Fixing Triathlon's Drafting Problem

Published on 6:57 am by in Ironman, Triathlon

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As I mentioned in a recent video, triathlon has a very public crisis of drafting right now. Only a week after an athlete video of drafting during Ironman Florida was released, the 70.3 championships were won in a record time of 3:34. Yes, that’s 3 hours and 34 minutes for those of your keeping score at home.

Until recently, one of the few men to ride sub 2 hours in a 70.3 was Bjorn Andersson, at Timberman 70.3 in 2006. In Clearwater, 19 of the 65 pros who finished — approximately 1/3 of the field — went 2:00 flat or better…and then ran world class half marathons (sub-1:10). For the record, Bjorn followed his sub-2:00 hour bike with an almost 1:30 run…still winning this world-class competition by 11 minutes over second place (Michael Lovato)

As my good friend @Soigneur related via Twitter…this is just a joke. Despite the World Triathlon Corporation’s best efforts at branding everything as non-drafting, the evidence points to significant drafting at the pro and age group level. Everyone knows there’s a problem, so I am not going to get into why it happens (or why I think WTC isn’t incentivized to enforce the rules to the letter). I am more interested in figuring out how to fix it. Here’s my proposal for the Ironman distance.

Enforcement: Create a Team of Official Race Marshalls for all US Ironman events.
Call it 12 folks who are hired and trained by head ref Jimmy Riccitello, 8 of whom are on site at any given race. Instead of having to deputize 10-12 strangers every race, this group would work together pretty much all year. Penalty calling and enforcement would be consistent, and the Team would not only get better at their job as the year went on, they would be able to improve how the rules were enforced at repeat venues. In other words, once you’ve officiated Ironman Lake Placid, you get a really good sense of where folks are–and are not–drafting on the course. What you learn this year you can apply next year.

I think you could pay these folks about $500 for the day (or ~$30/hour), give them a $50 per diem for the 3 days they are in town, pay for flights (~$500 each), and put them up in double occupancy hotels (~$100 per night for two people)…for a whopping total cost of $10,000 per event. That’s less than $5 per competitor to make enforcement on the day a reality. Since triathletes are geeks, I bet you could come up with a cool name and a nice jacket and most would join the squad for just the lodging/flight…or for a trip to Kona at the end of the year. Just sayin’.

If you really wanted to go crazy, you could hook them up with radios to talk to each other and a central HQ (imagine no more trying to write numbers down on the back of a moving motorcycle!). They could have Flip Cams to record the drafting violations (no more he-said, she-said). The same folks would move out to the run course as the bike ended, picking set locations to set up a chair with some binoculars and a smartphone. 8 folks across a 6.55-mile two loop course is pretty good, and they could just upload a list of the folks getting outside assistance, littering, running with earphones, etc.

Standards: Relax the Non-Drafting Rules in Certain Event Specific Locations
I think it’s crazy that a set of (relatively) broken rules are being applied across the full 112 miles. At Ironman Florida, for example the first few miles on Front Beach road are just mayhem as everyone gets sorted out. Let the athletes ride safely / on their own for the first few miles (I think it’s six) and then begin enforcement when the road opens up shortly thereafter. I can think of similar situations at Placid, Arizona, Coeur d’Alene, etc., where this would be a practical and useful approach to managing the race.

Get Public: Start Talking About Penalties
For a sport that lives online, there is very little discussion or available information about drafting and/or penalties. I think a little public shaming would really help sort things out as there are no social or peer consequences to being caught. In addition to disqualifying those who should be DQed, why not make the names of the other offenders red on the results list? Or adding them to a master annual list of folks who have been cited? Bet you could start tracking trends by race and by athlete…after all maybe Tri Timmy drafts all the time? Maybe the next race they have to race with a scarlet number? (Okay, that last part was a bit over the top, but you get the idea.)

Imagine a day when as your friends are tracking you online, they get instantly notified via Ironmanlive.com that you are sitting in a penalty tent (or that you’ll have to run extra laps, whatever). Drafting/cheating takes on a whole new meaning if your official race results clearly state a penalty.

