Closed Kansas in 1:06:xx and still got 2nd.
That’s pretty incredible.
Wonder what he could do a 1/2 in without a 1.2 mile swim or 56 mile bike. 1:02?
Potts is a fast runner, but judging by all the run times, I’m guessing the run course was a tad short.
short
.
If the course was not short, would he have been able to win?
how the hell tough is it to measure a course correctly?!? I own 4 Garmins, I’ll let WTC borrow one next time they’re having trouble laying out a run course.
If the sky were not blue what color would the oceans be?
or the other way around… 
Pink font
…
I was there and my Garmin had it at 13.89. NOT short he’s just fast.
Why is it that some people are so put out by other’s success??
You need to throw your garmin in the trash.
how the hell tough is it to measure a course correctly?!? ‘’
No kidding, this has been going on since day one in our sport. At least in the old days they would usually tell you what the distance was though, that is all I ever ask. But there seems to be some reluctance of RD’s to advertise their real distance when they have pidgeon holed themselves into a set series or distance. And if it is to be able to brag about fast times, they better get over that real soon. Like you said, everyone has a garmin these days, and this site alone is enough to call bullshit on these short courses…
First of all, he didn’t go 1:06:xx…
Agreed, and if it’s a loop course that doesnt conform to 13.1 perfectly, all they need to do is find a little out & back stretch on a side road… Rev3 Quassy has two out & backs, makes a good place for aid stations and porto-lets and for competition to scope each other out, all positives in my opinion (except when i’m the one getting caught of course
my garmin had the course at 12.52 miles
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No kidding, this has been going on since day one in our sport. At least in the old days they would usually tell you what the distance was though, that is all I ever ask
Mark,
This is a problem as old as the sport. These days, with the measuring tools at RD’s disposal, it just makes the event and the sport look silly.
Back in the old days the sport was new, we were all mavericks, RD’s included in a way and people did not get too worked up about this. I know a very well known RD who back-in-the day measured his “1500m” swim by rowing a boat out into a lake that looked to be about 750m and setting buoy! He measure his “10K” runs, by how far he could run in 35 minutes! These days there really is no excuse for courses being off.
As to the results of the day, they are what they are. Leito won on the course that was set fair and square, but . . . . If I was a strong runner closing really fast and the course was proven to be 500m+ short and I pulled up short by a few seconds, I might have a polite word or two with the RD and leave it at that.
I’d say this is not the norm for Ironman. Send your Garmin to USAT. They seem to have a problem with course distance accuracy.
The kansas run course is nothing but a series of out and backs, it’s a horrible course IMO. They cram everyone onto a few miles of pavement and have you just run around until they tell you you finished 13.1 miles, which of course nobody did on that course.
In this case if the info that the course was approx 1/2 mile short is correct then
Lieto had a 5:44 pace so that means Potts at 5:22 was 22 secs faster per mile,
so he would only have gained 11 secs per 1/2 mile. What is missing is the
actually per mile splits. We don’t know if Potts and Lieto were above or below
their avg pace the last few miles.
If the course was not short, would he have been able to win?
This point cannot be emphasized enough. Based on times, the course seems to be about 3 minutes short, which is over a half mile. Not only does this make the IM mafia look inept, but it can (or does) rob people of higher placing or even wins.
In response to Fleck, if I were a pro, I would have more than just a “polite work” with the RD. This is a serious problem and severely damages IM’s cred.
Don’t care what anyone else things, Potts is a badass!
I’ll confirm that… my internal GPS had me running easy at IM “effort” and somehow ended up with a 3 min half IM PB.
1km short seems about right.
Edit: How cool was that run course though? There were fans, family, random campers, etc. lining the entire loop. I had a fun time.
You guys are unbelievable. Someone runs a wicked fast 1/2 marathon split and all of a sudden the course is short. Potts is fast. Maybe it was short but who cares. Let it be.
I enjoyed this course. It had a decent hill coming up from the waterfront that we had to run twice which I’m sure kept some people honest.
I didn’t have a Garmin, but my time was too close to my half marathon PR to be for real. Likely short, but whatever. Raced hard regardless of the distance.
Potts is a wicked fast runner. That argument is ridiculous, who would have caught who, etc, etc. Who is to say that Lieto wouldn’t have picked it up if he spotted Potts closing in. Would people be complaining if we had another Boise 70.3 type showdown, just with Lieto and Potts in Kansas?