Hi guys, I’m relatively new to the forum and will be doing my first IM at Moo. I have a few question about IM races in general and/or Moo in particular. I’ll post them in separate threads. Thanks in advance for those willing to share their wisdom.
– etiquette at the finish line – it seems if things are crowded, finishers give those ahead their moments of glory as they cross the line, i.e. hold a few seconds to let them cross with kids or what not, and certainly not try to pass in the last meters;
Is this the case? What exactly in the unspoken rule, assuming I finish 11-14hr?
For people aiming for Kona spots who see someone ahead in their age group near the finish, is it okay to try to pass them in the last meters?
Whatever feels the right thing to do, in most races I tend to lap it up, enjoy and share a few HI 5s with the crowd, however at Roth this year I had a relay team who all collected together for the last 100 metres and weren’t doing much more than walking…they got a little P’d when I went through them but hey it is a race
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It all depends, as said previously it is all up to you. I had a goal at Lake Placid this year that I was chasing for an entire year. My 11 yr old son runs on the Olympic oval with me and when we turned and saw the finish line, I was 10 seconds under-he yelled at me “Dad-we can still meet your Goal, c’mon”. I had a hard time keeping up with him-we crossed and he looked back up at the clock to the second on the goal time. Mat said “we did it, Dad we made your goal!”
So it all depends-it is a long day and you deserve to finish anyway you wish to.
I have done three IM’s to date and still don’t have 1 good photo of me crossing the line. One year some dude was running in front of me, I hung back a little bit to give him some room then at the last second he grabs about 8 kids from the crowd, his wife, his mom, dad, grandmother, the only thing he was missing was the family dog…anyway, my finish line photo consisted of a great shot of his family with my head sticking out of the corner…if this happens this year I am swinging elbows to get by…I’mn ot having my finish line moment ruined by some jackass.
Most of the time, the finish line chute is empty. However, there are spurts of activity when 3 or 4 people will be coming through together. Few people are of the state of mind at the finish that will allow them to think about anything other than finishing, so don’t expect a lot of rational decision making ability about how exactly to finish.
For my first time, all I could think about was Jason Mayfield admonishing folks on RST to raise their arms in the air long before they break the tape for their finish line photo, so I ran the whole way down the chute with my fists pumping towards the sky.
Be kind, if you are of a mindset to let someone else have the glory to themselves, please do so. Good deeds are repaid in life. If you’re like most, you’ll have tunnel vision that only sees that tape.
"I’m ot having my finish line moment ruined by some jackass. "
No need to, sounds like there’ll be plenty of jackasses present anyway. This, to me, is sad. To see your entire Ironman experience wrapped up as one or two seconds where you are willing to do anything to make it perfect is sad.
I do everything I can to enjoy my Ironman day. From taking a few seconds during the swim to pop my head up and look around and take it all in (you should too, it is an awesome sight that few ironmen ever see), to stopping every lap on bike to talk for a few moments to any spectators that have come to cheer me on. I’m not there to win the race, I’m there to enjoy the Ironman experience. If someone wants to finish a few moments before me. Fine, he won’t ruin my day, and I won’t need to elbow him because that one moment doesn’t mean much to me compared to the time period from when I sign up to the moments before I hit the finishing chute.
Unless it’s a head-to-head competitor that you are trying to beat, I say do whatever you must to let them have their moment. I caught up to a white-haired grandmother that was a member of a relay team at a race with a VERY STEEP short hill at the end. The entire crowd was cheering her every step…and she was actually running at a decent speed. NO WAY was I going to pass her going up that hill, even if the state triathlon points series uses my finishing time to establish the points I get for that race. There are much more important things to consider in my life than whether or not I can glean a few extra seconds off my time (and therefore earning a few hundredths of a point in the state triathlon series) by risking diminishing any of Grandma’s glory.
It depends. Coming down to the finish this year at Lake Placid there was a family doing a slow walk taking up nearly the whole track. I calculated that I could brush by them on the outside and still finish far enough ahead that they could get a clear picture, so I did. Had they been at least jogging, I would have let them finish ahead of me.
I think I did the right thing. This is a race, isn’t it?
This was just the edge I needed to move me up to 1165th place.
In my first IM my friend/training partner and I spent a good part of the marathon discussing how we wanted our finish to go. We decided she would go first, and I’d hang back a few seconds to get separate finishing pictures. Plan was working great - as we entered the chute I hung back but still kept running. Well, this guy comes flying by us, forcing both of us to slow down to keep our staggered finish. No big deal, but not sure what the big deal was for him - I mean, he did break 14:32:10, I guess that’s a pretty big milestone.
Well for me the finish chute IS part of my IM experience, all the year’s training, sacrifices, hard work etc and to cross that line is pretty emotional, I’d also like to have a photograph of it so some day I can show my kids what I’ve done and to try to explain to them what the experience is like! My entire experience doesn’t come down to crossing the line but it is surely a big part of it and I’d like that exact moment preserved!
Funny you ask. As others have written, your IM finish is like a box of chocolates…wait, that’s a different movie.
My two girls and I got taken out by a fast moving woman about 20 feet from the line (she had the elbows out for my youngest, 8 y.o., all of 50 lbs.). I looked back as I was coming up to the chute and had about 150 yards at the point where my girls came out to run with me (at CdA this is about 20 yards from the line) and, being a veteran racer of many tris and runs, was confindent whomever was behind had a clear view of us and would act accordingly (meaning to me: slow if needed and get a clear finishing shot for themselves).
Well, suffice to say, my fellow competitor took it all the way to the line, zipping past us just 10 feet from the tape, raising her arms in triumph. The finishing folks told us to stop, back up about 10 feet, they put up the tape again, and we re-shot our finishing photo. Pretty funny in retrospect.
At first I was miffed by my ardent fellow racer’s desire for sprinting past us (no, she wasn’t in contention for a Kona slot at that point as it turns out) but then I remembered a lot of folks leave it all out on the course and just do what they do. I don’t think anyone intends to “ruin” anothers finishing photo (maybe they do;-)), it just happens.
So, control what you can and let go of the rest. Good luck on your finish. You can always do another take if you feel it necessary.
I think you should just finish the race as fast as you can without worrying about your’s or someone else’s finisher’s picture. If your finisher’s picture is messed up or someone else’s is, you just order another picture. I wouldn’t jump in front of someone in the last yard, but if you can pass someone in the last 100 yards or so, you should do it, you should not slow down and ruin your finish by waiting for someone else to walk to the end with their kids or slap high fives to the crowds.
Kids are technically not allowed, but the rule is ignored, just make sure that you aren’t impeding anyone.
Passing in the last meters, hell yeah its a race. i even try to figure out which direction a runner in front looks over their shoulder so i can move to their blind side and hide a bit.
