A Report on Triathlon Deaths

[drghfx]

A long read but interesting.

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_ ... le-surface

[jonovision_man]

Very interesting read.

Regarding mass vs wave starts - as a slower swimmer, I prefer the mass start. At Ironman, I seeded myself near the back and to the outside, and didn't have to worry about faster swimmers catching up to me the entire swim. I found that much more comfortable than wave starts, when you know there are fast folks 2-3 minutes behind you who will be eager to pass, and may not do it in the kindest/safest way.

(Sidebar - does anyone know if IMMT allows wave switching? Doing it in 2014...)

Makes sense that the deaths occur largely during the swim, if you have a problem on the bike or run, you may fall down but you can still at least breathe! Still a pretty small number of people, and sounds like many/most have underlying conditions that contributed.

Best advice I got (that I only used once) is that if you get in any kind of trouble, you can always just pull off to the side, lie on your back, and chillax for a bit... especially at Ironman, it's a long day, a minute or two won't ruin your day.

jono

[Spirit Unleashed]

sort of an aside: why does IM put slower swimming waves in front of faster swimmers?

[jonovision_man]

sort of an aside: why does IM put slower swimming waves in front of faster swimmers?

They don't do it intentionally, it's just they break it down by age group so each wave has a mix of abilities.

This was 2013:

Code: Select all

Wave   Start Time   Category   Cap Color
1   6:36   Pro Men   GREEN FLUO
2   6:39   Pro Women   RED
3   6:42   M 18 - 34   WHITE
4   6:45   M 35 - 39   DARK GREEN
5   6:48   M 40 - 44   YELLOW FLUO
6   6:51   M 45 - 49   NAVY
7   6:54   M 50 +   POWDER BLUE
8   6:57   W 18 - 34   CARDINAL
9   7:00   W 35+   PINK


I'd be in wave 4, with the 40-44 men just 3 minutes back, 45-49 6 minutes back, etc... I can pretty much guarantee there are people in every wave behind me who are fast enough to catch me in the 3.8km swim, which means I'm slowing them up and they're interfering with me too... doesn't really benefit anyone that I can see, and makes the swim that much more stressful.

Edit: found this discussion, sounds like a few were a bit frustrated with it:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowt ... _P4717185/

jono

[Spirit Unleashed]

oh. I guess it makes sense to go with gender and age group, so you can race with your category.

[La]

The rolling self-seeded start at IM Coeur d'Alene worked really well. Faster at the front, slower at the back. Kind of how they do corrals at a running race.

[jonovision_man]

The rolling self-seeded start at IM Coeur d'Alene worked really well. Faster at the front, slower at the back. Kind of how they do corrals at a running race.

That works for me. Only downside is when you come across someone in your age group on the road, you don't know where you stand because they may have started ahead/behind you. For the Kona slots that's important. For me, not so much.

jono

[IronColl]

The rolling self-seeded start at IM Coeur d'Alene worked really well. Faster at the front, slower at the back. Kind of how they do corrals at a running race.

That works for me. Only downside is when you come across someone in your age group on the road, you don't know where you stand because they may have started ahead/behind you. For the Kona slots that's important. For me, not so much.

jono

It's still one gun time for the age group athletes.

[Jwolf]

The rolling self-seeded start at IM Coeur d'Alene worked really well. Faster at the front, slower at the back. Kind of how they do corrals at a running race.

That works for me. Only downside is when you come across someone in your age group on the road, you don't know where you stand because they may have started ahead/behind you. For the Kona slots that's important. For me, not so much.

jono

It's still one gun time for the age group athletes.

Really? Only one time is listed and that is net time (chip time) based on your swim start. I didn't think they used gun time for anything....

[CinC]

The rolling self-seeded start at IM Coeur d'Alene worked really well. Faster at the front, slower at the back. Kind of how they do corrals at a running race.

That works for me. Only downside is when you come across someone in your age group on the road, you don't know where you stand because they may have started ahead/behind you. For the Kona slots that's important. For me, not so much.

jono

It's still one gun time for the age group athletes.

Really? Only one time is listed and that is net time (chip time) based on your swim start. I didn't think they used gun time for anything....

they don't. it's chip time.

[IronColl]

The one site I was at didn't indicate there was a chip time. My bad.

[jonovision_man]

Yeah, so the potential exists for you to see someone in your age group, catch them, pass them, beat them by a couple of minutes...

... only to find out they started 5 minutes after you and still beat you, and you missed your Kona spot!

(I'm using "you" instead of "me" since Kona is not a reality for me )

jono

[La]

Yeah, so the potential exists for you to see someone in your age group, catch them, pass them, beat them by a couple of minutes...

... only to find out they started 5 minutes after you and still beat you, and you missed your Kona spot!

(I'm using "you" instead of "me" since Kona is not a reality for me )

Well, that's still kind of true even with a mass start. Sure, if you pass someone in your AG you'll for sure finish ahead of them in the standings (you might be in 3rd, but you might be 123rd), but most people won't know if they've qualified for Kona until the results come out later.