So now that the swim was cancelled at IMFL, can those athletes say they have completed an Ironman?
What about the tattoo?
Hmmm….
They can say whatever they want.
The announcer at the finish will say they are an Ironman.
It comes down to if you consider IM an event or a distance.
Ironman is a brand. That’s it!
If you put in all this work and do one of their races and think your an Ironman. You are and Congratulations too you!
This apply to an Ironman branded 1/2? This wasn’t even a triathlon and only a small % of us really know the nuance of IM brand vs iron distance.
Your seat is too high.
who cares?
I’d be willing to bet that if one Saturday I decided to ride 112 miles and run 26 and then was at a dinner party with a bunch of ST’ers and casually said, I did an Ironman triathlon last Saturday, the conversation wouldn’t go positively from there. Actually, that might get less scrutiny than if you told a bunch of average Joes you did an Ironman because to them, that absolutely means, 2.4 + 112 + 26.2.
Are we getting so worked up about things that we are actually questioning if the people that did Florida could call themselves an Ironman? Seriously?
The people that raced had no control over the swim. They still did all of the race that was available to them. I am guessing they have an Ironman finisher medal and a finisher t-shirt.
I guess, based on some arguments, that someone that completed a Rev 3 or Challenge race could not call themselves an Ironman… Because Ironman is a brand / trademark…
Can we all agree to chill just a little ?
Just like every other Ironman race, they did everything the officials directed them to do. What was the question again?
So now that the swim was cancelled at IMFL, can those athletes say they have completed an Ironman?
What about the tattoo?
Hmmm….
WTC owns the IM brand. They decide who they declare to be an IM. They declared those that finished in time to be an Ironman. They gave them an IM medal and finisher’s gear. They gave out Kona slots. Tats are at the discretion of the athlete.
Funny story, my athlete that raced FL this past weekend was not only attempting his first “Ironman” (or full distance), it was his first triathlon. Now he’s an “Ironman” but still not a triathlete…? Is your head spinning yet?
+1
I was there and, being a competitive open water swimmer, while I was disappointed they called the swim, I understood why.
The swim doesn’t affect my racing. If anything, it relaxes my jitters. I started at 8:45, which was about 30 minutes later than I would have started if we swam. The two previous days , I covered the race distance in the same section of water in :63 and :58. Yes, I swam the race distance twice in the two days before the race. It’s how I deal.
On the bike, there were a lot of us that had to stand and pedal going downhill because of the wind. Crosswinds blew people over. The guy next to me in T2 stopped racing because he didn’t want to deal with the wind and cold anymore.
It really is the epitome of douchey to diminish what the folks did this year at an “easy” IM. There’s a small contingent of this type of triathlete that orbits every race site. Usually the bigger venues. It’s a breed of misplaced entitlement that’s almost laughable. They’re the same ones racing with aero helmets and disc wheels at the local sprints. As one poster said, we raced the race we were presented. We controlled what we could…the basic tenet of racing in this sport.
And as was stated in the tattoo thread a while back, if you bang out 2.4 miles in the local pond, ride 112 around your half-mile block, then run 26.2 up and down your driveway…do you get a tattoo and the title?
Let’s stop eating our young, shall we? The folks that raced this weekend can call themselves whatever they want. And get the tattoo. At least it has an interesting story!
I was there and had mixed feelings about the swim cancellation (it was my 8th). I saw one lady burst into tears at the announcement and another guy collected his bike out of T1 and left. On whole though, most folks took it in stride. Still the bike and the run in those conditions was sufficient to dish out the same punishment as all three disciplines would in more typical race conditions. The bike leg was absolutely no fun at all. This one took as much mental discipline as the others I’ve done and I salute the first timers who embraced the suck and finished.
My first transition Saturday took place in the McDonalds men’s room at Wal-Mart after eating pancakes (true story). I did get in a brutal 138.2 mile brick workout. I was a first timer. I’ll be a first timer at my next 140.6. No swim, no Ironman.
And yes, after a year of planning, training, and missing family time it sucks. Hard.