Imagine the opportunity. EZ Gains can make a gopro case that saves you 15 watts !!!
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This was before your time in the sport but in race footage has already been a thing. Sport governing body of course wanted no part of it and claimed all kinds of reasons why….until they finally agreed to it. They objected over safety in addition to propiertiery property. They eventually relented as long as videos had governing body logos and “property of itu”
see Eric Lagerstrom in itu
So yeah right IM just willingly allowing all content out there for various legit reasons.
A German draft legal elite athlete Max Schwetz (perhaps you’ve met him @pk) used to post these amazing videos recorded with his on-board cam (until he retired). Browse through his channel and ignore the local politics, the tri stuff is from about 2019 and earlier. I liked this one, the one with the breakaway and with the storm the most I think.
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For non-draft, videos like this would of course do nothing but confirm how boring the bike leg is.
Though I would allow cameras for PROs and maybe the select few age groupers who know their bike handling.
Ya I’m aware of his travails.
You’ve probably already gotten a sense for what I think of most governing bodies in the sport. Won’t go much deeper there.
Most people are opposed to change and grasp at reasons why. I have no doubt rules protests or bad press with footage could be one of those reasons that get kitchen sinked at the idea.
But it’s not really a concern once you spend some time on it.
I believe this is Lagerstrom’s most viewed itu video due to his crash in Wtcs Montreal.
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I believe they even did a few Wtcs broadcasts that included on bike camera viewpoint. All pre covid and sorta interesting and then didn’t do it anymore.
Every unbound vid I have seen is something epic. I’ve yet to see the “boring footage” of just riding along on the gravel. Does triathlon have “epic shit” capacity at races? Is it Roth that has the hill that you part the crowd, that would be a kickass pov. Kona has nothing but boring lava, TX has nothing but boring interstates. Unbound’s course is the driver for all these kickass “epic shit” videos.
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I’m just thinking how much a benefit it would be to put the ability to capture footage in the hands of someone like a @TriathlonJoe and just see what kinds of content come out of it.
The other part we haven’t talked about would be selfie sticks on the run. These are probably a grey area since there’d need to be rules in place that you don’t block people, but I’m sure it could work within a certain framework. (Don’t block people, ensure control, no more than a certain length, no drones, if stopping →stop on the side, limit to specific cheer zones, not at the finish, etc.)
At the end of the day, we do this for fun. So long as its safe, and safely written in the rule books, I don’t see why we can’t allow people to take selfies or whatever as part of the race journey. Even if a 16hr finisher wants to whip out their phone for a few selfies to document where they are, what’s the big deal?
(Though I will note that this all might conflict with IM’s financial incentive to sell race photos, or work with a company who sells race photos, so there’s that)
That was the main reason ITU governing body objected to Lagerstrom’s in race videos. They wanted/viewed it as anything related to the race was their property, so they had control of the content. Obviously his race videos were just generic run of the mill FP athlete in FP of bike course. So there wasn’t anything that could be damaging to the brand, and they were really fucking good cotent—so psst let him post the videos etc. Which is why they eventually allowed athletes to take videos, they just had to include property of WT water mark copyright.
Again with as few officials as we have in our sport, I’m really surprised there isn’t more bootlegged in race video content. That 16 hour person could easily take their phone with them on the bike and run and start content, and no one would know. So I guess fair play to all you AG athletes out there who are actually following the rules…..now just take that behavior onto the bike course with drafting rules, lol,
Wow, it’s been a minute since I’ve posted here.
Fun fact: I was actually talking with my contact at Ironman about running across the finish line with Meta glasses before this rule was implemented.
I can see both sides of the argument. Personally, I don’t have a big cheering section waiting for me, and I’d never want a three-person camera crew following me around yelling “go one more” So for mostly running races and a few non-Ironman races, I’ll occasionally run with a 360 camera. Most of the time I end up with maybe 30 seconds of usable footage, but I’ve captured some pretty cool moments along the way.
That said, I’m there to race first and create content second. The race should always be the priority. I can understand why organizers are concerned when people start treating the event like a production set and focus more on filming than competing. There’s definitely a balance to be found.
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Unrelated, but super cool video. Thought it was funny how Eric referred to Gustav Iden as “I don’t know who this is from Norway” 
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Lisa tertch would be the ideal candidate to give a camera to… always in the back and sees everything
and vermeylen could film tertsch from 3 meter back to make sure all is in order … (you could get rid of the motorbike and save money )
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Pat was way off the mark during this whole episode. It was actually quite funny as he’s usually the sensible one I agree with most often.
Dirty Kansa is a social fondo, quite clear based on what we see.
Yes, and in the other video from Max, Kristian swearing at him almost (there’s nothing comparable) full Ali Brownlee-style.
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Please no filming during events by athletes. We are running on narrow paths, we cycle oftentimes on non-closed roads, we swim over each other.. I really don’t need people more concerned about getting a good video shot than about the safety of the course, other athletes, and what’s in front of them. From personal experience I have seen youtubers block narrow bike & run paths on ironman, have their film crew run against Ironman runners in lap 3/4 of a course (me included in Barcelona, I even bothered to search and complain about him on his video), and be a danger and even greater nuissance to everyone around them. We really do not need to entitle them anymore. Say no to video.
btw. I love myself a good gravel on-board video but here the video production is neither obnoxious nor a big installation issue.
His bit on doping bans and the UCI… well I hope their lawyers weren’t listening!
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And if Pat is all in for all types of cameras, would he also support the flying drones that follow you on the bike and run? Imagine a drone flying behind you as you exit the water (you stashed the drone and control unit with your shoes pre-race, so nobody’s breaking any rules by handing it to you!) and it follows you into the change tent. Gets a nice closeup as you slather on your Squirrel’s Nut Butter, and out the tent to the bike, then it captures the best comedy in sport, that is, the Ironman mount line. It’s got enough battery to follow you for a couple of miles, but eventually, you have to pull over, land the craft, pack it into your pocket or hand it off (rule-breaking?) to a friend.
You guys are taking it almost too literally. The gist I got out of the conversation was how cool was all the videos and content created by Unbound. So how the hell can we bring it to tri.
If it means only pre mounted cameras so we don’t have hundred of ppl w selfie sticks or crashing all over the place on the bike no handing w cameras then just do that (duh). Like the bigger point is how can you create a system to bring more cool shit to the masses from our sport.
Is there cool shit to share with the masses from triathlon, is probaly a bigger question. The current format of swim a long time, bike a long time and run a long time in pretty boring courses most of the time, I don’t think qualifies as “epic shit” that is going to get 1mi views.
Agree. And there is no pending rule change that I’ve heard about, not being an insider like those guys. Just a flight of fancy from Pat, swatted sensibly down by Mark.