How old are you? Sounds like you’re surprised that older AG competitors can be fast and competitive. Joan Benoit Samuelson just did a 3:02 marathon at 62. It may not be triathlon that has a problem.

What was her time? I know women in their 50's who are super fast swimmers.

What a weird conclusion. How about some positivity?

She's a former pro. Podiumed in Kona a lot. Crushes 70.3 races everywhere.

Good for her! There are a few older ladies at one of the pools I go to that are really fast! Nice to see age not limiting performance.

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Member of the Litespeed Factory Team
www.litespeed.com

what's her name?

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Juliana Nievergelt - was a star in the 80s.

I lifeguarded with a woman who just broke the 60+ 1650 record for masters. She is also a top triathlete, and I would guess she would be most women pros in the swim in a 70.3(not ITU though) She did a high 19 minute 1650, that drafts off the lead group in Kona, and she is over 60!!

She also happens to have a daughter that just got 5th overall in super league, and most likely be on our 2020 olympic team..

And if memory serves me, there is a woman in the 65+9think 67 now) that is just about as fast as Bonnie above. She still holds 1;12 pace for a 1k swim, and did 57+ in that division for 100SCY!! I guarantee you that a lot of pro women(outside ITU again) do not swim this fast, and some pro men too..So your outrage about a 59 year old, well that is Childs play...(-;

And forget about the men over 55 or 60, they would beat all the women pros, probably a guy that stays on Lucy's feet even..

That the pro's don't swim well compared to real swimmers?

She swam a 23:41. Yes, that's going to be a top swim time at almost any 70.3 unless it's super short or downstream

I'm approaching 60. The point I was trying to make is that though she is fast a 59 year old should woman should not be beating 75% of the pro women and 99.8% of the field out of the swim. Unfortunately, the vast majority of triathletes do not take the swim seriously as they are usually aided by a wetsuit swim and just do not take the swim seriously. Nor do they train like they do for the bike or run because in the scheme of things the swim is insignificant.

While Joan Benoit Samuelson had an awesome race at the age of 62 I imagine the majority of the professional women runners beat her by a significant margin because they are significantly younger. That was not the case last weekend. A 59 year old woman decimated all but 3 women and 36 participants out of 3,000 and you wonder why USAT and Ironman are quick to cancel or shorten a swim because the majority of the participants just can't swim.

I don’t disagree about the swimming ability of most triathletes, but it is not odd that with a technique heavy activity like swimming that and older experienced athlete would still be competitive. On the swim importance issue, Endurance Nation sells an effective full IM training program basically telling participants to survive the swim and spend the majority of your time on the bike and run. Given the time constraints of most triathletes, swim training is the first to get limited.

This doesn’t seem that odd given her history. To say a former pro swimmer shouldn’t be beating the AG field in a swim is off the mark in my opinion. Your fitness in the swim doesn’t decline as much as in other sports. I’m sure she has spotless form and a huge aerobic engine. Now if I were a professional, I may be somewhat embarrassed, but probably not...she seems to be a beast!

But I take your overall point, I read on the Augusta Facebook page that 117 athletes DNF’d the swim. Augusta is an easy swim overall with the aid of the current. This year was the slowest current on record with many folks saying they had no difference in time between lake swims and the Augusta swim. Still, 117 seems awfully high for a current assisted swim. I know one male competitor had a cardiac event in the water and is still in bad shape at an Augusta hospital. Praying he makes a good recovery.

well we know that running has a problem

Her bike time was not too shabby either for that course.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Don't put too much stock into the fact that someone had a great leg of a triathlon, although she is certainly an outlier! Triathlon is a three dimensional sport, some have great strengths and maybe real weaknesses. Others are balanced in all three. The goal is to be fastest from start to finish. In the big picture she is an elite age group triathlete. In triathlon we all have things to work on in three disciplines in order to improve in one sport.

A general question - Do you think it is good for the sport that 117 people entered and did not finish the swim?

Personally I do not. I think it helps explain why race directors are so quick to shorten or eliminate swims. Unfortunately, it affects those who take the sport seriously and want to compete at all three disciplines.

