The future of IM thread got me thinking about the old mass starts. Even Kona has now gone for a wave start. Are any races still using mass starts?
Gut feel, maybe Lanza/Taupo?
I did 5 - Frankfurt 2010, Wales 2012, Bolton 2013, Lanza 2014, Wales 2014.
Terrified of them but what a rush and that massive feeling of relief when things settled after 4-500m.
4 were pretty rough but more than manageable.
The other, Wales 2012, I took an utter beating. Due to people legging it along the beach in 2011 they put an extra 90 deg turn about 100m so you had to swim out then hook left for the long run to the first main turn. It was the old style very wide start with a run into the sea and it was carnage to that first turn.
We were literally log jammed, you could have walked to the turn on the back of 100m of solid flailing neoprene going nowhere. Think Iād quit the sport and vowed ānever againā 5 times before I finally got round that buoy.
Thoughts, reflections on something that will soon just be a memory for old timersā¦
I love the idea of an actual race. I know we arenāt really racing it, but if M40 started 5 minutes behind me, I donāt know if the guy behind me is from M40 and actually 5 minutes behind me, or my age group and running me down.
I hated LONDON 2013 world champs. And that was a wave start.
I did quit after that, I didnāt swim again until May 2008 and didnāt race again until June 2019.
The 113 was fairly chilled and wave starts.
Outlaw was mint! Thereās no other feeling like it, although I did realise that people are now a lot more aggressive in the swim. Tonnes of folks were really fighting for ātheirā line and had no problem swimming into you and over you.
I love a mass start for exactly that reason. If I see someone ahead of me I know theyāre beating me. With wave starts I kind of have a time trial experience where itās you and the course and you see how youāve done after itās all said and done.
I thought all Ironman events had gone with rolling starts now. Maybe not Lanza as thatās owned by Club Le Santa isnāt it?
Lanza is still a mass start. Itās quite a narrow start funnel, so it can take quite a while to get to the water if you start too far back, but thereās plenty of space to swim wide of the markers, so Iāve never had a problem there.
The worst mass start Iāve experienced was Nice in 2009. Basically, instead of letting people spread themselves across the full width of the start area with the fastest people at the front, the start was divided into narrow pens by estimated swim time, so you were fenced into an area maybe 5m wide with 250 people who expected to swim within 5 minutes of each other. Add in the pebble beach that was uncomfortable on the feet and the fact that the beach dropped away sharply once you hit the water and you were guaranteed a brawl. It didnāt help that the first turn buoy was 1000m out to sea and barely visible from the beach, so everyone had a different idea of which way they should be swimming
I have not done a big mass start before. Some OD distance with possible 300 people being biggest. Hopefully experience Lanza 2020.
I would like to experience it, I did play water polo, so quite used to a bit of a scrambleā¦ but the I did manage to get kicked by just one swimmer in Hamburg.
I did Lanza in 2018. Prior to the race the mass start was high on my list of worries . In the week leading up to the race I did a number of practice swims and got some (free) coaching from Swim Lanzarote (Paul) to help mitigate my fears.
On the day it was epicā¦a really great memory. There was a bit of biff to the first bouy but nothing too bad. I think a rolling start would have detracted from the experience so would be sad to lose it.
However, when collecting my bike at the end I spoke to a couple of people who had to withdraw due to injuries sustained in the swim (kicked in head), although one had managed to finish the bike š¤·. They blamed the mass start, but I guess you can still get problems in rolling starts.
There is nothing like the spectacle of a mass-start swim in Ironman. I understand why theyāve done away with them, but the spectacle is just not the same. These days people would probably say less āepicā, regardless of whether thatās the right word.
The big difference I felt with the Rolling Start in Hamburg was less nerves; I was stood maybe 150-200 back in Pen 1, and the event was underway and I was just waiting my turn, more calmly than waiting for the cannon and melee.
Not that Iāve ever had a trouble in the āmeleeā of a mass start in an Ironman; in fact your drama in the rolling start in Hamburg shows that itās often just āwrong place wrong timeā.
If youāre doing Lanza next year you should make sure you get to the start funnel early or you could find yourself a long way back at the gun. I made that mistake one year and I think it took a few minutes before I actually reached the water.
Obviously if youāve got a gold AWA hat you get to start at the front, just behind the pros
Yes it is best 3 that count, so even though I did 4 races only 3 count. 2 of my 3 are 70.3s and get much fewer points, so hoping I can keep my status up there
They organised people into start pens by estimated time across the width of the beach, so you were in a pen 10m wide with 300 people who expected to swim within a 5 minute window.
The pebble beach is awful to run on in bare feet. Apparently in the past, people used to wear cheap flip flops at the start, which theyād kick off once they hit the water, leaving hundreds of discarded flip flops in the waterš³.
Once you hit the water, the beach drops away sharply, so youāre suddenly in water too deep to run in with dozens of people piling in behind you.
During normal times, youāre only allowed to swim out to the buoys a couple of hundred metres out from the beach, so they only lay the swim course the night before the race. The first turn was 1km out from the beach and you could hardly see the turn buoy from the promenade, so in the water you had no chance and everyone was just swimming in the direction they thought it was .
. In the week leading up to the race I did a number of practice swims and got some (free) coaching from Swim Lanzarote (Paul) to help mitigate my fears.
