Tampering/Sabotage 35 - 39 AG Kona

Triathlon Forum
21

so sad to hear that this still happens

happened to me in 2018 in Nice WC race-got my tires slashed and needed to pretty much abandon the race

showed the tires to the IM support crew who said it ‘definitely looked like a knife did this’

very disturbing-

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22

Funny that someone named Lurker likes walking around looking at bikes!! lol

23

I’ve podiumed in my AG before but always thought it wasn’t right when there was a pro field. Congrats to the 35-39 Kona AG podium of Lange, Hanson, and Weiss.

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24

There was a female AG who did this in a bunch of races to kneecap her competitors, until she was finally caught; so not unheard of.

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25

I agree that to do it to one athlete seems possible. But it’s been suggested that several athletes were sabotaged.

That sounds really risky or conspiracy level good organisation.

For what benefit? I’d argue time differences in IM are typically larger than the couple of minutes it takes to fix a loosened seatposts (the guy who won M35 had 5 minutes over the second). And how do you know which athletes to target without obstri? It would take a lot of research and you might still miss a few competitive athletes.

The thing is, maybe there is a cause and by going straight to conspiracy we are missing out on finding possible true causes that could be addressed. Maybe there’s a defect in the racks, maybe there’s a specific cause of heat/humidity, maybe affecting specific models in particular.

Low bib numbers had to rack their bikes very early on the Friday so their bikes stayed a really long time in transition on that day. And bikes were soaking wet Saturday morning.

26

It may be that Nice & Kona will need to have multiple “rack cameras” around transition with 4K or higher zoom in cameras recording everything. As a back up of proof in case there is a rash of mechanicals not there before the race. That said, I’d make sure every nut & bolt is tight using the torque spec’d for that bolt in case it was just sloppy rebuild by a racer.

1 Like
27

has any athlete actually come out saying they were sabotaged…

there is a lot of speculating here and no facts ,

28

Since it was reported to ironman and they launched an investigation, that would be the implication. There wouldn’t be an investigation if the 5 people who had issues believed it was an accident. That’s not to say it is sabotage though…

29

Sounds like some people didnt race well and they are pointing the finger…

  I know our Ryan is looking into it..
1 Like
30

Here’s what I know as a person who raced in M40-44 and shared a house with Tom (both of his tires were flat after the swim).

  1. His bike was checked by a professional mechanic leading up to the race.
  2. His tires held air in his final pre-race rides.
  3. He topped off his tires race morning and left transition close to closing time (approximately 10 minutes before the close at 6:15 am).
  4. When he returned to his bike after his swim at about 7:45 am, both tires were completely flat.
  5. To fix his tires, he found a mechanic in transition, and all the mechanic had to do was inflate the tires, and they held air (in other words, the flats were not punctures or tires that were installed incorrectly).

For this to be “his fault,” I guess he would have to have left both valves open and all the air in the tires would have had to have leaked out in about an hour and forty minutes. To me, that seems highly unlikely considering so many other contenders in M35-39 had various tires and seatpost issues. Any one of these athletes as an isolated incident doesn’t seem like sabotage, but when many of the contenders have similar bike issues, something smells fishy.

6 Likes
31

First post in a very long time from me.

Some years ago I raced 70.3 in Singapore (where the climate is not dissimilar to Kona). I reassembled my bike in my (cold!) air conditioned hotel room after flying in from London and found several bolts worked loose when I went for a pre-race ride. I re-set everything outside and the bike was fine after that*

Maybe a coincidence.

  • other than the punctures from thumb tacks thrown on the course that affected a lot of people that day
32

I raced 70.3 Aix last May and had properly racked my bike the day before. Came into transition before the race to set up and someone had taken off / stolen the arm foam pads from my TT bars. I was the only person in my area whose bike got tampered with. I scrambled and was able to tape some cloth on the cups so i would not have to ride on the velcro…
By the way, I am a MOP triathlete and ride a 15 year old bike. My guess is: either someone played a stupid joke… or they had the same bike and stole the pads to replace theirs (you can’t find spares for this bike anymore).
Obviously nothing like what happened to the top AGs in Kona but this probably happens more than we imagine…

1 Like
33

It’s quite depressing to think that other competitors would go to a race to sabotage or steal some of your material but unfortunately is more common than it looks…
I’ve had my Oakleys stolen from transition twice. First time at 70.3 WC in Nice, they were placed inside the running bag in the rack the day before (no access on race day) and when I came to T2 they were gone.
Second time last month at a smaller race where I kept them hidden next to the bike between the running shoes and under the bib number. Placed it 10’ before transition closed that morning and was 3rd into T2 and they were gone. We searched all the surroundings without luck.
It’s really very easy to steal sunglasses, Garmins or shoes but come on…

34

My dad once stole another competitor’s shoes out of T2. It was a local tri where you can basically rack anywhere, and he came into T2 on the wrong rack. Saw a pair of shoes that looked like his and assumed that it was his spot. He was wondering why the rest of his stuff got misplaced. Ends up taking someone else’s shoes and wondering why they’re a size too small Ended up with a DSQ.

Innocent mistake on his part but sometimes stuff like this happens (though shoes are easier to mistake in the heat of the moment than pads off someone’s bike obviously).

Now at the athlete briefing every year he’s the cautionary tale about making sure you know where your spot is.

35

The German tri mag site is discussing the issue and gives 4 or 5 names of athletes concerned : Carbon & Laktat: Sabotage bei den Agegroupern - tri-mag.de

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36

not necessarily the thief had same bike but, rather, the same aerobar model; besides, in most cases, pads can fit on more armcup types

37

Never underestimate the depravity of some people. Sadly, there are people in the world that are willing to do anything to win at nearly anything.

38

Nobody is claiming everyone’s mechanicals were due to sabotage. Yes, a couple of poorly prepared bikes can fail. But the odds of NONE of those mechanicals being due to sabotage seems impossible. And if one was sabotage, probably many others were too, for obvious reasons.

39

For what it’s worth, I’ve been digging on this issue for the better part of a week.

Thus far, I have turned up a lot of speculation, but nothing concrete enough that I would be comfortable publishing on the front page with a declarative “yes, it did happen” or “no, it didn’t.”

6 Likes
40

So what? I only speak for myself but despite your digging into this subject Im convinced of my sabotage incident. Speaking to the athlete myself after the race confirmed my accusations.