Last weekend the inaugural IM Vitoria was held in the north of Spain. This is a 1 hour drive from home, I have raced the half ironman before (the race has been running for more than ten years before IM stepped in, killing the half), and I am looking at it for my first IM.
Being a fast, flat bike, drafting was a big question mark for this race. For those of you watching the FB coverage, the 5-min penalty for the early female leader Judith Corachan is no news, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. Spanish media are reporting the following figures: 183 drafting penalties and 28 blocking penalties. 45 officials from the Spanish Fed were deployed, 34 of them in gps-located motorbikes. It is great to see such policing in a race, and effectively having a flat course not turn into a draftfest!.
Beyond that, I could talk to several athletes, and all of them were quite happy with how the bike segment was policed. Add the fast bike splits and the wonderful setting (check the FB footage if you haven’t done so) and I am sold.
The icing in the cake was the big party I saw in Herreria (a slightly sloped narrow street in the 4-loop run course, lined with loud cheering fans; a finisher described it as “a solar hill for runners”), we spent the evening there and it was the best feeling of the day. Just this short stretch made me want to race next year.
If any STer has raced here last Sunday, I’d love to read your report!
I’d rather measure success in how clean the race is, rather than in the number of penalties, but it’s nice that they had officials out en force to really snuff out the drafting… There’s a bit more risk with that number of motos on the course at once, but when you have a large number of officials on course on motos, it helps at least discourage drafting…
As I’ve said before, it’s a lot harder than you’d think to actually call a drafting violation, because depending on the moto, people usually hear you coming and spread out before you can properly observe the distance, and count off the passing time to actually make the call… With more motos, there’s smaller gaps between them, so there’s less opportunity to try to form packs without getting caught… (even with a large # of motos, you still see that dynamic though, I was on a moto at an LD event last year, 2x60km loop, we had over 20 motos with officials out on the loop, and I only gave out 1 drafting, 1 overtaking (not allowing the draft zone to re-establish, before re-passing), and 1 littering penalty over the course of 120km (and I gave out more penalties than most), I saw many more packs, but they would hear us coming and spread out before you could properly make a defensible call).
I can see this becoming a popular race if they stick with that commitment to ensuring that they have sufficient officials to minimize drafting, because that’s one of the top complaints most LD races get from AG competitors…
because that’s one of the top complaints most LD races get from AG competitors…
… who can be bothered to post and moan about it on the internet.
Most age groupers are just concerned with getting round the course, or getting round the course in a good time.
They aren’t worried about drafting, or motors in bikes, or making sure their top is zipped up. Or anything else that Slowtwitch seems to think you are obsessed about if you happen to take part in triathlons.
Maybe, I haven’t seen any data from this year yet. It is still fast anyway when you look at avg speeds. I got my 70.3 best bike there last year, an I’ve raced a handful.
looks terrific. i didn’t know where vitoria was. but when i saw your video i thought, this kind of spectator enthusiasm, and joie de vivre, i’m guessing it’s in the basque country. then i looked it up on the map.
if you want to just have a spit kicking good time, with the most funloving people in the world, who really appreciate the value of sport and of the outdoors, you could do way worse than hanging around here.
if you want to just have a spit kicking good time, with the most fun-loving people in the world, who really appreciate the value of sport and of the outdoors, you could do way worse than hanging around here.
Combine this with the fact that the race is around the same time as the Sanfermines and this is a must-do event.
I don’t think that’s a fair dismissal… Sure, it’s a favorite target of bitchtwitch behavior, but on top of racing, being at a number of races as an official as well, I hear gripes about the amount of drafting from athletes of all levels in the events… To be honest the only times I hear more complaints, is when we have to cancel a swim and make the race a duathlon because of water quality…
Yes, in general folks just want to get around the course, and preferably in the least amount of time possible, and they want it to be fairly safe… and I agree, zippers, motors, and doping you don’t hear much about. But in terms of the most common complaints that you do hear, it’s either about drafting, or about people cutting the course/not completing the correct number of laps, or about a swim being no wetsuit…
Drifting is the main concern amongst LD athletes around here, but I have to agree. Having your swim cancelled sounds like tragedy to me. Never happened to me so far, crossing my fingers…
Right on, Dan, and if you are foodie or a wine lover, you will put yourself in the region with most Michelin stars in the world, as well as the main wine region of Spain.
Who said joie de vivre?
Right on, Dan, and if you are foodie or a wine lover, you will put yourself in the region with most Michelin stars in the world, as well as the main wine region of Spain. Who said joie de vivre?
i had to give up drinking. it was either drinking + my atrial fibrillation, or no drinking. however, absolutely positively my favorite wine in the world is a rioja. tempranillo grape, rioja region. so, next time i come, i’m going to need to break my routine a little.
the one thing about this area, i don’t need to adapt to the time difference. i usually eat dinner about 4pm. in spain, you eat dinner at, what, 10pm? midnight?
i have followed that race for a few years and it was probably the best independent ironman distance race in the world.
looked like apart form a 200 euro price increase not much changed from last year . would that be correct or not ? ( apart from the fact that there was no half )
do you have any idea why they sold the race ? it had over 2500 people ( roughly equally split half and full i seem to remember ) from 40 nations last year and was still growing.
As I’ve said before, it’s a lot harder than you’d think to actually call a drafting violation, because depending on the moto, people usually hear you coming and spread out before you can properly observe the distance, and count off the passing time to actually make the call…
When I raced Barcelona, at least some of their officials were using electric scooters - very hard to hear them.
Hmm it’s hard for me to tell, other than the increased drafting control (drafting was an issue last year, causing a strong debate in social media), with half and full distance athletes out on the course at the same time…it was definitely an issue for me (racing he half) during the second, shorter loop)… Unlike this year, swim was also 2 loops last year (to facilitate using a single course for both distances) and the course was slightly modified, but afaik this does not cost lots of extra money.
When the race was sold to IM ( they said they needed this to grow) there was a lot of disappointed voices, with the main complaint being the increased price and the risk of having even worse drafting… leap forward to today, I have yet to read a negative comment in social networks, quite the opposite.
What I noticed is bigger (local and specialized) media coverage, definitely more international athletes, and I think a bigger overall economic impact in the city.
I have raced 70.3 for several seasons, and don’t think I have the time to properly train for the full Ironman, but I am still on a high from last Sunday, and asking myself why not…
I’m thinking of stepping back into the Ironman arena in 2020, and I must say I’m interested in this event. I’m a swim / bike / walk kind of guy, so any course that has a fast drag strip of a bike section has me interested. I also cannot commit to signing up a year in advance secondary to life plans, so I need something I can enter in spring next year. I don’t think this event sold out? I may well see you on the start line next year. Also very interested to hear of any reports from racers this year - ease of getting to the venue, organisation etc.
I don’t think this event sold out? I may well see you on the start line next year.
It did, but only a couple of weeks ago I believe.
I think I will cool down before signing up. I crashed my bike ten days before the 70.3 worlds in SA last August, and it has been a roller coaster since then. I want to be 100% recovered before committing, so maybe another 70.3 season is in the cards.
Anyway, if you need more info, DM me, I’ll be happy to provide some local insight.
I’ve started to see more scooters as well at other events, along with the quieter motos, that make a big impact because people can’t hear you coming… There’s also the undercover angle of officials on bikes that are used in places (they use them at the full and half in Tremblant). I was undercover at a multi-loop course (8laps for an olympic tri) and it was one of the cleanest races I’ve seen, as soon as I gave out a couple of penalties, because word spread that there was an undercover official on the course so people started acting on their best behavior…