I’m not sure I like the ideaof a qualification event either… its an expensive enough hobby as it is, without sticking in extra barriers.
I do quite like the idea of having a formal ‘qualification attempt’ designation, where you pre reg to be eligible, a bit like BTA does for AG slots… and then have a separate start for that cohort, either as a whole, or 1 min before the non qual in your AG…that might work… and if you’re really slow and and in that qual group start and get swum over, its your own sorry fault!
I came out of the water in 53mins at my first IM in Austria . I made the race video, being shoved out of the way in transition by the woman who won FPro
Swimming has been lower down my priority list in more recent IMs, so my times have been around the hour for my last few races.
I don’t really get the people who actively seek the biff in the swim. I’m a strong swimmer and a big unit (~90kg) and I’ve had smaller guys repeatedly try to swim over me when we’ve disagreed on the right course and they’ve always come out worse. Why not back off and go round? I don’t understand why people choose to swim close to the turn buoys either. Why wouldn’t you just swim a little wider and avoid the biff???
I’ve done Lanza 6 times and I’ve never found the swim that bad. My worst experience was the year that I arrived at the start funnel quite late and it probably took 5 minutes to reach the water. Once in the water, it’s very easy to swim a little bit wide and avoid the fighting. The outward leg along the rope is really easy to navigate and by the time you get past the buoy to turn back towards the beach it usually clears out a bit.
I usually end up lapping slower swimmers towards the end of the 2nd lap. Presumably with a rolling start you get folks who are worried about the cut-off going off in the earlier waves to maximise their swim time.
Maybe they changed it when they changed the beech then? The starting queue is quite narrow all the way back up the stairs & down the road when the race starts. I kind of guessed 30-40 mins up but its a while anyhow.
It doesn’t go up the stairs (or hasn’t since 2015, my first year), they get everyone down the ramp and along the flat path. It’s quite long and narrow but moves well.
It’s definitely not a mass start. As I’d said, I’d call it rolling but it seems to be a bit of a hybrid.
The swim start for LCW is more chaotic but a lot of folks do one lap, so it’s much clearer on 2nd lap (a bit darker!)
They hold you at the top, and you queue with your board, then they walk everyone down the zig zag and along the path and then hold you again before the anthem.
If you are faster than 1.20 it may have seemed like you were walking from the top. Reason is when you get to the bottom of the zig zag, the 1.20mark is just about where the crown splits left/right. So the faster folks go left and kind of keep walking. Us slow pokes turn right and find our place at the back of the bus.
In 2017 there was a bit of a timing snafu where we were still coming down the zig zag when the anthem was on. It would have seemed a bit more continual then.
I need to think about this. maybe my mind is playing tricks?
That was to negate the farce from the year before, where everyone just ran down the beach for the first 100m or so and then entered the water! They have obviously made minor improvements year on year!
On the rolling start but not triathlon, a good few years ago me and a mate were riding towards Skipton from Buckden and a large group passed us in the opposite direction. They were flying and no one looked happy. I remembered it was the White Rose Classic and that must be the front group. The next day the cycling forums were on fire. IIRC a few of Dave Lloyd’s fastest riders set off to ‘win’ but some other lads went off next, a minute or two back but worked on to the back of that group and stayed there, ‘winning’ by the starting time differential. Dave Lloyd was furious, despite it being pointed out that it isn’t a race.
. I made the race video, being shoved out of the way in transition by the woman who won FPro 
Think you’ll agree it not what you imagine as a mass start though. I’m not complaining either, think it worked quite well.