I am surprised with the majority of participants dislike/discomfort with swimming that duathlon died. In the late 80s and early 90s duathlon had a fairly strong presence but I guess the draw of doing an Ironman and now 70.3 races put a nail in duathlon's coffin.

I don’t think that it’s good for the sport. Augusta is marketed as a beginner friendly 70.3 so I wonder if it attracts more first timers. I also didn’t go back to look at statistics for prior years regarding DNFs on the swim to see if this is a high or average rate.

Your concerns about the swim in Ironman events is one of the reasons I’m hesitant about taking on a full distance race. If I do all of the training required to complete the distance and pay that kind of money to race I would be very upset if the swim got shortened or canceled. I think it’s getting harder and harder to find races with a guaranteed swim. That I think, is bad for the sport.

A general question - Do you think it is good for the sport that 117 people entered and did not finish the swim?
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Actually, I don't mind so much. I'd prefer to keep the sport challenging. Hopefully, some of those 117 people will use their defeat as fuel and up their swim game. That's good for the sport.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

for the augusta for sure it's not great to have a bunch of DNFs. that swim being with the current and wetsuit legal that swim is super easy. I usually end up talking to a few athletes at races and I am often surprised when the discussion of the swim comes up. I've heard more than a few say things like "oh I've only swam once in the past 3 months" or "I won't do any race that I can't wear a wetsuit". I don't know how RD can get people to put in just a minimum of training for the swim. I get swimming is hard for a lot of adult swimmers as it's not as convenient as walking out your front door to go for a run or bike. But just consistently swimming a couple times a week would probably be a huge improvement. But so many people are not doing that.

I looked up IMMT 70.3 and IMLP 70.3 just for fun (picked 2 nearest to me) and she would have been 12th and 2nd respectively and 1st female overall for both. But you're spot on, instead of mentioning she was first how about pointing out that 23:41 is a pretty amazing time that most people will never achieve.

Just like the killer swim time of a former pro, it is helpful to step back and ask questions like these in context... For example,

• August is one of biggest 70.3 races in the world. How does Augusta's swim DNF rate compare to other races on a percentage basis? How does it compare to similar races (down-river, wetsuit)?
  
• How does this year's DNF rate at Augusta compare to prior year DNF rates-- is this year an outlier or consistent with previous years?
• Augusta's a race that people expect (hope) to be wetsuit legal. Does the wetsuit/non-setsuit status affect swim DNF rates?
• Does Augusta attract more first-timers or bubble competitors because of its reputation as a fast down-river swim?

"117" could be fantastic or it could be horrible... it all depends on the context.

I know I will get some hate here but.........

The swim is just a warm up or in other words......its mandatory travel to the start of the race. I have seen countless times good swimmers who get crushed on the bike and run. The swim, time wise, is only 10% of the race and body size and shape really doesn't matter. My last IM swim was 1hr 4min swim...not fast but not slow for an AG'er. I got beat by all sorts of people large, small, male, female, and a few I would consider unhealthy large.....only to pass them all on the bike and I never saw them on the run.

To judge someones ability in a triathlon based on a single event it silly especially if its the swim. You are no going to win a race because you win the swim (a sprint is debatable).....but it can lose you if you swim slow.

I looked up IMMT 70.3 and IMLP 70.3 just for fun (picked 2 nearest to me) and she would have been 12th and 2nd respectively and 1st female overall for both. But you're spot on, instead of mentioning she was first how about pointing out that 23:41 is a pretty amazing time that most people will never achieve.
So we are comparing down current, short swims with other races now? Dont be morons everyone. And you all know the person you are talking about was one of the best pro triathletes in the world back in my day, right? She was not a pro swimmer, she was a pro triathlete, one who did not sit on the sofa and eat bon bons for the past 30 years, kept fit, and is still going well. She is not coming out of the water with Andy Potts though, even if you find a race where he swam 23 too.
Take a look at yesterdays Kona practice swim, an old man pro 53 went 52 low, beating some top 10 contenders for "this" years race. And another 55+ exx pro was just behind those guys in 54+. Once you learn to swim fast, you dont lose that much over time if you just keep swimming. The run, yes, the bike not so much.