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lol so spot on accurate
I am from the UK and have a Pro card. I work a full-time (35hr Mon to Fri) office job, have a mortgage and a dog. Not a classic pro-life.
Before getting a Pro card, I won a few IM 70.3 AG events and 70.3 WC 25-29.
I race Pro when I can & have the time to travel (& budget).
But I canât get unlimited time off work to travel abroad. I donât get why I should no longer be able to race local events. Having a pro card changes nothing about my level. If I had not taken it, nothing would have changed. So why treat me different?
I am just a guy that loves the sport same as you, I presume?
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Not saying you canât race local events altogether . Just that if you are doing so you race in a open category
Thatâs so funny you posted this because the 2nd place gal was the one who initially in error was given the tape to cross. Because of wave start she was ahead of Jana on course. They posted her holding up the finish tale on the IM IG page and I responded that got it wrong. Then I messaged Jana, we are friends, and she said that girl KNEW she was 2nd but took the tape anyway and didnât apologize! When IM realized the error they staged this pic for Jana.
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Didnât know just saw the post didnât know back story. But I think that shows even more how important it can be that they took the time to stage the pic for her
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And if he gives up his pro card next year, is it ok to race in AG ?
If Blu gives up his pro card next year, is it ok to race in AG ?
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Youâre not asking me but 100% a-ok IMO.
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The result as an AG are great, really exemplary AG career.
However you turned pro taking you out of that field, so no you shouldnât be able to win non pro events.
Take part for sure give back to the community but youâve put yourself into a level above by your own choosing to compete against the level above.
If I am an age grouper doing the local, Inbred Hillbilly Triathlon and Hunting Clubâs , Annual Triathlon in bumfuck nowhere and the four Norwegians get out of a van wanting to register, Iâd be⌠âhell yeah bring it on,letâs get Cleetus to fire up the stillâ
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I just donât really get why someone winning with a pro card makes a differacne. The card has no impact on the results. Sure exclude them from the AG specific results. But crossing the line first (taking the tape) would still make them the overall winner unless it is specified in the rules beforehand.
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Well, it has been pointed out it is in USAT rules and thatâs the governing body in the US. Doesnât apply in this particular case, obviously.
Let extended the can of worms.
Linked are the British Triathlon rules for getting a professional licence.
â2.7 Any athlete who finishes on the podium at any of the following events (6 events) in 2024 or 2025, who is not already a Pro License holder AND who finishes within 4.0% of the overall race winner in their event will be granted a Pro License;â
Pros can race these Gateway events and if they podium would end up blocking someone else getting their card. What do you think about that?
I have not raced any of these but know a Pro who did and was getting verbal abuse from other athletes.
Theyâre not good enough to be a pro.
Please donât take this the wrong way Ben itâs just because youâre here and the perfect example. You had a special AG career literally the best in the world at one point, since turning pro 4th or 5th is your best result? Which is tremendous results, especially sub 3 run in Lanzarote last year in those conditions. Not detracting from them
But if someone canât show up and beat or match you to 4% time wise in what isnât going to be a target race for you theyâre not going to be adding anything to the pro scene and merely getting a card to say⌠Iâm a pro and thatâs not where the sport should be going.
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This happens a lot in the EDR world of itu here in the U.S. Atleast in the U.S. if a pro races in a race specifically designed as a elite development race (EDR), their spot rolls down/doesnât count. The bigger issue within the EDR world is when in clermont on back to back EDR race days on the same weekendâŚIf someone got a podium on day 1 but didnât take the pro card, and got another podium on day 2, essentially 1 additional elite card became lost in that type of move. Whether thatâs good or bad, that was the procedural penalty from a move like that.
My question is how many actual AG âonlyâ events are there? Even talking the local mom and pop events almost always have an AG category + elite/open/whatever name you want that isnât an AG category that the elite would race under; so even many hillbilly moonshine winning events generally have the correct race options for all athletes to race under. Obviously triathlon is small scale, and it generally isnât going to get that much negativity overall from doing something like this. I wonder what a sponsor thinks of that, as a pro are you expecting a sponsor bonus if you win an IM AG only event because you won an âIMâ event? Does said pro have the gumption to ask/demand sponsorship bonus? Why/why not? Etc. Again triathlon is probaly too small scale, but your âbrandâ as an athlete generally matters as well. Itâs why I always kinda said, psssst just keep as low profile as possible in those very specific race instancesâŚAgain how many events *only allow for AG only events? It canât be that many. It is a bit odd, we donât allow AG in a pro event because of the specific reasoning that they arenât an pro, yet that same logic suddenly gets all kinds of confusing when an pro wants to race in an AG only event.
I would think NONE other than the USAT national championship races?
This past winter, Sam Long posted a race schedule reveal. He then mentioned how important âwinningâ is for himself to the point he was going to keep adding races until he got one (he doesnât need to do that now, with what 2 wins I think?). And not to suggest he was going to enter an AG race to get the win, but it was interesting what it likely revealedâŚHuman psyche and confidence and just feeling âgoodâ matters. So then it sorta gets back to the riddle- do you stay an AG athlete and âdominantâ every race you enter or do you go pro and then sorta get lost. Again by the rules and procedures CAN elites may be totally fine with racing âAG onlyâ events. Trying to read the rules of CAN is a bit complicated, or at min. I canât find specifics on how it canât be done (like in the U.S. elite rulebook).
Been browsing this thread. Again, if no one is breaking the rules I am not that concerned if elite level athletes show up. But I do understand both sides here.
I donât think itâs always black and white. Sometimes itâs just common sense or just âdoing the right thingâ. For example if Lucy Charles showed up at our small local practice mini-sprint triathlon and crushed everyone, it could be a bit unclassy. She didnât break the rules but the optics may not be great. Although we are such a friendly group, it might not be a problem at all. Now if a young local athlete trying to obtain a pro-card uses the races as training and is the nicest person, itâs not a problem and they are welcomed by everyone. At least in my example.
I remember an incredible older female pro racing in the Ironman events said that if she ever raced in the female AGs that she thinks she would be crucified or something to that effect. She was a pro into her early 50s. But sounds like she wouldnât be allowed in Age Group Ironman events as a professional. That being said, other former pros like Natasha Badman have been racing a few AG Ironman events (and crushing everyone). If itâs legal than I canât argue that she doesnât belong in the AG events. Even if I may not love it.
We need to change the thread title, age grouper scoops other age grouper, how dare they!!!
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