treated as though the entire run had been done at 0% incline. For every 1% incline, the measured run distance will be increased by 10%. That is, if you run at a 1% incline your total distance will be multiplied by 1.10. If you run at a 5.5% incline then your distance will be multiplied by 1.55. If you run at a 10% incline then your distance will be multiplied by 2.00. Etc. The head ref for the run area will ensure that no racer presses their start button before the start is called and that all racers press their stop buttons within five seconds of stop being called.
Scoring: Volunteers will record the distances for each racer in each event. Distances are: number of yards swum accurate to 0.5 laps (could be a 20 or 25 yard pool depending on the facility we use); "miles" cycled as reported by the trip computer accurate to 1/100 of a mile; distance run on the treadmill accurate to 1/100 mile and the incline of the run accurate to 0.5%. The run will be the adjusted distance computed using the formula above and rounded to the nearest 0.001. Each of these scores will be reported to the racer after they are done with the segment, and will be validated by the head ref of that area. Any protests will be noted at the time they are recorded, but the judgement of the head ref of each area is final and no adjustments will be performed to the racers score after the fact. After all participants have completed the race, a score will be computed for each event. If "s" is the shortest distance recorded in that event and "f" is the longest distance recorded in that event, and "a" is that racer's actual distance, then each person will be given a score of 100.0-((f-a)/(f-s))*100.0, rounded to the nearest 0.1, for that event. That is, the furthest distance will receive 100.0, the shortest distance will receive 0.0, and anything inbetween will be linearly interpolated beteeen the two. The racer's total score will be computed by adding their scores for all three events.
Rankings: Rankings will be provided for: Overall Men, Overall Women, men 15-19, women 15-19, men 20-24, women 20-24, men 25-29, women 25-29, men 30-34, women 30-34, men 35-39, women 35-39, men 40-44, women 40-44, men 45-49, women 45-49, men over 50, women over 50, men over 60, women over 60. Age on race day will be used to determine category. Racers must be 15 or over on race day.
JackRabbit is planning to offer an Indoor Triathlon this winter. We did this last year on a small scale and want to do it this year on a bigger scale. I wanted to solicit the opinions of the forum on how we're going to run the race, and ask for suggestions to help us make it a good one. Feel free to comment on any part of this.
Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Because of the logistics involved in moving a hundred or more athletes through the limited resources of a facility, an indoor triathlon must be time based rather than distance based. That is, you win based on going further in a period of time, not going faster for a fixed distance. Furthermore, we're limited to the equipment in each facility -- it is completely impractical to set up trainers and have people bring their own bikes, for example. From a practical perspective, that means that the bike portion of the race must be done on spin bikes. That in turn means rankings must be done based on a score of some kind rather than an actual distance.
Each participant is given an approximate start time so they know when to show up. We measure their total distance for 10 minutes in the pool, 30 minutes on a spin bike, and 20 minutes on a treadmill. Racers are graded on a curve -- the furthest distance in each category gets 100, the shortest gets 0, and the "score" for the race is the total number of points. All three events count equally towards the final score. (Racers will also see their actual "distances" in the results for whatever they're worth).
In the pool: We will have no more than two racers in any lane in the pool at any one time. Each group of racers will start at the same time, and the "head ref" for the pool will use a whistle to mark the start and stop time. No diving starts (two people in a lane, remember.) When the stop whistle goes off, all racers must stop in place. Racers who have made it more than halfway down a lane will be given credit for 1/2 of a lap. Racers who move after they have come to a stop and before they have been given permission by the head ref will lose credit for one lap. Racers must wear a swim cap, and cannot wear wetsuits. Hands and feet must be uncovered (No paddles, gloves, fins, boots, etc). No snorkels. No "thong" bathing suits (don't ask...).
