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 Triathletix is the official coaching company for the Los Angeles Tri Club! |
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There’s a New Sheriff in Town!
Achieving a goal at the ironman distance is hard enough without having to deal with rules. For most athletes it’s the basic 3: no drafting, no blocking, and no outside assistance. But it might be time to refresh your knowledge on the rules ‘cuz there’s a new sheriff in town and its name is Global Tri Group. Our nation’s triathlon governing body, USA Triathlon has butted heads with another big entity, World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) – more commonly know as Ironman. WTC wanted to tweak some rules at Mdot races but USAT won’t allow it, so WTC invented the GTG (Global Tri Group). All this reminds me of Robin Williams in Good Morning Vietnam who said “If the V.P. is such a V.I.P. then his P.C. should be put on the Q.T. ‘cuz if it gets out to the V.C. then they’ll all be put on K.P.”- but, I digress! One of the biggest issues is with bike penalties. WTC wants them to be dealt with during the race. So the marshal is supposed to pull over the cyclist and mark the offending athlete’s number. Then that athlete would have to serve the penalty time either right there on the side of the road, or they would have to sit in the penalty box before they entered the second transition and started the run. What’s good about this is that spectators, especially those watching via television, can easily identify who is in the lead on the run. If the athlete who is physically leading is carrying a penalty and is really 3 minutes behind the second place athlete who is only a minute and a half behind, then the second place guy is really in the lead and that can be a bit confusing for the average Lazy Boy denizen – or anyone who reads that last sentence. What USAT mandates is that the marshal simply rides behind the lawbreaking athlete, marks down the athlete’s number, the infraction, and the time penalty to be assessed, and then moves on down the road. Then it becomes the athlete’s responsibility to study the results after the finish, check if there’s a penalty assessed on them, and, if need be, dispute the penalty with the official in a small window of time after the race. What’s good about this is that it leaves room for errors to be corrected. All USAT officials are capable of basic human error and this method helps deal with those errors. What’s bad about this approach is it
doesn’t help the athletes. Both USAT and WTC are big pieces in our little
sport and we would all be better served if they could choke down the ego a bit
and compromise. If you’re headed to an Mdot event in the near future
click to: |
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