Cozumel is an amazing race, well organized and the island is a gem (and so are the locals)
That a dozen of overweight folks have been busted for running over the line with no merit, wouldnt mean anything to my race expericence.
On the other hand, take e.g IM Barcelona, where big PELOTONs of drafting cheaters always form on the bike, year over year. That has fucked up my own race there several times.
The solution on the Cozumel run leg seems simple: Place more timing mats
The big Ironman branded trucks are parked by T2 and all the relevant IM gear should be ready to roll out, right?
This year there were so many slots because it was the Latin American Championship, I pretty easily got one for Nice and I was closer to top 20 than to top 10 in my AG. However next year I think Brazil will be the Lat Am Championship.
i think the problem is ironman assigns regulation to the countries of their federation which is really lax in the case of MX. iirc for example USAT rules in USA, DTU in germany. speaking on that note, i do know doping control near non existent in the race scene down there.
As a very back of the packer, I also saw alot of cheating on the bike at Coz. It’s funny that when two small groups went by with a moto closely following, they dinged the guy who was chatting with another rider on his side instead of the pace line.
It was interesting to see two runners on the road that runs parallel to the run course road, dodging traffic, instead of actually being on the course. But that late in the game, the officials & volunteers were more interested in packing up for the night.
Yeah it is odd but I suppose because it’s the only full Ironman in Latin America? Next year I heard Brazil will have a full and will also host the Latin American championship, so Cozumel will just be a standard 140.6.