I don’t think so. It is part of the game. And drafting is not cheating either–and certainly not equivalent, even putting eithics aside, to doping. Drafting is part of Ironman racing. It is within the rules. It is the equivalent of committing a foul in basketball, or a penalty in hockey, soccer, football, waterpolo. You get caught drafting, you serve a 4 minute penalty. Those are the rules. You don’t like it. Take it up with enforcement (i.e., officiating, NA Sports, WTC, Triathlon federations), but stop accusing other athletes of cheating (especially when you are in the middle of the race, traveling at different speeds, are inherently biased, and have little ability to perceive other competitors’ speeds and distances accurately–it’s called the theory of relativity. The sooner you recognize and accept that drafting and the subsequent penalty are part of the rules, the better off you will be. In fact, I’d go so far as to argue that once you understand that drafting is part of the rules, the penalty incurred from drafting, and the risk of being caught, you can calculate your own cost/benefit analysis, depending on how risk averse you are, or any other subjective preferences you might have (it’s unethical, etc.) as to whether you want to do it, just as basketball teams employed the Hack-a-Shaq to win. Many a an Ironman World Champion have gone on to win Kona in the same race as being caught drafting and serving a penalty (e.g., Tim Deboom, Natascha Badmann to name a few). I’d hardly call them cheaters. If you think drafting is problem, then increase the penalty (e.g., 10 min penalty or automatic disqualification–which btw, I think is too costly and inefficient) or increase the risk of being caught (e.g., add more marshalls). It’s that simple. But stop making broad-sweeping baseless (and classless) allegations against competitors that you see for a split second or do not even see at all during the race.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This cheat Audio Help (chçt) Pronunciation Key
v. cheat·ed, cheat·ing, cheats
v. tr.
To deceive by trickery; swindle: cheated customers by overcharging them for purchases. To deprive by trickery; defraud: cheated them of their land. To mislead; fool: illusions that cheat the eye. To elude; escape: cheat death.
v. intr.
To act dishonestly; practice fraud. To violate rules deliberately, as in a game: was accused of cheating at cards. Informal To be sexually unfaithful: cheat on a spouse. Baseball To position oneself closer to a certain area than is normal or expected: The shortstop cheated toward second base.
n. An act of cheating; a fraud or swindle. One who cheats; a swindler. A computer application, password, or disallowed technique used to advance to a higher skill level in a computer video game. Law Fraudulent acquisition of another’s property. Botany An annual European species of brome grass (Bromus secalinus) widely naturalized in temperate regions.
Sir Charles Barkley used to say, Im alloted 6 fouls per game and Im gonna use them:)
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If there was one ref for every five riders, or 3.3 if you count the NBAs three refs, then you might be correct. Most fouls that take place are called in basketball, especially the blatant ones. With one or two refs for hundreds of riders then the comparison falls woefully short. MOST drafting in multi-sport is not called.
I agree that you can’t broad brush all races for drafting, but I certainly saw plenty of it from people I was passing, or trying to pass, and I can easily judge those folks’ draft distance. Drafting is cheating and comparing it to a foul in basketball is one person trying to justify their actions and undeserved results.
Chad
If you think drafting is problem, then increase the penalty (e.g., 10 min penalty or automatic disqualification–which btw, I think is too costly and inefficient) or increase the risk of being caught (e.g., add more marshalls).
If I were king of the world! Those dirty rotten drafting cheating bastards would get the death penalty!
If you want put that out there you can ask this question. Is drafting like making a one-hand touch during a breaststroke race or stepping on the line during a track meet or false-starting? What happens if you commit one of those “fouls”. Those are all part of the game as well in those sports but the penalty is greater than in any of the already mentioned sports. What would happen in a triathlon if the penalty assessed disqualified someone from the event? Triathlon is more like a swim meet or a track meet than a basketball game isn’t it?
Yes. It is cheating, and that’s why there are rules against the actions and penalties for doing so. Pretty simple.
It is the equivalent of committing a foul in basketball, or a penalty in hockey, soccer, football, waterpolo
No, it is the equivalent of improving your lie in golf.
Big difference in the sports you name in that part of the game is physical confrontation and the officials have to set and enforce a standard governing that confrontation (see Charles Barkley, above). Moving beyond the acceptable standard gets a foul called.
