I think that you are exaggerating this frustration among the masses, and it perfectly fine if pros show up and just do a hard day, or help out a local RD with a little extra exposure. Now it is not ok if they were to take AG awards, but pretty sure that does not happen anymore and is a big no no within the pro and age group organizations. No one was harmed here, the top age grouper is still the top age grouper and on down the line…
And the pros that occasionally do this have a whole bunch of reasons why they might, all valid and legal…
sure but at the finish line they were both announced as the winners and held up the banner at the finish. The age grouper who would be the winner of the age group race (in an age-group only race so technically the winner) did not get a chance to raise the banner and get some of that glory. It takes away from them. So not sure nobody was harmed. The age grouper missed out on the opportunity to properly celebrate the win
Presumably there’s a line somewhere between “small race that could use some exposure” and “big race that doesn’t need it” - though even here we’re talking about a race that’s 445 finishers for the P113, so not exactly the usual 2000+ athletes.
I think it’s overblown for Jewett anyway - if she wants to race a race to get some confidence back, even if there’s none of her peers or prize money, fine. It does suck for whomever was otherwise winning F35-39, but the line between pro and non-pro is fuzzy anyway. Maybe the 6th place person not getting a Samorin Slot? But there were only 7 in that category, so not exactly a competitive age group.
Ok so now were down to exactly 2 people that might have a gripe because they couldn’t hold the tape. And if asked, might even be stoked to be in the company of such elite pros at the finish. Seems like much ado about nothing really, we are all there to race and have a good time. Results will reflect what happened and the age groupers can brag on their social media that hey won the race(AG one of course)). (-;
as you mentioned the category system in biking should be implemented in tri. And who knows, that AG athlete might have gone faster due to the pro on the course (drafting them off the swim or something).
Triathlon is too “participant” driven while cat based cycling is sorta the opposite. Every triathlon hands out what ~20 “winners” at any given race throughout the world, a system that is built on ability and giving out 1/3 of the amount of awards wouldn’t really be good for anyone in the sport.
I have no issues with Pro’s showing up to local events.
Back in the 90’s in Cairns we had a huge local triathlon calendar (way before Ironman came to town) with a very competitive age group field. Every now and then, when he wasn’t out racing around the world somewhere, the local legend Brad Beven would show up and make us all eat humble pie. Nicest bloke in the sport and it did nothing but elevate the sports profile in our region.
I used to live with my girlfriend and two other girls and the only time they had any interest in coming to watch me race was when Brad was in town.
I still don’t think it’s that big a crusher to get beaten out by a pro in your age group. They beat you fair and square and if that’s who shows up to race, that’s the deal for the day.
So with that logic let’s just throw the whole pro category out all together. One big open race.
It’s not like people complain about world champs slots ever anyways. Blumenfelt is in the 30-34 age group right lol? Good luck getting the slot at that race
Honestly from a competition standpoint that’s really what it’s. You might win the age group overall but still get beat by 20 pros - you’re def not top dog overall in reality.
I fully understand logistically why it’s better to have pro and age group separate for fairness, money prizes, etc. but if it weren’t for that, I’d have zero issue losing a podium spot to a pro that beat me fair and square.
I mean I get beat by dozens of guys with time to train 20 plus hours per week , almost as much as some pros. Just because they can dedicate nearly their entire life to tri doesn’t mean they should be in a separate semipro division.
Again, I’d be fine with that. I only made up the semipro division because if we’re almost arbitrarily making divisions for ‘die-hard serious pros’, why not a separate division for ‘die-hard serious amateurs’ and down the road in terms of fairness for final placements? If the AG winner gets to scream about how they got robbed of their AG win by the pro, why shouldn’t I get to scream about my loss of my AG win to the ‘virtual pro’ in my AG who trains 24 hours per week and doesn’t hold a paying job?
And again, I understand the logistics why they can’t do it for prize money, video, referring, etc. But that’s the reality of even the top AGers - they’re NOT the fastest, the pros are the fastest. So I’d have no problem with the open division final standings to reflect this, with pros at the top of their respective AGs in terms of results/competition (it’s just more practical to separate them, but that’s a separate issue than the final standings.)
Ironically, fairness aside, I actually DO think Ironman should make a big push to add softer categories especially for newer athletes, so they can get ‘sucked in’ to the race. I’ve met quite a few 20-24 yr old females who did unexpectedly well at their first tri, and ended up going all in shortly after.
Just replying in general, and as someone who bagged on Gerlach when he did it, if it’s not a pro Ironman race, the pro’s can race but should be excluded from the results and shouldn’t take the tape. Accepting your pro card puts you in a different category and you should race your category:
A few years ago I got second overall at a smaller marathon in our state. Overall winner was a female pro from out of state that came there to get her Olympic trials qualification time. I thought it was pretty cool getting “chicked” by a pro.
Hilarious that you think there has finally been some reason just because somebody said what you wanted them to. There is nothing “unreasonable” in thinking it is okay for Pros to race non-Pro local races if that particular race or race series allows it.
Interesting enough the real issue with elite/AG is for the olympic pipeline, as you have always needed to be an elite (through your individual federatation) to race the “closed entry” events. Now they are even allowing “age group” athletes into the conti cup level events if you have a safe enough draft legal background. Until IM and long course went to these wave starts, the only real difference in AG/pro was just in what entry box you checked off. non-draft was much more just a another division.