The Sanitisation of Ironman

A far bigger % than elite triathletes :rofl:

I thought this was about the whole field? Thatā€™s who the rolling starts are for.

There seems to be a lot of consternation here for something that has been in force for several years now across the circuit; was Lanzarote somehow a sacred cow? Where was the furore when it started at Tenby?

I was against it too, but after experiencing it last year, I can see the benefits for the vast majority of participants.

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Significantly more likely than doing what? People die in water all the time. Good swimmers have heart attacks caught in rip tides.

If they dont know then why switch to rolling starts.

I would think more people die in bike accidents than in the swim, but thatā€™s my thoughts, I dont have any evidence.

Just think we would hear about it more if it was a significant problem.

Ok I wont edit my post so there is record of my wrong ness.

This list has a lot more deaths during or just after the swim. Quite a lot really, I stopped counting at 76.

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As a 51 year old and slow (12.02) but still improving ā€˜athleteā€™, not sure I want to be in a wave with a load of people using pull buoys, floaty trunks or battery boosted bikes for that matter.
Just because Iā€™m not a KQ contender, doesnā€™t mean I donā€™t want to be in a fair race and test myself on an equal footing.
Hate the idea suggested at the top of this threadā€¦am I too slow to be taken seriously? Perhaps Iā€™m better off on IMJ I guess.

Edit: My 70.3 PB is 5.17, so shite at that as well.

No not too slow, youā€™ll have your serious race with a rolling start as present, maybe there is enough space for you to ho in the mass start, a qualifying time hasnā€™t been set yet :wink: VLM is still serious for many of the masses for instance. Iā€™m not sure anyone mentioned electric bikes, but people can wear wetsuits now in non wetsuit IM if they forfeit Kona chance so that rule is no different. This is about safety for the masses whilst allowing those that race for position a mass start so they can actually race.

I think youā€™re doing a massive disservice to a whole load of athletes who are not competitive at the front of their age group. I thought I was in a race (even if itā€™s a slow race for most people on this forum) rather than a fun runā€¦and Iā€™d be one of the ā€˜massesā€™ you refer to due to my current ability (or lack of).

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I would be in the same race as you, no disservice, although I can see how it comes across that way. I race for 14hours. In a half i had a sprint finish and a 2km battle with someone for some arbitrary position.
It was the most enjoyable race Iā€™ve been in. I dont actually mention how to select those eligible for the mass start in my OP. Itā€™s just an idea to keep it as a proper head to head race for those that want it and something less formal for those out to just finish. I just dont see how can a guy starting 20 minutes before someone else has a fair race. Itā€™s now more like a time trial so maybe call it mass start and time trial as its about finish times only in current format. My choice of language may have been wrong, using fun run but essentially for a large part of the field that is all it is, just getting to the finish line under 17 hours.

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Fair enough, itā€™s a good debate.

I guess I quite like it as it is and like you, normally manage to find my own little race within a race.

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Yes all opinions are good, everyone has different viewpoints and goals.

Fyi there are plenty of people doing Ironman who arenā€™t IMJ types and who also arenā€™t chasing Kona.

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So, move the market on to a better optionā€¦

5h inside the cut-off is not slow.

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I donā€™t quite know what kind of start Tenby is. Itā€™s certainly not a rolling start from the videos I saw of last year. Yes, everyone is lined up in a funnelled pen, but the hooter went and the entire pen just surges forward and into the water. Its not x athletes every x seconds.

So some kind of hybrid that Iā€™ve never seen at other Ironman events before.

Itā€™s funny, because Iā€™ve started IM Wales 3 times, every time the same. You line up at your self seeded time board and then walk in a procession under the mat and into the water.

Itā€™s exactly what Iā€™d describe as a rolling start. In my world, the x amount of swimmers every x seconds, is a TT start. But maybe I have it backwards.

The funnel at Wales is just to get everyone over the mat.

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True. It is still a kind of rolling start, but itā€™s not the normal Ironman style of rolling start every other race Iā€™ve done has adopted. You still end up with hoards of people entering the water at the same time. Obviously itā€™s reduced from everyone just lined up as one big mass in the beach, but itā€™s not the format the Ironman brand have otherwise adopted.

Oh right. I wasnā€™t aware it was so different. I assumed all rolling starts were like that.

You are either racing for position or racing for a time.

Okay, so I think my position is clear on safety - moving on to the racing element:

Itā€™s a nice idea that the gun fires and everyone sets off. With 2,000 people that just never going to be the case, so even with the self seeded mass start we donā€™t get the ideal racing conditions.

What other options are there?

@Hammerer referenced Marathon, and London has three startsā€¦has anyone explored three swim starts, or even three swim courses? Obviously more logistics/cost, but would get more people in the water when the gun fires.

3 courses like one for pros, one for AG racers and one for fun runners :wink: