I have finally just completed my first IM (Melbourne), Yay! {insert pats on back here - lol} and enjoyed it thoroughly.
I have been involved in triathlons for many years now and have benefited greatly from the information and opinions shared here on slowtwitch.
But their seems to be a big elephant in the room, and i wanted to hear other athletes ideas and opinions on the topic:
Should (or even Could) drafting be prevented? What are your ideas?
Is there a way to make things fairer? Or are things already fair enough? It seems as though triathlons/Ironman events are being decided by the best runners, as athletes draft the better swimmers in the water and cyclists on the bike. And i thought the idea of triathlon was to find out who was the best overall?
One idea i had is to have wave starts. Say 6 wave starts, 10 minutes apart, 250 in each wave with pro’s split between all of the wave starts (approx 3 pro men and 3 pro women in each wave).
This would mean drafting is pointless.
This could delay the announcement of the winner by an hour.
Athletes would have to think on their feet, calculating pace and times.
It would be interesting to see what times athletes would complete an IM in, i imagine times would drop.
Age groupers would get to see more of the pro’s racing along side them throughout the whole race, not just whipping past on the bike.
Absolutely. If the Ironman Frankfurt organisers sent the field up and over the Feldberg, as they should, that would sort out things pretty bloody quickly.
The course runs in the ‘shadow’ of this hill, it’s a lovely climb, and it’s a shame the IM doesn’t go kup it. The roads round it are excellent too, supersmooth.
Drafting will never be pointless for those who do it on purpose and you will never stop it on crowded Ironman courses…The fast drafters draft to go faster than they normally would and the slow drafters draft because they like the company during a long slow day on the road…(I’ll let you decide which one of those I’m serious about)
I like it.
Here in Victoria we have maybe the Otways or Kinglake. Hmmm, that would sort the men from the boys.
But i’m not just talking drafting on the bike, plenty of drafting going on during the swim.
One idea i had is to have wave starts. Say 6 wave starts, 10 minutes apart, 250 in each wave with pro’s split between all of the wave starts (approx 3 pro men and 3 pro women in each wave).
This could delay the announcement of the winner by an hour.
Athletes would have to think on their feet, calculating pace and times.
It’s hard enough for the people who have to cover these endurance events make it fun and exciting, this would turn the event into pure speculation, no more Ironwars, just oh and the last elite over the line… anndddd… no, the guy who crossed the line 4 hours ago won… well done, you can now celebrate… oh what’s that?? you’re legs are so stiff you can’t jump now… ok, here’s some champagne, go wild…
For the pro’s drafting is a non-issue, they’re watched too closely, for amatures it will always be a problem, but in these events I’m racing myself and no-one else so if some douchebag is drafting me, it’s less of an issue and more of a potential hazard so if I tell them off it’s because I don’t want this dickwad smashing into me and ending my day if I let up a bit and he/she can’t get to the brakes quick enough. (Bare in mind in the start of the bike leg sometimes it can literally not be helped and the faster swimmers/slower bikers cause hold ups for the slower swimmers/faster bikers).
tl;dr As far as I’m concerned, those who draft (age groupers) are only cheating themselves out of seeing a true reflection of what they’re capable of in such a race; in the end the overwhelming majority of participants are just racing themselves.
the age grouper drafting is always going to be hard to stop due to the numbers on the course.
As for the pro’s they draft all be it legally. the way the rules are currently for the pros is in favor to riding packs in races where there field is deep. Both Melbourne and Kona can be used to prove the point. this year in Melbourne the was no wind on an open non technical course it made riding the pack easy and made it hard for the stronger riders to ride away. Kona was the same last year not as windy as normal allowing the packs to “work”. Both these courses are relying on the wind to break up the packs. the easiest way around it is increase the drafting zone to 15m for the pros. this allows for much more attacking race tactics to work. It would also help eliminate the issues with pro women getting into pro mens packs and getting pulled along. Mens racng in major races are are close to going the way of ITU races and becoming a running race.
I dont think 15m would be practical for age groupers, there is just to many athletes on the course at the same time.
Don’t know that ther is much you can do. Although, maybe seeding the pros in waves as you suggested but do it off of their seeding (or qualifying times) so that the the pro in the last group is the highest ranked.
Out on the course it is going to be hard to do much. Increasing the distance when you have 2,000+ competitors just isn’t feasible. Putting in some really good climbs at the start would let the stronger riders get away, never to be seen again but not every course can do that. Putting in the climb to moose mountain for IMC would really separate out everyone - if the 10% to 12% grade going up didn’t get you, it sure would coming down as it is narrow and an out and back. There would be carnage - great TV but that’s about all.
And a final note. If I’m happily churning away at my power level and someone passes me, going just a little bit faster, I don’t want to ease off just because I’ve been passed and there is some kind of gigantic gap that is supposed to be maintained.
splitting the pros would mean they would be racing different races. Having to swim around people, bike around people changes the race. Might make it faster, might make it slower. but it makes it different for each wave.
If drafting in the pros is the issue, first the women and the men need to be split enough that women can’t ride w/ the second pack of men. 15-30 minutes is what is needed to split up the sexes.
Saw a bunch of drafting my first im. To me you don’t acomlish anything if you have to cheat to do it. After seeing two guys pass me runing a pace line I got so ticked I went after them and passed them back (I know stupid move hr and watts went too high for 70 miles in). I started thinking how many grams would be added if you put in some batmobile toys. How about an oils slick device or a tack spreader. Someone drafts off you and they pay the price.
Agreed, but why worry about drafting? The bloody IM race is long enough. Let 'em be. Just be thankful you MIGHT have clean water to swim in, clean air to breathe, and safe roads to ride on. Those days are fading fast. Triathlon is heavily dependent on natural resources that are being eroded by a lack of political will, growing populations, and dreadful pollution. If you want to solve a problem, solve our water quality issues, for a starter…
drafting in swim is fine. drafting in run is fine.
drafting in bike is not fine. I am not sure what else besides making sure there are plenty of well trained course marshals.
personally, having done a dozen + ironman events (+ twice that many 1/2s) I simply have given up caring too much about the cheaters. I simply don’t care; I have a day job and a family and this sport is simply my way of having fun.
combined with the fact that some bike courses simply can’t absorb 2000+ riders, I am simply not going to let people who knowingly cheat ruin my day. My goal is in my tag line.
there’s too much true sadness and tragedy in the real world to worry anymore about this.
Swim, Run, Bike. Can’t get more spread out than that and the chances or drowning aren’t increased by fatigue.
As I understand it, the original Swim Bike Run order was related to “what if” scenarios. What’s the worst that can happen if you have a problem during the swim? Drowning is bad so get that one while you’re still fresh. What’s the worst that can happen if you have a problem on the bike. Crashing is bad but probably not as bad as drowning. Running? You stop or maybe fall over. So its an order related to minimizing serious injury. Others may chime in if I’ve gotten bad information on this.
But changing the order to Swim Run Bike would go a long way to minimize drafting issues. Of course the importance of preventing drafting would be even greater because the finish is coming and you wouldn’t want a drafter to spring around at the end as in cycling. But because the riders would be so much more spread out it could be easier to enforce. Plus you would eliminate the dreaded bike to run transition.
Cheers,
Jim
