Anyone that still thinks drafting turns the race into a “runners only” race needs to do enough USAC races to get their CAT5 license - or watch ITU races on Universal Sports. Gomez and brownlee don’t win because they’re runners, they win because they’re among the best swimmers and cyclists in the sport, and can run to boot.
If you can draft in the swim and draft on the run, why not draft on the bike? Drafting in the swim is more effective than on the bike, but you have to be good enough to follow the feet in front of you, and the feet in front of you have to belong to somebody who can swim straight. Those are not common pairings in AG races.
Eat all you hypocrites who claim not to draft, but double your sweat rate when you see the marshals standing on the side of the road.
All joking aside, I think draft-legal age group races (not necessarily long distance) would make the sport much more social and fun for all.