I spend a hell of a lot of money on equipment and excessive time in training. I pay well over 1K a year on race fees, transportation and hotels. What do I get for my money? A USAT “Sanctioned” race with 1 or 2 officials, everyone drafting like crazy, race courses long or short. Hell, most races are turning into draft fests. IM FLA last year was full of drafters as was the IM half at Disney, GCT Draft city. Sprints are worse. It seems to me, USAT has decided to spend money on Olympics and lawyers instead of ensuring value for USAT dues. The NASCAR mentality of “if you isn’t cheating you ain’t trying” is sadly getting more acceptable. Should not athletes who are habitual USAT rule breakers be banished after a certain amount of infractions? Shouldn’t USAT require a certain number of officials at races? Shouldn’t USAT put races on probation if found lacking? Is there any USAT minimum standard for race?
I’ve found it the exact opposite. Just this last weekend I raced Ralphs and found them to be ridiculously strict. The motorcycles are out in full force enforcing drafting. I got a position penalty and remember the incident clearly and was shocked to see that I got a penalty. I’m kinda pissed know that I’m lumped into a cheater category when my race was clean. I know for a fact that they did not watch me for 15 secs as I was passing someone. I saw the motorcyle writing on a piece of paper as they passed and I tried to catch up, which obviously is not possible. I had an early start time with a fairly fast swim, so there weren’t many people out on the course. I do believe that in MOP more motorcycles would add a dangerous element and still the drafting would be un-enforcable.
Individual Races, Race Directors, Event Directors are the ones who choose how many officials they want … there are some RD’s who choose to not have/PAY/house officials at their events … i’d encourage you to contact the event organizers & USAT. I attended a long course race last year (500+ athletes) and there was only 1 official.
My experience says most of the “unfair” races w/ drafting happen because: overcrowded course, poor course design, athletes willing to draft when there are no officials around / lack of officials, and athletes that don’t really know what the rules are. (not in any particular order as it’s variable by event)
To clarify, not everyone who gets a draft penalty is a cheater— heck poop happens and bad calls happen. But I know a lot of repeat offenders. My primary beef is USAT seems to have no interest in establishing a means to properly enforce the USAT rules. I agree a motorcade of officials is not the answer, but a long course USAT sanctioned race with 1 official is a joke.
Individual Races, Race Directors, Event Directors are the ones who choose how many officials they want … there are some RD’s who choose to not have/PAY/house officials at their events … i’d encourage you to contact the event organizers & USAT. I attended a long course race last year (500+ athletes) and there was only 1 official.
My experience says most of the “unfair” races w/ drafting happen because: overcrowded course, poor course design, athletes willing to draft when there are no officials around / lack of officials, and athletes that don’t really know what the rules are. (not in any particular order as it’s variable by event)
Trifaster is correct that the individual RD decides how many officials, if any he/she wants. They pay for them out of their race budgets, which are usually extremely tight due to competing costs 9permits, etc). Are you suggesting that instead, USAT fund officials at the races from the general budget and tell the RD how many will be there to officiate his/her race?
One of the reasons some races may seem to be under-represented by officials is the few number of officials available. The officials are competitors like you and I that go through training, then give a weekend here and there to “pay back the sport” by officiating. In most regions we only have a relative handful of officials to cover all races requesting officials and most officiate many more than just two races each year. Look at the number of races on the calendar and multiple that by what you would consider to be the “ideal” number of officials at a race. That give you an idea of how many officials would be needed.
If you want to help the sport, then I would encourage you to look into becoming an official and officiate at least two races every year (http://www.usatriathlon.org/Rules_Officials/officials_program.htm). We could use you and all other experienced triathletes to serve as officials and put your experience to use ensuring more fair and safer races and prevent problems like you describe.
Also, once you are an official, spend time going to club meetings and conducting seminars on the rules. From my experience, most people don’t intentionally cheat, but do so because they are unaware of the rules.
Anyway, just my suggestion on how you can help solve the problem.
As a race director, I can choose whether to have USAT officials or not - USAT has minimums based on race size, and determines the final number. You can see the request form at http://www.usatriathlon.org/Event_Sanctioning/Event_Sanctioning_Request_officials.htm
For most races (USAT requires them for some races), I can officiate my own race - then I get to decide how many people to out on course
USAT does put out sanctioning requirements on what should be in place for a race - hit the USAT website and check them out. Post-race, you should give your feedback to the race director, but you can also fill out USAT’s survey. http://www.usatriathlon.org/Events/event_evaluation.htm
Someone mentioned Ironman Florida - didn’t I see that there were over 300 penalties called last year? Not exactly a small number.
And if you ever get a penalty you’re unsure of, check with the officials post-race - they hang around the penalty/results postings to answer any questions. I’ve been able to get athletes in touch with the head referee a day or two after the race.
Are you suggesting that instead, USAT fund officials at the races from the general budget and tell the RD how many will be there to officiate his/her race?