In a discussion with my Bro-in-law:
He is certain that due to the Olympics that all tri’s in the future will allow drafting.
What do you think? Is drafting and pack riding in the near future for all triathlons?
I’ll be looking forward to seeing 400 triathletes all together reaching an aid station and getting drinks etc…LOL
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No way. That is an insurance nightmare waiting to happen. One example, imagine what happens if a group of age groupers go down and some people are riding H3’s… Meat-grinder anyone?? The insurance liabilities would be way too high…
what about your bro-in-law makes him know this fact?
does he work for usat or itu?
I would be surprised if USAT can even get insurance for draft legal mass age group racing without putting the masses through learn to race certification thereby cutting fields by 95%. No way RD’s would go for that. Basically, the sport would become elitest (relatively) like bike racing, and you would not have all the 3 hours Olympic tri guys, 6.5 half ironman and 16 hour full ironman racers.
nothing…not a thing…he probably was talking to his LBS
My opinion meant nothing to him-- so I told him that I would take it to all of ya’ll
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I can sign up for a draft-legal race at any local crit or road race. There is no certification required to do it. So, obviously there is insurance that allows it. Keep in mind that a local cat 3 or 4 crit is and always will be considerably more dangerous than any conceived triathlon that allows drafting. Under 23 nationals are conducted as draft legal as well…
Yes, there is insurance. But they don’t have to worry about people drowning. Triathlons need insurance for a whole host of things that the bike race does not…
LOL…OK think Cat. 5 or citizens race but 10 X more crazy! 
People complain about the $30 per year or $9.00 a race now.
A cat 3 or cat 4 crit is dangerous with people that know basically what they’re doing. Imagation a bunch of triathletes!
They allowed drafting at Santa Cruz Triathlon for one year about 1999. There weren’t in to enforcement so they just decided to give in at the pre race meeting. About six miles out of town a vehicle dropped some scrap 2 x 4 lumber by accident. A pack of around twelve riders approached it full speed. The first two or three riders were able to see the debrie and they split both sides. The rest weren’t so lucky. A lot of bent frames/wheelsets and a couple of ambulance rides for the bent riders. I was already on my way back so it was a lot of MOPers who took it.
That was the end of that poorly thought out idea. Almost every accident or close call I’ve had on a bike is the result of pack riding or recreational drafting. Triathletes aren’t crit riders and the majority never will be. Drafting is pointless and dangerous at the level of the average triathletes abilities and the only reason the under 23s do it is because the ITU and the IOC hijacked the the original concept and made up new rules to suit TV ratings.
My point being, in a crit you have turns, corners and people accelerating out of the corners with their heart rates maxed out. In a tri you have waves so people are spread out and the course won’t be a 3/4 mile loop. And my experience, cat 5 racers aren’t experienced enough to remain in packs large enough to cause damage…and typically all crit racers are the same level - triathletes will vary in bike experience…
triathletes will vary in bike experience…
Exactly. Unless you get rid of the age group division racing and change to a Cat. type racing it will be dangerous.
Also, I don’t know about you but for me triathlon isn’t a drafting event. So my money would be spent on races that remained draft free (on paper at least ). I wonder which races would sink or swim?
Insurance and economics say it remains draft free.
the original concept and made up new rules to suit TV ratings
that is my thought too. Was it just for tv viewing purposes that drafting was allowed? Yet if it is done for Olympic competition there have to be triathlons that are leading up to that level of competition and is drafting allowed then?
Not until you get categories in the races as well.
I don’t see that happening in my lifetime.
…all tri’s in the future will allow drafting.
All tris do allow drafting. 4 bike lengths is drafting. It’s the nature of the sport and there is no getting around it.
When that happens will be the day that I move on to another sport. This after 18 years in triathlon. I hope to never see that day.
Was it just for tv viewing purposes that drafting was allowed?
Certainly drafting means short loop courses which is better for spectating and so forth, but I think the main reason behind allowing drafting is simply the reality of having an elite field of 50+ competitors exit the water all together. Look at Athens 2004. 1st guy exited the water in 17:49. 46th guy exited 18:44 (lets ignore the few “stragglers”). You do the math on when these guys head out on the bike.
98% of all bike races are crits - and crits are ALWAYS on entirely closed courses. Virtually NONE of the age group tris in the U.S. are on entirely (or even mostly) closed courses. Open access for motor vehicles changes everything.
Fact is that outside of a odd exception or two, age group tris will NEVER be draft legal. The reason is not liability, however, though I won’t discount its existence. The main issue is the permit system. Whether the permit for a race is issued by a city, a township, a park - or in most cases, a combination thereof, either the person issuing the permit or the bosses of the person issuing the permit are in elected positions - and if you think the non-triathloning segment of the general public (which is only 99.8% thereof) gets pissed by the inconveniences of races now, just wait until they get to experience the packs arising in a draft-legal format. The protests (usually to the closest ear in the political process) would rise to unbearable levels. Permits would begin to disappear, rather rapidly one suspects - and if there is no permit, there is no race.
Take it from someone who has produced over 50 of these things. It isn’t going to happen.
98% of bike races in US are not crits. I’d say 70-80% though. Most road races (i.e. not crits) are on open roads with the yellow line rule in effect. This can of course be very dangerous with 60+ cat 3/4’s going 30+ down some narrow country road. People can and do get hurt. As far as complaints from locals, I have heard promoters get complaints that we were “scaring” the motorists by flagrantly ingnoring the yellow line rule, taking up the whole road and coming straight at oncoming traffic. By the way a USA Cycling license costs $60 and a one day is $10.
Let’s hope drafting doesn’t come to AG tri. If people want this they can enter a bike race. I don’t think it will happen because most of the customers in tri wouldn’t like it. Cycling participation is much lower than tri.
there were a few reasons drafting was allowed at the olympics, and they had to do with the IOC’s conditions for allowing triathlon into the games:
- the event couldn’t take longer than the marathon (~2 hours)
- the first person across the line had to be the winner
- it had to be tv-friendly.
most people assume drafting is for TV., which frankly it’s not. (or not entirely.) just watch alcatraz and you’ll see a non-drafting short-course race can still be exciting on TV. but the entire penalty system would confuse #2, and drafting races are faster, which satisfies #1 (which also explains why we don’t see a non-draft 1/2 IM at the olympics). too, as has been pointed out, there’s really no way to keep 50 guys who swim within 1 minute of each other from drafting, other than a time-trial format, which would be cool but (frankly) isn’t going to happen.
i think draft-legal racing is cool, though, and i wish the average bear had the opportunity to try it. i think the montreal esprit is a great example of a course that could work. too, i think the average IM-obssessed slowtwitcher would develop lots more respect for draft-legal racing if they got the chance to try it themselves.
sadly, for many of the reasons above, i don’t think we’ll see a big proliferation of amateur draft-legal races. i’ll add another reason: as empfield has suggested, the market for ‘different’ racing formats is shrinking as people become more hooked on the Olympic/Half/IM/Kona schedule.
-mike