Saw this article and was kind of surprised that it would even be a possibility. I mean everyone should be allowed to grieve in their own ways, but to cancel an event where everyone is already there, settled, and ready to race? This is not the weather or some other of mother natures curve balls, what do you all think?
Of course most of you know my stance on cancelling events, or even portions of them, even due to weather, so this seems like an absurd reason to me, and I really don’t understand why it is even a consideration…
I’m glad and think it would have been the wrong decision to cancel, although it’s difficult for organisers who have to adhere to government guidelines in a time of official national mourning. Majority of sporting events have gone ahead this weekend with a 2-minute silence at the start which seems the right call in getting the balance right between showing respect and not causing disruption, frustration and financial loss to participants/spectators.
There’s no government guidelines, they said sporting events are fine to continue. It’s a bit ridiculous that the premier league was cancelled this weekend, I don’t see how shutting down everything is respectful. It’s actual disrespectful for people have booked travel and may not get flight/hotel refunds etc). Glad to hear IM Wales is going ahead.
Yes, although I think at the time of the quote in the original article they were still waiting for guidelines. It would have put them in a tough spot if the official advice had been to cancel all sporting events.
Agree cancelling the football was unnecessary, and doesn’t seem to have been a popular decision
There’s no government guidelines, they said sporting events are fine to continue. It’s a bit ridiculous that the premier league was cancelled this weekend, I don’t see how shutting down everything is respectful. It’s actual disrespectful for people have booked travel and may not get flight/hotel refunds etc). Glad to hear IM Wales is going ahead.
There was no government guidance when the the federations that postponed fixtures did so. The Premiership cancelled Friday’s match ahead of the guidance, when guidance came, it was for sporting fixtures, especially at the community and youth level to go ahead as planned. Scotland suspended all Rugby. Wales only suspended Senior and Professional rugby.
Anyone know what dropped Joe Skipper back on the tracker from the 40 to 60 km mark? Puncture, crash???
was coming to ask the same. he’s 20+ minutes back! they should be crossing the 90k mark soon, so we’ll have some more info then.
seems like horsfall-turner swam like the clappers, unsurprisingly. what’s the swim at wales like? he went 44:29, which is serious even for him.
meanwhile young harry palmer off to a good start. he seems a pretty likeable guy and i’d love to see him have a good day today.
as to canceling the event, as mentioned, it’s obviously gone ahead so no worries. but i’d add that the decision isn’t always just about the race directors deciding what they feel like (w/r/t weather, mourning, etc). if, for instance, the queen’s death means that they lose volunteers, or that police/EMS are suddenly not available, that could be a good reason to cancel the race.
The problem for sports seems to be the police availability. That was apparently the main reason the Tour of Britain was cancelled.
The FA (football association) cancelled the football with the leagues for their alien reasons, presumption/assumption seems to be police availability again.
The problem for sports seems to be the police availability. That was apparently the main reason the Tour of Britain was cancelled.
The FA (football association) cancelled the football with the leagues for their alien reasons, presumption/assumption seems to be police availability again.
yeah - i think as athletes we always assume that races get canceled because someone thinks we’re not “tough enough” to do it. but an ironman is a really big machine and it takes a lot to put it on safely. plus, ironman wants to protect the brand and make sure that they only run a race when they’re sure they can deliver quality.
meanwhile:
-horsfall turner riding quite well and still 4+ minutes up on stein, who has, of course, ridden up through the field.
-our man palmer hanging in 4th.
-skipper making up ground and currently riding faster than anyone, but still 20 minutes back at KM90. good lord.
-some weird stuff going on with the tracker as noted. the leaders are allegedly at 112kms, now, but still haven’t tripped the 108km timing mat. will be curious to get the story.
I suspect the football could also be cancelled because of the fear dickhead fans can always start trouble and it’s not a good luck any time, but especially this weekend
I suspect the football could also be cancelled because of the fear dickhead fans can always start trouble and it’s not a good luck any time, but especially this weekend
check that - tracker appears to have crapped out altogether. or maybe just frozen?
Also seems to be something wrong with the time estimation. Skipper is 18mins back from the lead and traveling a bit faster, it shows his estimated time to the next checkpoint at 23mins though
I suspect the football could also be cancelled because of the fear dickhead fans can always start trouble and it’s not a good luck any time, but especially this weekend
check that - tracker appears to have crapped out altogether. or maybe just frozen?
Tracker back functioning. Estimate Skipper lost 21 minutes (on Stein) 'tween 40-60km (from -2 to +18) and/but has gained 3 minutes in the middle third to be 15 mins down on Stein. Can expect Stein and Horsfall-Turner to run sub-3 on ‘normal’ course (but is H-T’s second full distance (after the run DNF in Germany) so into the unknown, with a proven 1:16 half) Skipper to run 2:40 (eg Bolton)?. Stein has now stopped gaining on H-T. Still game on. Bike leg is a long 4:45+.
It’s police availability. Many regional forces cancel all leave and pull support from all non-essential events at times like this and have all their available staff basically standing around doing nothing just in case something crops up. Which makes sense after a terrorist event, but not so much something like this. Anyway they got there in the end …
See also : the French race cancelled during a heatwave the other year. Not because the athletes couldn’t handle the heat, because it was an unnecessary diversion of healthcare resources to cover the event.
I was in NZ for the 2011 race - it was touch and go for a while because all bottled water etc was being sent to Christchurch after the earthquake. The ever-resourceful kiwis managed to put a race on, ironically in conditions where nobody was especially thirsty.
horsfall-turner extending his lead to stein! that’s impressive. of course things often get interesting in the last 40k of the bike (and again on the run), but this is a great day for him so far.
allan overtakes palmer as expected, but palmer is less than a minute back and still apparently holding a solid pace.
really fractured field - i wonder how conditions are. i though the weather was fine, but maybe not?
skipper all the way up into 6th now and still outpacing the field; he’ll make a few quid today if he can keep things strong and steady. if kona is still the plan, pulling out a crazy run might not be the best idea. but then, he’s done relatively well with busy racing schedules before, and he’s probably champing at the bit to go fast after a good block and a frustrating year of racing.
Skipper 16 minutes back from the lead starting the run. It’s a big ask, but he seems in good form at the moment and Andrew H-T is a stronger swimmer than runner, so not impossible.
I think AHT is Welsh though and the support is amazing at Wales anyway, must be awesome for him to be leading.
ah, palmer may be struggling a bit. gave up ~6 minutes to skipper at the end of the ride, and had the slowest T2 by some margin. come on, son!
at mile 2, horsfall-turner running slightly slower than stein and maurel, but he’s still ~4.5 minutes out front. history suggests this is more of a strong-man’s race than a sprint, anyway, so settling in steady and being patient may be the keys.