the first rule of slowtwitch investigation is always get the bib number

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Epic fail NOT to get the bib. We were so shocked, we dropped the ball. I’m sure other STers saw him.

What time of day? Can go back and watch the finishline cam...

Oh that’s good! Between 7:45-8:15pm HST

Could they have been competing as transgender, either in female or open category (not sure if they had an open category in Kona?)

In a larger press release sent out on February 6, Ironman announced the creation of a new Open participatory division, with the hopes of “[providing] a welcoming and inclusive field for able-bodied athletes that cannot or do not wish to race in a competitive age or gender group.” The press release went on to say that athletes can self-select this category with no approval required.

Ironman officially aligned with World Triathlon’s policy on transgender athletes. As such, World Triathlon, the sport’s international governing body will dictate Ironman’s eligibility requirements that, “transitioning Male to Female athletes to [must] maintain less than a 2.5 nMol/L testosterone level for two sequential years prior to receiving approval to compete as a Female. Further, transitioning Male to Female athletes may not have competed as a Male in an official competition of triathlon or its related multisport or an allied sport of swimming, cycling, athletics (including all track and field events) and cross-country skiing for a minimum four-years preceding approval to compete as a Female.” Further adding that transitioning athletes can participate in the newly formed Open category for four years while awaiting approval.

Were they with another athlete? I did see (randomly) a male guide with a (vision impaired?) athlete crossing the line on the finish line cam. It was something like 14+hrs

There's no IMWC slots in the Open category

Guides this year received bib numbers - Saw a picture of a guy with bib 113 (looked it up and he was a PC guide)

There wasnt a great way to tell the difference unless you looked super close - Posted from a guide on facebook - They received Five blue cards for drafting since the officials couldnt even tell

Was it a 2023 bib?

He could've either used his own bib from a previous year and jumped onto the course just to be a dick, or he may have copied a 2023 bib from someone for the same reason (just to be a dick)

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
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With about 2 minutes worth of effort in the IM tracker and google, it was obvious he was the guide for the 18 year old young woman with ASD who finished the race.

Don't guides either ride a tandem (in the case of athletes with vision impairment), or generally wear a neon vest that says "Guide" (for others)?

Only for visually impaired athletes. He was guiding an athlete with ASD.

Yes typically - But apparently they didnt do that this year. They had real bib numbers (1 higher than their athlete) with tiny "Guide" on the bottom. Also riding in tandem depends on the type of PC athlete (example Chris Nikic doesnt ride and tandem, but blind athletes would) - If they are not in tandem the guide most remain behind the athlete (hence drafting violations lol)

Looking at the PC category there was 3 male guides out there - Seems more likely the OP didnt see the tiny "guide" text than someone sneaking into an all womens race

. Thanks for this, but not them. This dude was solo. I’m going through video, getting closer…

https://www.ironman.com/...article/show/1286913

Did you find the mystery man?

Still poring through video. Getting closer…. I’m on a mission.

One of my friends raced and when I looked at her swim results her swim place overall was one place off the swim placing by gender which I wondered about but thought it must have been an error...but maybe not now that I see this.

I did see a friend post a snapshot of the result of his athlete and she was xx out of xxx female and xx out of xxx+3 overall. So there were 3 others identifying a different sex or things (who knows now days???).

His name is Doug G, and he was the coach and race day guide for Adrienne Bunn. A young lady with autism who became the first female athlete with autism to finish an Ironman.

https://www.ironman.com/news_article/show/1286913

This discrepancy is purely based on the PC guides being given overall places in the app but not gender places obviously.

See attached images - The final finisher had a gender place 4 better than her overall, PC guides are show with overall finisher placement (but not gender) - There were exactly 4 PC guides on course (3 of which were men)

At this point I'm 99.8% sure the OP confused a PC guide for an athlete

Four guides finished: at 19:11, 19:12 23:09 23:10. Doesn't fit with the OP's sighting time estimate and "he was alone".