Just a week or two ago we had the buzz going on about drafting issues at Ironman Florida, heck we even have video from a participant showing the problem first had. Hardly any time transpired before the topic picked up steam again, and this time it got nasty! The buzz across the web these days is the drafting issues at the Ironman World Championship 70.3 race in Clearwater, Florida. How it might have affected the record times this year and then possibly the outcome in the women's race. Is Florida just too flat for non-drafting triathlon races???
Reports of blatant drafting in Clearwater are nothing new, and this year's race proved to be no different. I have to say that the one thing that has changed is the additional outcry from professional triathletes, ranting about the issues with the race in Clearwater.
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For example, after the race, 3rd place finisher Matt Reed who participated in his first Ironman World Championship 70.3 race had this to say via his twitter account.
• "Clearwater is not a True test of swim, Bike, run. Drafting is unreal. Pros, Age groupers. It's a real Shame."
• "Good bye Clearwater. See you next year. I know your game. I know. I am not defeated. I am hungry.learned alot. Will be ready next year."
Professionals and Clearwater first timers Greg and Laura Bennett expressed their feelings as well:
• Laura: "Psyched to get 5th, but disappointed a World Championship Event can give the pro women their own race!"
• Greg" "Congrats to Laura 5th A bullshit draft penalty she got as all us guys came around! I guess they don't want the girls to have their own race!"
Has social media reached new heights and given people the guts to complain even more? That’s fine, that’s great, the thing is, it works! Here is a sampling of what other people have expressed about the race in Clearwater:
ConradStoltz Soigneur theBouker |
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| JamesonBull EnviroSafeOne Irontrimom bryanswanson |
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Will next years race be any better, not sure, but you have to wonder how the addition of 7 new Ironman 70.3 qualifying races will impact the drafting issues in Clearwater if nothing changes. This year the World Championship race had 5 additional qualifying races which brought in a few extra dollars for the WTC and put additional participants on to the course. Yes, some races are losing some of their qualifying spots which are being distributed to the new races, but still the number of participants in Clearwater since the inaugural race in 2006 has to be on the rise. This year the race had some 1,400 participants. Can the race course support anymore participants without the implementation of changes, probably not.
There is a fine line between $$$ and drafting. Drafting will continue to be an issue when the focus is solely on $$$.
Is the WTC completely at fault for the drafting that occurs, NO, but still they don't do much to curtail the issues, like find a new course that challenges and spreads out the athletes out on the course. This has been an issue since the race first landed in Clearwater back in 2006. Other non-WTC races have drafting issues as well so it’s just not a WTC issue, the thing is this is a World Championship event and anything and everything should be done to impede the drafting / cheating going on for fair and balanced results across the board. The other half of the blame for the issues in Clearwater clearly lands on those cheaters that don't care about want they do, CHEAT and DRAFT. You won't see those people complaining on Twitter or anywhere else, they will only bragging!
Is anybody taking notice?
Well, after the drafting complaints at Ironman Florida, Chris Lieto stated this and had this update:
• "This is unbelievable!! http://bit.ly/1rFswD Do you think WTC / Ironman will do anything about this?"
• "Talked w/ Ironman & things will be changing with the drafting. Watch what you do, because people are watching. Beware!"
So it appears the WTC if taking notice of the issue at Ironman Florida which we hope extends down the coast to the issues in Clearwater as well.
You have to think that the Ironman 70.3 Series is a cash cow for the WTC, drafting in their non-drafting races just gives them a black eye, heck they still get their money. The more negative feed back we express will only force them to dramatically do something about the situations.
What can we do?
You could double think about participating in the race, but you know that most people won't do that?
People are expressing their disgust with the issues via any means possible, you've seen the posts above, here are a few examples of what people are saying / doing to help the WTC stop the drafting.
Dev Paul: An Open Letter To The WTC [via xtri.com and Devashish Paul]
Fixing Triathlon’s Drafting Problem [via 10hoursaweek.com and Patrick McCrann]
Finally, we should know and follow the rules when it comes to drafting. Just because someone else is doing it doesn't mean its right for you to do it as well. We need to self govern ourselves, we are adults, we should know better. If we don't we will probably then force race organizer to do something stupid that would impact all of us in an unfair way. Just say "NO to DRAFTING"