Accountability: Triathlon Needs A Code of Ethics
I think anyone who wants to race not only should sign the waiver, they sign “the code” at every race. It simply states that they agree to race fairly, safely, and with integrity. This helps keep people “more” honest (really, it does work on a basic level) and would allow WTC to raise the stakes on enforcing the rules. If someone is caught drafting or are penalized more than once a year, why not “suspend” them for 6-months? A year? No refunds…no complaints. There’s a lot more you can do with this…but I am running out of steam.

Conclusion
I don’t think this solves everything, but it would make the officiating consistent and I believe more effective. There will always be outliers (undeserved penalties), and there are lot of other factors, including improved course selection, that could help.

At the end of the day, the participants deserve a better, more fair race experience. And not just those trying to get to Kona…a well-officiated race is better for everyone. Traveling to six or more Ironman events a year, I see all sorts of violations and rule-bendage (and breakage), but this doesn’t have to continue. For the mere price of $5 per athlete per race, we could have a pretty solid solution that doesn’t involve wiring bikes, tagging athletes, or moving satellites.

What do you think?

  • http://twitter.com/JamesonBull Jamie Bull

    While it wouldn't help solve the problem of pros drafting, I think that more wave starts would solve a lot of the problem.

    Sure, the mass starts are awesome to watch, but when looking at safety (both in the water and on the bike course) wave starts can make a big impact.

  • smaryka

    I have no idea how the draft marshals are currently hired, or whether it would be feasible to have the same people at every race, etc. But I do know that the way the races are marshalled now needs to change if they are ever going to tackle the drafting that goes on.

    My experience at both my IMs this year (LP and Kona): draft marshals rampant in the first 10 miles of the race (the very section where, as Patrick says, it's nearly impossible to ride completely legally as there are just so many people on the course. People overtaking people who are overtaking other people at the same time, that kind of thing.) I saw nearly NO marshals from about 40 miles onwards, so that's over 60 miles with nary a marshal in sight. Why so many at the beginning when everyone's fresh and not really thinking about drafting anyway? How about from miles 40-80, on the flatter sections of the course, on the windy sections, etc.? Nobody needs a draft marshal on the climb before the descent into Keene at LP. Put all those motorcycles on the out-and-back and see how many penalties get handed out.

    Secondly, part of why the current marshals are ineffective is because they ride up behind you on noisy motorcycles, giving you lots of time to split up, back off, etc. if you've been drafting. Why not put some of those marshals out there on super quiet electric scooters? Why not bicycles even? I think the idea of “stealth” marshals — they don't even need to have race numbers, people won't notice — is a good one. Pretty sure the local roadie club at any given race would love to get out on closed roads and ride at 25mph+ with a walkie talkie in hand to call ahead about draft packs out there.

    Thirdly, make the drafting penalties count. Four minutes in a nine to fifteen hour IM is a joke. And the penalty for riding in a pack should be much harsher than the one for failing to overtake. I like the idea of running extra miles as punishment for the particularly grievous pack-riding offenders — and for the fast runners, something like 8 min or one mile, whichever is slowest. Don't like it? Don't get caught drafting in a pack.

    Lastly, name and shame. Finman last year practically had to go into the witness protection programme after his race number and name were revealed for doing the IM Florida swim wearing fins. Penalty tents should be in full view of the finish line and crowds. Results should be clearly marked with “penalty” if a racer was penalised, and what the infraction was for. Same goes for DQs.

    The bottom line is, I don't think the WTC really wants to fix this; I mean, why would they? They sell out every race within hours, and the Florida races are well-known in the sport to be the ones you do if you want a “fast bike split” aka “draft-legal”. Maybe they should just take away the Kona slots for those races… oh wait, one of them *is* the world champs. I think that just goes to show what the WTC thinks of the problem — they'd rather that the records get broken every year than to run a clean race.

  • http://www.ekendurancecoaching.com/ Eric

    Less people (lower max # entry's), wave starts and lower the entry costs!! not sure how the lower entry cost will help “drafting” but the price of triathlon entry's makes me sick! more so than when 1 hour long sprint tri starts at 7am!! still haven't figured that one out either…

  • http://www.10hoursaweek.com Patrick McCrann

    I agree wave starts could help a lot with safety and spreading folks out; IMFL was downright scary to watch the swim. That said not sure it helps with the drafting issue…

  • http://www.10hoursaweek.com Patrick McCrann

    I agree on all of that, particularly the lack of a need for enforcement on the part of WTC since the events go on and, as someone else said to me offline, a lot of folks “want to go fast.” Maybe it's pressure from athletes? Maybe folks boycott the expo so sponsors are hurting so they have to lean on WTC too? Not sure where change can come from, only know that everyone wins if it happens…as opposed to only a select few winning now.