T1: Racers will be given between 10-15 minutes to go to the locker room, change into clothing for cycling & running, get to the cycling room, and adjust the seat, handlebar height, and resistance of the spin bike to whatever they feel is comfortable. (We may be able to provide a spin bike for people before the race so they can find their settings before the race starts -- depends on the facility.) We do *not* want people getting injured by slipping & falling in their rush to get to the bikes, so we give plenty of transition time. Furthermore, in some facilities the only way to get to the bikes from the pool is via a rather slow elevator, or several flights of stairs, so we need to allow for that in each facility.
On the bike: Racers can set the resistance on the spin bikes to whatever they want, and can adjust the handlebar height & seat height to whatever they want. Racers can adjust their bike mid-ride if they desire. Racers can not bring their own pedals -- we will provide pedals with toeclips. Each bike will be outfitted with a bike computer that will measure "distance" by counting the number of times the flywheel goes around. All computers will have the same circumference programmed in to measure distance, and we'll try to make it accurate to the circumference of the spin bike wheel so the "distance" reported has some basis in reality, however it is NOT meant to correspond exactly to the actual distance cycled. Bike computers will not show cadence. The head ref for the bike area will ensure that the trip counter on each bike computer is reset to zero before each group starts, and that nobody false-starts. Racers will be allowed to bring one water bottle with them for the bike which must fit in the water bottle holder provided on the bike. Racers will be provided with a towel while on the bike to wipe up sweat if they wish.
T2: There will not be a formal transition area for T2, however racers may choose to bring a change of shoes, a second water bottle, and any nutritional products they would like to consume which they can keep in a duffel bag. If we can, we may provide gels and/or energy drinks to racers. Racers will be allowed a relatively short time to transition from the bike room to the run room, but the exact time will depend on the facility.
On the run: Runs will be done on the treadmills that are provided by the facility. We will make an effort to ensure that all treadmills are of the same brand and are calibrated accurately, but cannot guarantee that all treadmills are exactly calibrated. The maximum speed on most treadmills is 10 mph, which is slower than the max speed of some runners. Therefore, runners may choose to set the incline to receive a multiple on their run distance. While the runner may change their speed during the run segment, they may NOT change the incline -- it must be set before the start button is pressed. Any racer that adjusts the incline during the run will be treated as though the entire run had been done at 0% incline. For every 1% incline, the measured run distance will be increased by 10%. That is, if you run at a 1% incline your total distance will be multiplied by 1.10. If you run at a 5.5% incline then your distance will be multiplied by 1.55. If you run at a 10% incline then your distance will be multiplied by 2.00. Etc. The head ref for the run area will ensure that no racer presses their start button before the start is called and that all racers press their stop buttons within five seconds of stop being called.
Scoring: Volunteers will record the distances for each racer in each event. Distances are: number of yards swum accurate to 0.5 laps (could be a 20 or 25 yard pool depending on the facility we use); "miles" cycled as reported by the trip computer accurate to 1/100 of a mile; distance run on the treadmill accurate to 1/100 mile and the incline of the run accurate to 0.5%. The run will be the adjusted distance computed using the formula above and rounded to the nearest 0.001. Each of these scores will be reported to the racer after they are done with the segment, and will be validated by the head ref of that area. Any protests will be noted at the time they are recorded, but the judgement of the head ref of each area is final and no adjustments will be performed to the racers score after the fact. After all participants have completed the race, a score will be computed for each event. If "s" is the shortest distance recorded in that event and "f" is the longest distance recorded in that event, and "a" is that racer's actual distance, then each person will be given a score of 100.0-((f-a)/(f-s))*100.0, rounded to the nearest 0.1, for that event. That is, the furthest distance will receive 100.0, the shortest distance will receive 0.0, and anything inbetween will be linearly interpolated beteeen the two. The racer's total score will be computed by adding their scores for all three events.
Rankings: Rankings will be provided for: Overall Men, Overall Women, men 15-19, women 15-19, men 20-24, women 20-24, men 25-29, women 25-29, men 30-34, women 30-34, men 35-39, women 35-39, men 40-44, women 40-44, men 45-49, women 45-49, men over 50, women over 50, men over 60, women over 60. Age on race day will be used to determine category. Racers must be 15 or over on race day.