48 years since the first Ironman in Kona today, it would be good to be at the 50th.
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Only 8 years until @Jorgan and I face off in the M60 smackdown 
It must have been nearly 20years ago we made a joke / pact that we’d need to wait until we were 60 to KQ , so set a date. Seems to be far less hope now, not least because neither of us CBA , but mainly because those 60yr old are now faster than 35year old me (thanks to TRT obvs 
)
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Fruity is in the same age group and can join you. Maybe go to Lanza instead and pretend it’s Kona!
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on a proper lanza day its harder than kona ( IMO),so save yourselves about £10k
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Calls for tow floats to be made mandatory after the sad death yesterday. Not sure how that will work with 100s of people and orange buoys flapping around on a windy day.
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Only saw the headline and half assumed a heart attack or something?
Not sure how a tow float would help?
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Typical American style reaction. All about blame.
I still think too many novices, no tri or OW experience are doing IM, no health checks, just going out there, not trained properly for swimming, doing an extreme event. You got far less issues 15 - 20 years ago when very few went out without earning their stripes first, proving health and fitness over a few years. IMTalks “3 year rule” was normal.
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I understand why this isn’t in place (money), but it’s common sense.
To do an Ironman, you have to prove that you’ve done a sprint/oly as part of the sign up process. This would at least demonstrate some swimming proficiency and give something back to local triathlon event organisers.
Same applies to big oversubscribed marathons, for different reasons. You should prove you’ve done smaller races, even a Parkrun, to be eligible.
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Or even a 70.3?
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I came into Tri after being a fell runner & - at least back in the day - you had to have proof that you’d done some short (AS) & medium (AM) races before being allowed to enter a long (AL) event.
I was so surprised that I could just enter a middle distance - after one super sprint tri - that I had a chat with the organiser before sending off my application.
(Have told this story before, sorry 
)
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I will add that the lady who died was apparently an experienced triathlete, been to Kona, so no “influencer” as has been widely reported.
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I think proof of completing an OW 1500m swim in an Oly or similar standalone OW event should would be a good idea.
As for tow-floats; what are the chances this creates more issues if they get tangled? Tbh I don’t know how congested IM/70.3 swims get these days.
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Even with rolling starts they can be congested, floats also slow you down and probably mean more people miss the swim cutoff.
If only there was a way people could swim faster 
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slightly off tangent, but there’s currently big debates in swimming circles as you can qualify for National OW champs based on a pool 1500m time, does need to be LCM and times are fast!
So top 4 at regionals get in and then they fill it with 1500m swimmers, so you get kids, that can obviously swim, but are expected to swim 3,5 or 7.5k without wetsuits in 18c water, many have never swam below 26c - 28c in a pool!
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I remember they wanted to bring them in at London in 2018
Was decided it would cause more issues than it solved, so was ultimately abandoned
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Not sure I’d agree with the points made about creating more issues.
The Midmar Mile in South Africa has started bringing in the use of tow floats. They are optional, but if you look at the pics on the facebook page they are quite extensively used amongst the non-elite swimmers.
The Midmar Mile once held the title of the largest OW event in the world. It’s wave starts - not rolling starts - so akin to previous Ironman starts with 200-300 people starting per wave. It has had deaths in the past and it is very much a non-wetsuit swim.
I have no idea how the introduction of tow floats has changed the safety of the event.
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When I run the OW development day for SE the kids can use one, the 11 year olds or first timers we pretty much mandate as its coaching as well so a bit of treading water, but all remove them for the various drill practices as they just get caught up, you cant do buoy turns with them on and barrel rolls to switch drafting sides cause all sorts of issues
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That would be the differentiator - Midmar Mile is a “straight” line swim. Point to point
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I guess the other question is where to store 3000 tow floats in T1 deflate them and in your wetsuit bag!
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Always comes down to Logistics Jeff. Whether it’s Ironman, fighting wars…or taking kids mobile phones off them everyday at schools…
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