skankyleg wrote:
In light of recent results i.e. Ironman Texas, there happened to be a few individuals who not only beat the entire pro women field but also edged out more than a handful of pro men. This happens at just about every race and most likely has been discussed at some point but at what point in your racing career do you bite the bullet and get the heck out of the age group field?!?! If the first 2 podium spots of the age group are occupied by individuals swimming sub 1 hour with a 4:30 bike and a sub 3 hour run while taking out a handful of pro's what the hell is going on?!?! Just hand them over a Kona spot and put them in some personalized ''people with good genes who ran at a D1 college but are only fast enough to be a B or C grade pro but do not want to get their pro card because they will get lost in the shuffle'' class. Thoughts on sandbagging?Some people, due to genetics, backgound and training are very fast. Some of those have decided to try and make a living off the sport. These are pros. Typically pros will be the fastest in any given race for obvious reasons. They get their own category.
One person is the winning male and one the winning female. The winner could be either pro or amateur but will obviously be pro in almost all cases. Everyone else is sub divided by age for the same reason it's done in any sport, so that, in theory you're competing against others in your approximate demographic. i.e. If you're 50, it's not realistic to compare yourself directly to 25 year olds.
Since there's age categories and finishing places are recognised by age category, it facilitates a qualification system for Kona to produce a field that represents all demographics with, theoretically, the best athletes in each age group, plus the pros.
Why would you tell the fastest age groupers that they have to pretend they're pros or go in a separate category?
And if this made sense (it doesn't) where would you put your cut-off?
Pros are identified separately because they're pros. This is what they do.
They don't have a right to be the fastest, they just typically are.
Amateurs don't have a right to be helped fool themselves into thinking they're great. Nor do they have a right to have more and more sub-divisions made in the field until everyone gets a medal......
If you can't beat the best in your age group, that's okay. Learn to deal with that disappointment. Don't pretend someone's cheating you.
I'll never be fast. My genetics aren't bad but my background and age are against me, plus I'm maybe just not committed enough. That's okay. I'm not fooling myself. I still expect and intend to get faster for another few years but that's unlikely to get me much beyond mid pack. I'll keep it up as long as I'm enjoying it and getting something out of it.
Some of the guys who are fast but not quite fast enough to get on the podium or get to Kona have a pathetic lack of perspective. It's all ego and self deceit. You're being robbed by dopers, or celebrities, or the lottery, or rolling starts. Now, apparently we have people who feel they are being robbed just because they aren't fast enough. If other guys are faster than you, you don't win. That's how racing works. You don't get to say they're magically in a different category and you still win. Get a grip.
