Okay, I’ll bite:
<<Hypothetical situation #1: A new bike accessory comes out, maybe a new type of ultra-low rolling resistance tire. With these you can take an immediate 5% out of your bike split…5h split becomes 4:45. No trade-offs. Cost: $200/pair. Would you buy them?
Hypothetical situation #2: A new type of supplement is on the market. Results show 2-3% improvement in Ironman distance, saving you the same 15 minutes as above. So far it is legal since it is so new. Cost $200. Would you use it?
Hypothetical situation #3: The race director offers a new option. For $200, you can buy down your race time by 15 minutes, or shorten the run by 2 miles. This counts towards finishing place, Ironman slots, etc. Would you buy in?
My guess is most would do 1 in a heartbeat, 2 would be pretty divided, and 3 almost nobody would do unless maybe it put them into a Hawaii slot they had been working years to earn. But fundementally, arent’ all 3 the same? They are all simply ways to reduce the effort level>>
Situation #1: “Equal access” In other words, if it is a piece of equipment, in theory it is available to anybody with the means of paying for it. The athlete still has to have a certain level of fitness to realize the benefits of the equipment and in theory, does not jeapordize the health of the athlete.
Situation #2: If the word “supplement” suggests that the ingredients could be obtained in the athlete’s diet versus a laboratory and thus are generally not seen as doping and in theory, the other athletes have access to the same ingredients either in food form or pill form. In reality, the athlete may be just making expensive pee-pee.
Situation #3: PRIDE! Me personally, I could not accept for myself, regardless of Kona slot, AG award, what have you, the fact that I did not complete the same distance as all the other athletes. If a course is mis-measured, all the athletes still completed the same shortened distance and the finishe times are still relative to each other. To “buy off” a few minutes or miles goes against my own personal “code of sportsmanship.”
Good post, Dapper Dan.
Brett