  • http://twitter.com/Soigneur Dan Socie

    Here's an idea – make Ironman draft legal. Thousands have already proved that it's safe. In fact it would be safer because no one would be looking over their shoulders looking for draft marshals. Call it Ironman Grand Fondo

  • http://www.10hoursaweek.com Patrick McCrann

    Especially interesting since Graham Fraser is organizing Gran Fondos now…could be a nice way for WTC to stick it to him (haha). Seriously though…do that, and then have the “one” race where you have to be legal. So it's go stupid fast everywhere, but on this day, on this island, you gotta be solo? Or not?

  • Ian

    Raced Clearwater last weekend and now understand what drafting really can be – huge packs in places. I'm sure a lot of people in those packs were happy to get dragged along, but I think most were frustrated by the experience (although probably, like me, happy to have a very impressive bike split). The problem is the course – if its easy for everyone to go relatively flat, the course has to be wide enough for folks to overtake. You can't really penalise people for not overtaking when its unsafe to try and squeeze past. More space or fewer atheletes competing is the answer. The time-trial start probably helped things – maybe implementing that permanently, but with a longer gap between competitors / waves would help?

  • wsjinames

    I think of myself as a clean rider, but I know I double-check where I am as soon as I hear those motorcycles coming. After all, it is sometimes difficult on a crowded course to ride by the letter of the rules, so you make sure you're being well behaved when you know mom is about to check in on you!

    I have to think that anyone being intentional about pack riding surely is more aware of the motorcycles than I am. This is an inherent flaw. Your idea of consistently trained “refs” will surely help, but not solve the problem.

    I would like to think there would be a way to involve silent observers along the route. I don't think you could deputize people to hand out penalties, but you could deputize them to radio to the various officials that “there's a pack just passing mile 23 as of 9:05 a.m.” I don't know how effective this would be, but I would think it would be worth trying a couple of times before going public with the announcement that it was going to be the new policy.

  • mikehedman

    I think the penalty tent is a joke. For all but the pro podium finishers, a five minute stretch and rehydrate break is a BLESSING, not a curse.

    I think a much better penalty would be a 1 mile out and back run, with boxes of tomatos on the sidelines, with WTC employees encouraging spectators to get involved. :)

    That would be for drafters.

    For chinstrap, position violations, etc, throw them in the sin bin. Or at least, no tomatos for them in the run of shame.

    My 2 cents – no drafting. As a crappy bike rider, I would certainly benefit. But I hate watching ITU and what it's done to triathlon. I guess I'm a purist – there are three disciplines, and you do them on your own. I would hate it if some bozo sat on my wheel for 5 hours and then dusted me on the run. Or some local tri club shows up and a mob of 50 people peleton up. Not my idea of a fun day. Not my idea of triathlon.

    Then there's the danger. Do we then penalize people if they're drafting, and in their aero bars? Do draft legal IM's force people to only use the little ITU clip-ons?

  • http://www.10hoursaweek.com Patrick McCrann

    I agree that trained refs help but not eliminate the problem. My argument is that a core squad of refs will learn where (A) drafting happens and (B) where it matters. Folks drafting in downtown Coeur d'Alene doenst matter. It's downhill and twisty and so on. But drafting up out of town or back in…well, you want to be there. So think of it not as 8 bikes covering 56, but eventually 8 bike patrolling the right sections of the course when it matters (like start of lap one and lap two heading out of town, but not really checking for drafting after like 3pm b/c everyone out there is just shagged and praying for the finish line).

  • wsjinames

    Yes, that does sound sensible.

  • Guy

    One of the three sports is cycling. Drafting is a key and wonderful part cycling competition. Drop the anti-drafting foolishness and let the all the wonderful, exciting, complex tactics and strategies of cycling come into play in triathlons!

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