Tri distances sometimes need to be irrelevant if they are that aided. If they are swimming 2k in ~15 mins then make this particular venue a 2400m swim.
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I think that the water temp may also be relevant in discussions here, there are rules to the amount of time athletes can be in the water at certain temps, and when it is a cancel swim scenario. There is a possibility that a shorter swim means less time for swim therefore swim can go ahead at the water temp.
The world famous Escape from Alcatraz that has been an olympic race for 30 odd years routinely has olympic distance swim times in the 2x:xx (Ben Kanute has won that race a bunch of times and is very near the front of the swim there). Why they pull the ferry that close, I have no clue.
Iāve done tons of Alcatraz swims (Tris and OWS) and donāt think the boatās been in the same place twice. I think the captain gets a lot of latitude based on the conditions, and they just try to get it kinda close. The only thing they canāt do is get too near the island, both for safety and because itās a protected bird sanctuary.
Heading over to watch on Saturday. Just wish the field was a bit stronger (and having both genders racing like past years, since you got a great flow of athletes coming by transition each lap).
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Iām sure they donāt have an exact location (with currents and chop, etc affecting, so yeah I get there is not an X marks the spot), itās just a bit interesting that every T100 race the 2k swim is 16 mins, and pretty much every Alcatraz race with a 1.5k swim is a 2x:xx. Sorta getting in old timey itu days where they swore they measured 10km for the run and every coach there measured it well short. Like it doesnāt take that much effort to get it a little futher out does it? But if thatās sorta the āhome fieldā uniqueness they are going with (2 years so far), fair enough; it just doesnāt seem like it has to be setup like this I guess is what Iām getting at.
In 2021 Harper and Kanute took 32/33. Conditions poor.
2024 - well away (south to SE) of island.
Ack there are visibility and therefore safety issues to take into account.
Could āsomebodyā competent start a race thread for SF please? While I take the garbage out
I expect there will be a Slowtwitch preview article appearing shortly. We can use that. Otherwise what will happen is that the āchatā will be bifurcated.
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The other element is timing. The Saturday race starts about an hour earlier (6:30am or event 6am the last couple of years) compared to the Sunday race which starts at 7:30am. The status of the tide (flood vs ebb) changes too.
Not sure you are aware, but tides from day to day change from about 45 to 60 or so minutes. So one days 6;30 tide could be the next days 7;30 one..Its not exact, but thatās the dynamic of tidal changes.
Iām very aware living in SF and having raced Alcatraz something like 10 timesā¦
No worries, it just sounded like you were saying that Saturdayās tide would be different than Sundayās later start. Basically the same place even though an hour later..
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Iāve shared the time of the start: 06:35. Yes on Saturday.
I have accessed the tidal flow chart for the same state of the tide (just after top of the ebb) as 06:00 Saturday - see image above. Not sure what Sunday or previous years have to do with it, other than as you imply over years itās started at every state of the tide - and the beneficial or adverse effects on the assistance or drag on the swim to Marina Green. Last year they put a buoy off the beach at 5m depth to stop athletes running a long way along the beach (per Bogen and Kanute in 2024).
That buoy had nothing to do with tides as I recall, it was just to keep the athletes from swimming the shortest distance to shore and running to the finish Shute. Tide or no tide, without that buoy and rule, everyone (well in the know) would have aimed for that side of the beach for quickest overall swim time..
Itās about time the PTO published the Race Ranger data for T100 Spain . . .
18 days ago.
āData from [T100 races] will be published to this page following races as soon as it is received from RaceRanger. This is usually approx 7-10 days following each race.ā
This was, of course, only the second single loop course (the first was at Frejus last year) so I anticipate far less āfailsā. The course was point to point (lake to town) with iirc, one 180 all told. Also athletes at this level will (nearly) all be far more familiar with riding/racing with Race Ranger lights, regarding blue as ādanger zoneā and their obligation to pass if the red light flashes (at least if when they look over their shoulder thereās a moto in sight).
Two days later, on 12th June: published, well one of.
Spain T100 2026
āUnfortunately, there was a technical issue on the RaceRanger side with the data from Spain T100 2026. This means that RaceRanger was unable to provide a full and useful report of the drafting data for this event.ā
And some rubric wrt San Francisco (my edit):
San Francisco T100 2026
Any non-illegal time in the draft zone (e.g. while overtaking or in safety exclusion zones) is not included (50m before and after):
180 by transition (end of lap)
Sharp turn up first climb
U-turn at far end of course
Technical Officials are always looking for intent and [since] San Francisco is a particularly hilly course, [hence] discretion shown.
Schauffler - egregious and >10 times the average of all the others (which was <20s)
Schoeman still not able to subordinate those SC inclinations
Birtwhistle same, though has ridden with Race Ranger eight times before.