I’ve searched around a bit and could not come up with anything conclusive. Are there any draft-legal races for Age-Groupers that are ITU-styled, or is it more of a “get your pro card and then come play” kind of deal ?
I saw that the Age Group Championships had some ITU rules, but is it draft-legal ?
Clearwater
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Clearwater
Good one.
None of the USAT Age Group Championships are draft-legal to my knowledge.
I’ve searched around a bit and could not come up with anything conclusive. Are there any draft-legal races for Age-Groupers that are ITU-styled, or is it more of a “get your pro card and then come play” kind of deal ?
I realize that people have some pretty strong opinions on this and that I am likely to get blasted for even saying this, but it is somewhat of a shame that good age-group triathletes don’t have any way of even trying ITU style racing. Set up a little sprint race on a closed loop bike course and a run and away you go - 500mswim/ 15- 20kbike/ 3 - 5k run or something along those lines. I am sure that more than few people would find it a heck of a lot of fun. Better than the same-old, same-old!
Flame away!
I’d love to try a draft legal tri. Don’t know how safe it would be with a bunch of AG trigeeks however.
I would love to try it also. Seems like fun to me. They’re fun to watch when they’re on TV too. Only problem is I wouldn’t make the front group out of the water and my day would be over and it would be like a regular tri by myself anyways.
Well there are plenty of 10ks to enter…
I’ve searched around a bit and could not come up with anything conclusive. Are there any draft-legal races for Age-Groupers that are ITU-styled, or is it more of a “get your pro card and then come play” kind of deal ?
I realize that people have some pretty strong opinions on this and that I am likely to get blasted for even saying this, but it is somewhat of a shame that good age-group triathletes don’t have any way of even trying ITU style racing. Set up a little sprint race on a closed loop bike course and a run and away you go - 500mswim/ 15- 20kbike/ 3 - 5k run or something along those lines. I am sure that more than few people would find it a heck of a lot of fun. Better than the same-old, same-old!
Flame away!
Don’t know how safe it would be with a bunch of AG trigeeks however.
Agreed, but there are ways around this. Perhaps it would only be open to triathletes who have a Road Racing License. Seems restrictive, but it could also be a boost to the local road racing scene - just thinking outside the box here. Or we could just have some form of bike experience screening.
As to the swim, the swim should be kept short enough so that people are not completely out of it. There should be some separation and advantage on the swim but not a huge one.
The St. Mary’s Hospital Triathlon in Huntington, WV is a draft legal sprint triathlon (1/2 mile swim; 40k bike; 5k road/trail run). Lot of fun, but probably not as grandiose as what you are looking for.
Phil
I have raced enough Cat5 crits to think that we are not in mortal danger in doing this if and I guess it is a big if…people would understand some simple does and do not’s. I would love to race some draft legal stuff and it would get me stoked about triathlon again.
There should be some that you could find through USAT, if only the Continental Cup and Championship (Junior, U23, Elite, etc…) type events.
Escape From Alcatraz, though officially ‘no draft’, is basically ITU given the technical nature of the course and prevalence of road bikes. It’s also a classic, must-do type race.
jackmott actually hit on a good idea- one of my brick workouts is to race local 5k and 10k events after warming up on my bike trainer.
I just got an email about a draft-legal sprint being put on by USAT - I think it’s here: Twenty-12 something.
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Sounds scary to me but here is one in Sacto: http://www.tbfracing.com/events/goldenstate.html
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I’d love to try a draft legal tri. Don’t know how safe it would be with a bunch of AG trigeeks however.
((roll-eyes))
Done a few…not that big a deal. The ones who can’t ride, well, can’t ride…they get spat out the back pretty quickly.
**((roll-eyes))
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The ones who can’t ride, well, can’t ride…they get spat out the back pretty quickly.
I don’t know about that… there are a **lot **of very strong squirrels out there…
"((roll-eyes)) "
I say that because I actually know triathletes who have never been on a group ride or don’t even own a road bike. They ride and train solo on their aero bars all the time. These are not the folks that should try draft legal racing. Other triathletes who ride with the roadies on group rides would be more adept at this type of a race. Another poster made a point about having a road license, but that’s probably not practical since most road racers aren’t interested in triathlon and not a large % of triathletes have road racing experience. There is a road race group in Ontario that offers a weekend road race basics course. That sort of thing might be a good prerequisite for AG’ers wanting to try draft legal.
Yeah yeah blah blah we know…you’ve been bleating on about this for years…kinda tiresome.
I can only vouch from experience.
Here’s the thing…we’re talking Age-Groupers. The swim abilities of competing AGers (in an Oly) vary from ex-collegiate level fish hitting the sand in 18mins to those barely breaking 40. The bike field starts so strung out that even on a tight flat course you simply won’t see big dangerous packs developing, hence the issue of safety is, IMHO, completely overblown. The cycling ability varies just as much…hanging in a pack tight enough and fast enough for accidents to happen in the blink of an eye is HARD (you should know)…speed changes, containing surges, bridging to the next pack, etc all sap the legs. Only very skilled & smart athletes know how to take advantage of this style of riding to be able to run well off the bike. Those who have no experience riding in a bunch (the “unsafe” ones) simply don’t last…its hard work.
The races do not play out like the televised ITU drafting races we’re used to seeing…those athletes are all of very similar ability, hence the race typically bunches up immediately after the swim…the ride may have 2, 3 or 4 main packs, sometimes the packs will merge over the course of the ride…the result being the footrace we so typically see in this style of racing with that calibre of athlete. Its a different world at AG level.
There’s one course I’m thinking of in Auckland raced 3 x per year…4 x 10km laps (Oly), dead flat, sometimes 500+ competitors on the same 5km stretch (out n back = 10km) of tarmac racing sprint, Oly, duathlon & newbie kids races all at the same time…“pack-related” crashes are rare, maybe 3-4 for the entire event on a rainy day.
Only very skilled & smart athletes know how to take advantage of this style of riding to be able to run well off the bike.
I take advantage by getting in front of people I don’t want in the group, letting a gap open then boosting it back to the pack. On the rare occasions that I can’t drop the whole pack.
Don’t you have a youtube posting somewhere showing how these races work… (I still watch it occasionally when I’m worried you’re getting faster).
Hey man, never said skilled & smart = me. A few of these races and my one K2 experience were enough to show how weak a pack cyclist I am… 