USAT is back at it again. Taking a vote on whether or not men should be required to wear shirts during competition. Do they not have more important issues to worry about?
Damn…who cares? So now when I get out of the water, do I have to have someone waiting with a shirt or towel so I don’t expose my luscious chest whilst running to T1?
I guess that WOULD be an important issue if your company had people running around half naked…
Is wearing a top really that big of a deal? Seriously?
I live in AZ, I raced a few seasons in a black top when it was over 100F. No big deal.
USAT is back at it again. Taking a vote on whether or not men should be required to wear shirts during competition. Do they not have more important issues to worry about?
Actually it is an important issue. You may not know it or see it, but triathlon us starting to have a bit of an image problem outside the sport. Anything that can be done to smarten things up on this front is always a good move.
Based on another thread, ITU, USAT, and WTC are getting together in a couple of months to have discussions about a common rule set. As with any negotiations, there needs to be some give and take from all parties involved. One of the differences is that ITU and WTC require shirts, USAT doesn’t. If I were in USAT’s shoes, I’d want to find out how the membership feels: strongly for the rule, strongly against the rule, or mixed. If the membership isn’t strongly against adding this rule, then USAT can use it as one of its ‘gives’.
For a few years I’d do one race per year for fun. I didn’t want to invest in a tri top. but I did throw on a T-shirt in T2.
Really, it’s about the only socially acceptable time to show off your fitness. It’s totally gratuitous to pull your shirt off in the grocery store afterall. 
Do you have any references to this image problem? I’d just be curious to read more.
Their are people watching the race that really don’t wanna see a bunch of naked men running around. The vols, the spectators, the businesses that are near the race and the people that just happened to be in the area.
I’m not freaked about the human body, but I don’t think it’s all that hard to put on a top. It’s actually cooler to wear the top than not, so the I get to hot excuse is BS.
I’m all for it. Wear a shirt.
CS
So here’s the next question. What’s the penalty?
Time added on at the end of the race?
Yellow card?
Get stopped for it 3 times and you’re disqualified?
Immediate disqualification?
Have volunteers at the exits of T1 and T2 to stop anybody without a shirt, and hand them one they have to wear?
Based on another thread, ITU, USAT, and WTC are getting together in a couple of months to have discussions about a common rule set.
Finally! All three at the same table. This is a significant development. A huge positive step in the right direction.
It’s encouraging. Triathlon was starting to look at bit like boxing with several different organizations all going off in different directions.
Do you have any references to this image problem? I’d just be curious to read more.
Purely anectdotal but if you go to any single sport training group( swim, bike or run) and ask them what they think about triathletes, you will get your answer right there.
Also I know that there are high ranking people in the sport on the marketing and event management side of the sport who have told me they are concerned with how triathletes look. Note that these are often the people who have to sell the sport to the out-side corporate world, and looks, whether you like it or not, are important. You never have a second chance to make a first impression!!
Here’s a comment from the VP of Marketing from one of the well known shoe companies, when I sent him a letter inquiring about sponsorship over 20 years ago: “Why would I sponsor a triathlete? You guys run around all the time with no shirts on. Where will my logo go?”
Not based on science, however, as a heavy sweater, I don’t think it’s “cooler” to wear a shirt versus letting the sweat evaporate off the skin instead of steaming to death ala greenhouse effect with a shirt on. Also, with the sweat, the top clings to the body even more and I percieve that it is affecting my breathing and constricting me. I say “percieved” as I have no data proving my shirts ability to become a boa on my lungs.
Regardless, I’ll still wear a tri top because I need the extra pockets.
The prudishness amazes me.
And yet, if it’s on a magazine cover in the checkout aisle at the market, or plastered all over a billboard, or on TV, it’s fine.
Strike that. The prudishness and hypocrisy amazes me.
I don’t know how to enforce it. How about they say it needs to be done and people follow the rules? no way that couldn’t happen. I like the idea about no shirt no exit from t2. Why not? Better than running the race and being DQed at the end.
I can’t believe that it’s even a problem.
CS
My favorite is the topless guy wearing compression socks complaining that the top makes him feel too hot.
EDIT: Compression socks would be a good place to start with this image problem
The prudishness amazes me.
It has little to do with prudishness. If you think that is the issue, then you have missed the bigger more important things.
I don’t disagree with the image issue, but is racing without a shirt on really a part of that, or is it more a problem with attitudes and how we interact with others? I realize that the shirtless issue might not be helping, but it’s not the bigger issue.
Oh really. Do you have any empirical evidence of this? Is this why people put on clothes when they are cold and take them off when they are warm?? And Thunderbear anecdotes don’t count in my opinion so find other empirical evidence. And secondly why not implement a total ban across bare chests at the beach. Who said I wanted to see a bunch of overweight men and women going shirtless/bikini at the beach.
You really think that it’s prudish? My father comes to my races with his GF. She’s 75 and her beliefs may be a little different, but I doubt it’s prudish. Maybe common decency. It’s the same thing as having to put a sign on a shop window, “No shoes. No Shirt, No Service.” Do people really need to be told to put on some clothes?
Their are places that you can parade around without a shirt if you really feel the need. The beaches, the pool and others, but having respect for others has nothing to do with prudishness.
CS