Sunday I raced IM Cozumel and was amazed at the lack of drafting. For the last two years I have read about the groups of 50 -100 hundred cyclists blasting through the field like a Sunday cycling race
and Sunday I saw very little drafting at all, if any. Kudos to the race director for getting enough officials to put a stop to it.
Does anyone know where I can go to lookup what the actual wind speeds were off the ocean on the east side of the island? I have heard anywhere from 30 - 50 mph and would love to know an accurate number!
I went out in the first wave after the pros so was in the front. Rode terribly and was passed by many from earlier waves an saw 1 group of about ten who were blatant. Otherwise , nada. I think the wave start was the answer to the drafting and hope it’s started in Florida as well as any flat course. Enjoyed not being trampled in the swim as well.
I agree, I am a female, 40-44 (40). 2nd AG wave. I saw no draft as well. I was worried coming into the race after all things happening last year. Of course there were the single cases who would be on and off every bike they saw but other than that NADA. No big groups. I kept thinking “where are the other 2500 athletes”. I think the waves AND the winds really made a difference.
Times on the bike are particularly slow and the later people went into the bike, the slower it got. I assume it helped spread it all out.
I also think, going back to times, that this race was a great reminder of how times do not reflect effort or ability equally in all races. i finished with a 6:23 bike (14th in AG) and it’s been my slowest bike ever in any IM event and any IMCoz event, yet best in placement and in comparison with the rest of my AG and gender.
Agree, kudos to the race directors for addressing the drafting issue so aggressively!
I went out in the first wave after the pros so was in the front. Rode terribly and was passed by many from earlier waves an saw 1 group of about ten who were blatant. Otherwise , nada. I think the wave start was the answer to the drafting and hope it’s started in Florida as well as any flat course. Enjoyed not being trampled in the swim as well.
There is no question that wave starts are the principal reason. I did IMCOZ in 2012 and 2013 and it was an incredible draftfest on the east side both years. This year I did the Ironman Florida duathlon. With the swim cancellation and a time trial bike start drafting was minimal. So the evidence is pretty decisive that wave or time trial starts (apart from Chattanooga) can significantly reduce drafting. The purists who advocate mass swim starts with fields of 2500-3000 are basically saying that they love draftfests and want them to continue. You can’t have it both ways.
Wave starts are not the only thing you need to stop drafting. IM Barcelona has wave starts and it was possibly worse than IM Coz 2013 for drafting (hard to believe but true). This despite a fair amount of penalties handed out. I think the answer is a combination of wave starts and also the organisers making sure the message that drafting won’t be tolerated gets repeated a lot, and then rigorous enforcement possibly with draft marshals being cleared to pull whole packs over (which would mean they had to work in teams). Really glad they got on top of it at IM Coz because my 2013 race was really spoilt by all the cheats.
I agree, I am a female, 40-44 (40). 2nd AG wave. I saw no draft as well. I was worried coming into the race after all things happening last year. Of course there were the single cases who would be on and off every bike they saw but other than that NADA. No big groups. I kept thinking “where are the other 2500 athletes”. I think the waves AND the winds really made a difference.
Times on the bike are particularly slow and the later people went into the bike, the slower it got. I assume it helped spread it all out.
I also think, going back to times, that this race was a great reminder of how times do not reflect effort or ability equally in all races. i finished with a 6:23 bike (14th in AG) and it’s been my slowest bike ever in any IM event and any IMCoz event, yet best in placement and in comparison with the rest of my AG and gender.
Agree, kudos to the race directors for addressing the drafting issue so aggressively!
i started with you (pink cap, right?) and i said last year the marshalls were getting better and this year, while i saw no peletons and very few wheelsuckers i did see, on lap 3 a lady in teh tent. so they were marshalling as well. i was 3rd (i think) in my AG after the bike with a 6:30 ish split. I was really hoping for 6 hours as i wanted to target that time and see how my legs held up for the run. we’ve had as windy conditions on lap 3 of the bike in years previous (IIRC) and huge peletons so i think it was marshalling and wave starts. honestly, i felt no difference in winds from laps 1 to 3 and did lap 2 faster than 1 but lap 3 was horrifically slow (but i was still passing people Dead On Their Pedals) so the wind might have picked up. i was just burrowing my head into the white line on the road and keeping the pedals going around.
I started near the back with a scheduled start time of 7:07, actual start time was closer to 7:15. I biked a 5:09 which in the conditions we faced is respectable. I saw ZERO drafting. I was slipstreaming every biker that I could, trying to get a few seconds of easy speed (which is legal) but the winds on the back side of the island were so horrible that there was no benefit to slipstreaming on that side. I simply couldn’t find an angle to approach people from behind that helped me.
I completely agree that the wave starts broke up the big packs, but the big equalizer was the wind which broke up even little packs (assuming they were there).
Maybe all the drafters were so far ahead of you, there was no chance of you spotting them?
Starting before last wave (M40-44) I got a chance to see/going through a lot of the field. I didn’t see the big pack of last year of 40+ in the front but still got pass by a smaller group of 3-4 guys that were blatant cheating. I even spray with gatorade of the guy. He got pissed because I spray him but also because I called him cheater. They caught a few other riders and I think they were 7-8 together including one of women category winner. She rode almost a full loop in the pack… She got busted but still I think they gain she made superior to the 4 minutes penalty (Drafting)… and another guy also got a penalty.
Good job for the waves, they gave a few penalties that’s a start… They advertise a lot of no drafting allow (on the bib numbers, even in the banos!!!).
Next step bring drafting penalties to 10-12 minutes, that will really make a big difference…
MTL - how do you know that the woman in the pack got a category win?
Because I pass her just before she entered the penalty tent I recall her number and outfit. My wife was also racing so yes I did check her number to see if she would affect my wife races.
I will not put her number or name on this forum for those asking. She got busted by the officials end of the case.
231 penalities were given in Kona, if WTC wants to start making them public it would be a good thing. Maybe for some it would some sort of shame.
I personally got one penalty in 26 years of racing. That penalty was for drafting in 2012 Las Vegas, on a climb didn’t pass fast enough… Well, was it fair don’t think so! I gained no advantage at all.
Regarding what I saw in COZ, it was a well deserve penalty for both busted by the Official, just which 2 others guys in that pack also got busted. They can’t catch everyone.
I play by the rule stay well without the box limit of 7m (age grouper) actually I always position my within the Pro box 10m like that I feel more safe. I still can see an advantage at 10m, minimal but there’s an advantage.
I think the answer is a combination of wave starts and also the organisers making sure the message that drafting won’t be tolerated gets repeated a lot
And they definitely did that for COZ. It was everywhere you looked. Other organizers might want to consider doing the same thing.
If USAT would more accurately describe the offenses instead of listing everything under the umbrella of drafting I think it would help clarify and bring shame when it was legitimately due. To wit, I propose the following:
Dawdling - taking more than 20 seconds to complete a pass.
Dabbling - entering the draft zone for less than 20 seconds and falling back out of it without ever completing a pass
Drafting - entering the draft zone for more than 20 seconds but remaining more than 3 meters behind
Dirtbag - wheel sucking cheaters closer than 3 meters of the wheel in front and holding that position for 20 seconds or more