There is often a lot of talk about drafting on the board, but I must say that I have only ever seen blatant drafting once, at my one and only Ironman™ branded event. I have done a few events in Ontario, one or 2 in Nova Scotia, and the remainder back in Bermuda, and I’ve never really seen excessive drafting, at least as a competitor.
Is drafting at local and regional events a problem, or is it limited to the big national and international events with 1500 or more competitors?
I’m sure other STers will chime in to say “there are cheaters everywhere” but in my experience the only places I’ve seen a lot of drafting are very large events and poorly designed bike courses. The former is unfortunately usually associated with 70.3 and Ironman events, and the later I’ve only seen 2 or 3 times at small races (usually they are sprints). I believe the main reason for drafting in many of these races is not because the sport is full of cheaters but because there are so many athletes who swim and bike at similar speeds in large events and there just isn’t enough separation because there are too many people on the course.
I’ve seen it (pack drafting) in races from across the US, regardless of topology. The thought process that the geography creates cheaters is bogus. (Not suggesting you said that. But many believe any flat course is flawed.) Saw pack drafting at Half Iron California and that course has numerous hills. Some people cheat and some don’t. I’ll take a beating for saying this, but I see more drafting by front of the pack racers than I do from the typical age group middle or back of pack racers. In regional, small events, I see more blocking issues, but that’s typically by inexperienced racers. I’ve seen overall winners in numerous races that cheated. Most recently was one of the overall winners in a very large half ironman that cut the run course. Watched him litterally exit the cones and cut across a parking lot. I watched quietly as he went up to accept his awards. I’ve seen a girl at a race skip an out an back and go on to win the event and collect her award. She raised her hands in victory just like Nina Kraft did at IM a couple years back. I’ve seen lead cyclist tuck right in behind the escort motorcycle. I’ve seen riders motodraft behind cars. Some people just cheat. That’s just the way it is. They are not concerned about it and have no conscious issue with it. I wouldn’t blame the venue. Technology will eventually fix the drafting issue. I’m a big believer that using Active RFID chips (that record data) instead of passive RFID chips on racers will be the answer. Getting the cost down to 3 to 5 dollars a chip is all we are waiting on. Turn your chip in at the end of a race and data about your relationship to any other rider on the course during the event will be uploaded. Race directors can then toss some standard deviations and deadbands into the math and put a weighted penalty on those that drafted.
I do a few local & regional type events each year and I have the misfotune of being a very slow swimmer and a decent cyclist. As a result, I spend most of my triathlon bike leg moving up through the field of people that smoked me in the water. You’re right that you don’t see the draft packs like the big events, the numbers just aren’t there. You see a 2-3 people here and there drafting but never seems to be a very big deal in the races I do.
I think the bigger problem in smaller events is that with the higher percentage of rookie triathletes, more people are just unaware of rules & riding etiquette. As such, you often encouter people riding side by side, weaving around the road, or just cruising on the left side. On a sprint or Oly course it can be an obstacle course to try to get around everyone legally and safely.
There is often a lot of talk about drafting on the board, but I must say that I have only ever seen blatant drafting once, at my one and only Ironman™ branded event. I have done a few events in Ontario, one or 2 in Nova Scotia, and the remainder back in Bermuda, and I’ve never really seen excessive drafting, at least as a competitor.
Is drafting at local and regional events a problem, or is it limited to the big national and international events with 1500 or more competitors?
I would have to agree. I rarely see drafting in regional events including those with more than 1000 participants. Rivercities draws more than 1200 on an 18 mile course and there’s rarely excessive drafting. May be difficult to get around people but rarely is there peletons cruising by you. Memphis in May is a similar situation as Rcities with more people. The only events I’ve ever been to where there is blatant peletons have been those which have been at IM ™ branded events.
I have defianlty seen a lot of drafting, some really shamless drafting at times. It often appears that people don’t know it’s against the rules, but I suspect they aready do.
I did see some at IMLP, although mostly because it was so busy in the time window I was riding in. The elevation changes in the course and techinical bits did more to spread it out than anything else. Someone also got a pentalty from drafting off of me, which I was unaware of (both the drafting and the penalty until I was told by another racer).
In the end, I don’t think the age groupers who cheat are really hurting anyone but themselves. Especially the ones who place whilst drafting. They know they didn’t deserve it, and they have to look at themselves in the mirror. That has to catch up with you at some point.
Those of us who race clean can enjoy the sport that much more.
Funny story: a few years ago I was riding in a crowded race and there were these two guys who were basically doing a two man TTT. I called the one guy out on it, and his response was “we’re taking turns”. I tried to exoplain that his argument wasn’t so much a justification so much as a confession. He then threatened to beat me up, then and there. Sometimes, when I think back on it I sort of wish I would have taken him up on that fight. After-all he was only wearing a speedo, and he could have had the compound shame of beign beat up + being beat up in a speedo. Probably best that I just kept riding. My pipe-cleaner arms are so effective in a brawl.
