One of the problems we have at age group events is drafting - nobody ever does it but athletes always complain about it. So from a TO perspective we are between a rock and hard place - we want to prevent drafting so we have fair competition but frankly we cannot be in all places at all times. So for us RR offers a method of penalising those who need penalising and, as it’s also down to the athletes not to draft if they spot on RR that they are in the wrong zone, so then it’s also educational for them.
Sure there are always situations where crowding happens - just after T1 congestion, turnarounds, big climbs etc - so we have to also be pragmatic. The key is to enforce drafting rules where they need enforcing and if RR can assist at AG events then it has to be a good step forward. It’s been shown to work with Pro fields - no reason it shouldn’t work for AGers.
It will need some work by RR and TOs together to find the best methods of operating but good to see that RR are finally stepping into the AG field.
I’ve met James on a few occasions - lovely bloke doing his best to improve events. He also has some other interesting ideas but they are on the back burner until RR goes more mainstream.
They’ve just taken over the London tri and replaced the 1500/80/10 with T100
I did the original multiple times back in the day, and it’s fun, but was full of novices so bike route could be challenging if you were later in the day, always a few big crashes. Swim tastes of diesel and salt, bike busy, run round the docks
Also did it a few times. Better if you got the central London bike course as fewer laps and riding into the City on closed roads is not something you’d experience otherwise.
The swim was a bit interesting - couldn’t see more than in inch into green water!
It would be great if RR or other similar tech makes it across the field at events. Even a moderate impact would be significant value, and increase the enjoyment of racing. The cost aspect does concern me though, so I hope the model they work to makes it negligible in the medium term.
I accept it’s many years ago but my experience was that, as my swimming improved so I witnessed more drafting. Unsurprising I think, faster people tend to be more competitive.
Fitting 2000 people in a 30 or 40 mile loop will ensure that pretty much everyone will get caught at some stage.
Just noticed their races page has had another makeover and gone back to a map view you can filter and see where races are, for anyone still considering doing an actual race
Bit like UTMB if you aren’t completely sure where some places are.
Still nothing on the 70.3 WC for 2026 either, usually announced by now. Slowtwitch are convinced it’s related to the future of the IMWC going back to Kona for M&F.
