I am putting together next years race schedule. I had the 70.3 Championship down (if I qualified in Switzerland) but after reading your race reports, I ask myself why would I go down there to race in those conditions.
Tight quarters with cars zooming by and large peleton like packs…yeah, thats worth a plane trip to Florida.
Anyone else nix the idea based on what they have read here…once again, Slowtwitch proves invaluable.
I loved it, and would plan on doing it maybe again.
You can mix it up with isolated tris to packed tris. To see such wonderfully fit and fantastic athletes, is worth it.
I might do Switzerland or Lake Stevens. Are you Spicoli on any other board?
If you do decide to do it, let me know and I can tell you how to ace the bike course. Depending on which wave you are in and your bike ability, I can knock off upwards of 10 minutes off your bike PR.
Unless of course, the RD makes some major changes.
Despite the drafting, it did “feel” like a true World Championship Event. The caliber of athletes was impressive, the competition fierce. WTC did put on a good show.
Depends on what you want to get out of the race. I was there for the atmosphere, the fun of racing and finishing, etc. If you’re there strictly to try to get to the podium, then you might be frustrated by it all.
If I wanted to draft I would race ITU…but that would mean I would have to be really good, which I am not. For me, if I am going to do a destination race, it needs to be special and one which is fair to everyone. While this does sound like a cool race, I personally could pick a few more which would sit higher on the priority list.
Understood. Personally, I did the race without drafting, but I ended up finishing well behind most in my AG. Had a blast though!
Why do the race? Very competitive field, I believe I heard them say athletes from 29 countries were there.
Great place to vacation, my wife has been complaining all day about not coming with me.
ocean swim - need I say more?
very fast course on then bike with a run course that is honest. A mix of several steep hills, a few rollers and flats.
the beach
nice weather
29 countries were there
45 countries is what I heard at the awards banquet. Some really amazing performances at the top of all the age groups. This race will definitely snug in quality from top to bottom within a few years.
The race is the World Championship and WTC but on a GREAT event! Next year’s race will be even better - it will be much harder to qualify and if you are able to qualify, you will be able to race against the best athletes in the world. Z
What world championship doesn’t have a heap of drafting ? That is probably how most of them qualified, best of the best.
Maybe so, but are they going to keep it on that course? Why would you put the “World Championship” on a flat course anyway? It should be the opposite. Have the WC’s on a course that will truly challenge the “best in the world”
Have the WC’s on a course that will truly challenge the “best in the world”
The Silverman course would be a perfect fit. They are talking about announcing a half for next year anyway.
Mark
Why? I guess if you don’t mind cheating a bit(I know - you had no choice, right?) you will probably pr. Or even if you do mind, there’s a good chance you’ll still get a PR. Other than that, you *might *get to race against the best if it’s going to be made harder to qualify like Tom Z says, and of course, if people decide to go back after hearing about this year’s race.
I mean, we all know the races that are going to be the worst(as far as drafting, blocking, overtaken rules are concerned. If it’s going to bother you, choose to go somewhere else.
Personally, I’m not interested in doing Clearwater, IMF, SOMA, or any race where a very large number of people are packed into a flat course unless I feel like there is going to be a concerted effort to enforce the rules.
"The race is the World Championship and WTC but on a GREAT event! Next year’s race will be even better - it will be much harder to qualify and if you are able to qualify, you will be able to race against the best athletes in the world. Z "
This is about par for the course! More or less exactly the response I expected. Similar to the Disney fiasco. Rather than addressing the facts and getting started with some commitments of positive influence let’s just throw a blanket statement out there that’s useless.
Jeff
I’ll share the thoughts that a friend of mine, a very good age-grouper, shared with me after the race:
“I will never race there again”
he was so pissed off by all the drafting that he ended his email with
“Time for a new sport”
Furthermore, if as Tom said, it’s going to be more competitive and harder to qualify next year, then the athletes are going to be even more closely balanced, so the packs are going to be even worse. If you’re a good swimmer, MOP biker and great runner then this is the race for you, especially if WTC continue to send the waves off 15 microseconds apart and if you like this sort of BS…
Why do you have to be a good swimmer? I would think you would just have to be a mediocre swimmer/biker and a good runner.
Why do you have to be a good swimmer? I would think you would just have to be a mediocre swimmer/biker and a good runner.
Being a good swimmer would simply get you into a pack of cheaters further up the road than the pack of cheaters you’d be with if you swam slowly. Basically I was trying to suggest that, like a flat ITU race, this race favours people for whom the bike is the weakness.
I second what Desert Dude said. DD—I missed the gatorade swim so I didn’t get to meet you. Nice race!!! We probably were near each other out there I think I was about a minute behind you. Did you guys party at Shephard’s??
Hmm, I guess if you were a strong enough swimmer to jump into the peloton of the wave infront of you that would be good, but if you are in the first wave or if there is a slower wave in front of you than having a fast swim just means you get to ride by yourself for the first 25 miles or so until the Slow Swimmer Train catches up.