This is my first time posting ever on a forum and I will embrace all that will be sent back to me.
This was my first year racing as a Pro and its been awesome!
To all the age group guys out there You gotta learn How to RIDE the bike and learn the rules, twice I was nearly knocked off my bike. Why do you all have to ride in packs!
OOOHHH and the worst is…Shame on you who wore the THUMP and IPODs…
Ironman is a race against oneself. Its a feeling of pure achievement. It is one race that you have to take all your energy from your surrounds, family spectators and especially the volunteers…which leads me to say I find it very dishearting when pros or age groupers YELL at the Volunteers who are passing out the Gatorade or Water.
Well done to all who completed the race it was a great day!
Ok, no problem… I’m glad you weren’t #19 and making those comments… Anyway, please don’t generalize that ALL age group men break the rules intentionally. Congratulations on a great race!
The seperate start for the Pro man/women, is better, but it’s not perfect. Having observed many IM races both full mass start and seperate pro start now, I am not sure there is a perfect solution.
In theory the seperate pro start for the pro women, makes for a cleaner purer race for them. In practice it’s a bit different. Closely observing the IMFL women’s race last weekend as I was reporting/spoting for Ironmanlive.com, the first 8 - 10 women on the bike raced a VERY clean race. They were well spread out and pretty much rode on their own. The word “lonely” kept coming to mind as I stood on the side of the road at the 10, 25, 35, 55, 65, 85, 102 mile markers on the course and watched the top 10 women go by. The problems started to crop up for the women placed from about 8th back past about the 70 mile marke when some LARGE groups of age-group men started to catch up to them and gobble them up. I am not making excuses for them( the pro women), but I keep coming back to my constant point about this, that at certain times and at certain places on these courses, the rules whether they are GTG, or anyone elses are asking the athletes to do something that is physically impossible to achieve.
As an aside the 15 minute headstart causes some issues for the pro men as well, if the swim is a two looper. The top pro men swimming at sub 50 minute pace, slam right into the back of the BOP swimmers on their second lap and it’s a real problem and challenge for both parties. In fact, as noted on the board previously, the race lost one of it’s real favourites, Jonas Colting, because he was kicked hard in the groin, completely by accident. Another Pro Jaime Cleveland, informed me that he was hit hard, again by accident by these slower swimmers and class act that he is, Cleveland was more concerned about the disruption his fast swimming was causing for the slower swimmers.
Please note that no athlete is at fault here, it’s just an unfortunate situation, that, as I started out saying there is no real easy answer for.
Fleck,
i’ve been interested in the start situation as well. I don’t understand why they just don’t do one start, and everyone compete in the same race. Unfortuntaely the whining of a very few women pros started this situation, and it’s worse than before. Just shoot the gun, and the first one home wins! Simple, and if you can’t take the pounding that might be encountered, there’s always badminton.
the other part of this is to have one loop. it’s a big ocean out there, and one loop would solve the swim-through problem-----along with several other problems.
peggy
Your suggestion is so simple that it is mind boggling ! Give the pros that 15 min headstart and do one loop, or 35 min headstart for 2 loops.
Paolina, great year ! Keep it up !
I hope you coach had you race with a powermeter, wear a heartrate monitor, an aero helmet, the latest S-bend aerobars, optimal water bottle positioning, the greatest high tech nutrition, and lactate testing at the turnaround of the bike and halfway through the run.
Ooops, I forgot, your coach is Fleck. He probably told you to suck it up, make friends with pain, pace yourself out, train well, eat well and rest.
Indeed curious as to why two loops here as opposed to one? If for some bizarre reason one is worried about being a mile offshore, simply have the swim go parallel to the beach for a time. Just a thought.
But certainly, the 35-minute head start if 2-loops are etched in sand makes at least as much sense.
“The problems started to crop up for the women placed from about 8th back past about the 70 mile marke when some LARGE groups of age-group men started to catch up to them and gobble them up.”
as i wrote last week on this subject in a slowtwitch article (GTG v USAT) there is a solution for this. there ought to be two draft zones, but they’re delineated by a single motorcycle sitting behind the last competitive female pro. up to this spot, there’s a 7m zone. after this spot, it’s a 12m zone (or whatever zone you prefer). the motorcycle has a big zign on the back that says PRO RULES OR PRO ZONE or something. any AGer entering the pro zone is now racing under these rules.
of course, you have to be willing, as an organization, to enforce a zone, whatever that zone is. but that’s another thing altogether.
You are a “PRO” therefore you started 15 minutes in advance of the age groupers at IMFL. You must’ve had a bad day if you ended up riding anywhere near us age groupers. Either that or some of us age groupers must’ve been better cyclists than you to have made up that 15 minute deficit and caught you on the bike. In any respect, I am sorry you have this resentment towards age groupers.
Great post! I can’t believe there’s a “head start” for those who are supposed to be the best in the sport. Maybe put them in the front row, but gun goes off, and everyone’s on their own…first finisher wins!
No the Pro Women were riding TT by themselves until you AG men sucked each others wheel until finally you caught them in your pussy peleton, that is what I saw up there.
I’ve passed plenty of female pros without even a thought of drafting, so keep that comment out of the mix. Many age groupers can put a lot of time on some of the pros, male or female.