Golf, like the three sports of triathlon, is one of individual action and how you act is purely a question of your own intent and your own judgment. To be sure, it is possible to commit a violation of the rules unintentionally. In golf, a contestant is duty-bound to call a penalty on him or herself if she realizes she has inadvertently violated a rule. But to violate a rule intentionally in golf with the hopes of escaping detection will get you more than a one- or two-stroke penalty. It will get you shunned if you get caught.
Maybe we need to start shunning the drafters?
Put it this way… if you were playing in a friendly soccer game with no officials, and someone on the other side who wasn’t the keeper decided that they were going to use their hands to play, would you call them a cheater or not?
In triathlon, that is the approximate analogy. There are no officials present for the majority of the race.
First…nice troll!
However, if you really feel the way you do, you are basically saying that EPO isn’t cheating, drafting isn’t cheating, course-cutting isn’t cheating, etc. Why would you even bother to race if your plan includes intentionally breaking the rules and hoping you get away with it. What rules are breakable and what rules are flexible? To reference your point about named pros who have served penalties, I would actually call them cheating if they were blatantly sucking wheel. If they were guilty of a position penalty but it was clear that they were not intentionally cheating, then I’d say to be more careful and take your punishment. If you are 2 bike lengths back instead of 3 after/during a pass and stay a little too long, I’d say you were guilty of carelesness. If you are riding a foot off someone’s back wheel, you are intentionally cheating. The former should involve a penalty…the latter should be an instant disqualification!
The problem that most people have with the situation that happened last weekend is that the rules were there, but they were not enforced for some reason (or at least not to the extent that they should have been). There were enough first hand accounts from both racers who are known on this forum, as well as non-racing members of the forum for me to believe that the drafting was pretty out of control and little was done about it.
For you to say that the accounts of the events were classless is absolutely ridiculous. You are here advocating cheating as a tactical tool and calling someone else classless? Wow, you are pretty out of touch with reality! Now please crawl back under your rock and hope you never find yourself sucking my wheel as a part of your “cost/benefit” strategy.
Mike
I think it’s different in that hoops or hockey are head-to-head sports, so the nature of a foul isn’t the same because it affects the other person/team more directly. In a non-ITU Tri, everyone’s really racing the clock first, only indirectly against each other. If I draft, it may help me get a faster time and that may move me up in the standings (i.e., cheating), but it doesn’t make your time slower and so it isn’t refereed the same way as a head-to-head sport.
Yes it is cheating, as given in the definition after your post. The penalty for this cheating is a 4 min rest.(get caught cheating 3 times and your out) In basketball its called a foul (get caught cheating/fouling 6 time and your out of the game).
Oh and as someone else said, your posts sounds like a drafter trying to justify his cheating.
Sorry but breaking the rules is the same as cheating. Just cause the sport does not throw you out for this cheating its still cheating.
And yes the penalty for drafting is arguable even a penalty, and if you were a win at all cost player you would cheat till caught by drafting then after the first penalty follow the rules. Optimal game play does imply balancing breaking the rules with the risk of getting caught.
I don’t follow NASCAR closely but have heard about several teams getting caught illegally altering their cars, they still got the wins lost some points and $$$ but they must have thought it was worth the risk. (Yes they did cheat, but it was just a foul).
and while rambling I like the drafting penatly of a 1mile run loop for the 1st ect… Seems a much better deterant than a 4 min rest break.
This will probably get me laughed at, but why not allow drafting?
Seems to me that it would just offer more strategy and maybe a little race excitement? It certainly would make the bike leg more strategic. Do you draft and conserve energy or do you breakaway to give your self time on the run?
Drafting is allowed in swimming? Is Lochte a “cheater”? Drafting is certainly part of road racing, how else would the peloton sustain their high m.p.h?
It definitely is cheating, and I only think this because of a personal experience. While attending a Wisconsin Badgers football game, I was sitting next to a man that would scream at the top of his lungs "CCCCCCHHHHHEEEEEEEAAAAAATTTTTTTEEEEERRRRRRRR!!! after each and every flag. Ever since, I do the same thing and solely believe that every penalty/foul is a form of cheating.
I’ll never understand why everybody responds to aerobike’s constant trolls. Sheesh.
The dude’s like in what, jr high or something? I bet he’s posting from his room, probably just got grounded for something; got bored with porn and texting, and decided to throw some chum into the water here, yet again, and see who bites…
So, while I am (unfortunately) perpetuating this inane thread, I refuse to respond to the original, assinine post.
PLEASE DON’T FEED THE TROLLS.
They do. It’s called the ITU World Cup, Continental Cups & the Olympics.