I have defianlty seen a lot of drafting, some really shamless drafting at times. It often appears that people don’t know it’s against the rules, but I suspect they aready do.
At local events?? I have seen courses that are very crowded, but at the local events I’ve been at is seems like everyone tries to follow the rules. Probably because everyone knows each other, so they can’t get away with cheating like you can with that anonymity afforded by the huge events.
At a local, low-key, long-running (~20 years) sprint triathlon a couple of years, I caught up on the bike to the lead woman who started in the previous wave. I was the first male in the next wave to catch her. As I passed her on the very wide shoulder, she moved over and slotted in behind me. I moved about 10’ to the other side of the shoulder. She followed. I then yelled at her to get off my wheel. She finally complied. She won the race.
She turned pro a year or so later.
At this race, I’ve seen and had to avoid packs of guys. Sad.
That being said, I’ve rarely seen drafting at races from local sprints to Eagleman 70.3. Maybe that’s because I’m a strong swimmer/decent biker, so I beat the cheaters out of the water, and they aren’t fast enough to make it up on the bike.
Yes, I’ve been doing tris 20+ years and have seen plenty of positioning violations (i.e. drafting) at local and regional events in Ohio and neighboring states. Sometimes it is due to ignorance of the rules and sometimes it is deliberate (consciously or unconsciously) by experienced competitors.
It’s usually not as much of a safety issue as it is in national events because the packs usually aren’t as large, but wheel sucking does go on wherever there’s an opportunity to do so.
I was at one race where everyone I passed jumped behind me and by the 75% there were 15 people riding behind me in a paceline. Eventually they dropped me, and once they did I didn’t climb on their group.
At another there was another two-guy TTT. They were bragging to each other after the race. I belive something about “smokin 'em”.
At a third event there were 3 somewhat big name (for central Ohio) duathletes riding in a group of about 10 who passed me and all had the same combined swim+run time. Everyone know who they were, and everyone that saw them knows they are losers. What can I say? Their probably impotent, or their parents beat them.
Whatever, it gives us something to talk about, and gives me a reason to practice my swearing.
When OAT (Ontario Assoc. of Triathletes) is out in force, the drafting goes way down.
A few years back I was a drafting marshal at Muskoka on my bike. There was a ton of drafting. Strangly enough the majority of the “Stop & Go” penalties I issued were to female pro’s drafting of male AG.
For the most part, I don’t find drafting to be a big issue in Ontario. The worst drafting I have seen was in 2001 at the World Du’s.
I have seen quite a bit of drafting at the smaller events. The comments above about getting a lot of novice / newbies who don’t know that there are rules, let alone what they are, is very common, but I have also seen this at larger 1/2 and im distances. After that it tends to be some of the faster more “competitive” ones. Many of these seem to do it deliberately and many I think know that you can be legal in the USAT rules, and still get a benefit (some aero and the concentration aspect of knowing when you slow up 1% and start to drop back is easier to tell at 8 meters than at 25 meters) so they ride the fine line between legal and illegal and end up slipping to the wrong side and getting caught.
I have also been on some courses where it is hard to keep your self clean for a myriad of reasons, but I have seen far more where the riders think it is impossible and use that as the excuse. My favorite is “But he/she passed me and slowed down right in front of me!” It is amazing how many people confuse he benefit of a draft with people slowing down in front of them.
The worst drafting I ever saw was at San Jose International.
I had my fastest bike split there last year riding properly, but this year I’m considering joining one of the drafting packs this year because, well, why not?
I guess I will focus on my swimming.
At a third event there were 3 somewhat big name (for central Ohio) duathletes riding in a group of about 10 who passed me and all had the same combined swim+run time. Everyone know who they were
Whatever, it gives us something to talk about, and gives me a reason to practice my swearing.
The only "somewhat big name (for central Ohio) " I have heard of is Eric Clark. Say it ain’t so as he is sort of a personal hero of mine.
At a third event there were 3 somewhat big name (for central Ohio) duathletes riding in a group of about 10 who passed me and all had the same combined swim+run time. Everyone know who they were
Whatever, it gives us something to talk about, and gives me a reason to practice my swearing.
The only "somewhat big name (for central Ohio) " I have heard of is Eric Clark. Say it ain’t so as he is sort of a personal hero of mine.
I don’t cheat, as evidenced by my bike splits.
Erik drafting? Off the mid-pack women riders perhaps 
I too am a horrible swimmer (bottom 20%), but bike and run well enough to be an age group TOP and top master’s overall winner. I did a F 1 Tri last season (375 swim, 1.5 mile run, 20K bike, 1.5 mile swim, and 375 swim) and saw all sorts of drafting. I was finally on the bike course with different groups of people of whom I usually generally do not pass until the final run.
Also did an International Equalizer event where men started 14 minutes behind the women. I had several packs of men flying past me on the bike. I passed most of them back on the run and at least one of them received a penalty.