I had heard that one was not allowed to use an Apple Watch during an Ironman, has that changed and has anyone tried the Ultra so far?
Source? I have the Ultra but haven’t raced with it.
What would the reasoning be?
Probably the cell phone features and getting texts in the race
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Probably the cell phone features and getting texts in the race
Doubtful. Apple Watch support for texting and cellular phone calls came out in 2017 in v3. Hard to believe it took Ironman 5+ years to learn that.
I thought so too but a fellow triathlete said that and I was like ‘huh?’ but I thought I put it out there and it’s probably like I thought…its not a thing.
The rules around cellular devices have been in place for awhile and would apply to these watches. But as long as you’re not actively making calla or texting I’m going to assume policing it would not be much of a thing
The rules around cellular devices have been in place for awhile and would apply to these watches. But as long as you’re not actively making calla or texting I’m going to assume policing it would not be much of a thing
Agreed. My response to Bryan was that it wasn’t the new Ultra watch as it’s been in place for years.
The rules around cellular devices have been in place for awhile and would apply to these watches. But as long as you’re not actively making calla or texting I’m going to assume policing it would not be much of a thing
Then you should as well be allowed to take your cellphone assuring you only use certain functions: „oh no, I‘m not looking at the tracker, I’m only looking at my speed“. Come on, who believes that. No one can detect which functions you use. I think it is nothing but fair and consistent to ban the apple ultra from races.
From the rules in the last race I did (12+ months ago), taking your cellphone was totally legal, you just couldn’t pull it out and use it for anything (“no distracting manner” or some phrase like that). My understanding is that the issue of getting texts or calls to your phone/watch could constitute outside assistance. Especially if the messages are from your coach.
When I did IM 70.3 in Lubbock in 2018, the rules explicitly prohibited having a phone while on course. This was going to be a problem for me since I was using a Wahoo RFLKT which requires a phone for linking all the sensors. I put my phone in my top tube nutrition case. It was out of sight and nothing happened. Technically, it was illegal but the race directors response when I asked didn’t leave me too concerned about it.
By IMTX two years ago, the stated rule had changed to allow me to bring a phone so long as I didn’t actually pull it out and look at it. I kept it in my back pocket just so that friends could track me on Garmin’s Live Tracking.