Suggestions for reducing drafting (brief)
Joseph Crooker
As a frequent participant in drafting-ridden tri's, I've come to think
that an effective way to penalize drafting would be to give the penalty
RIGHT THEN AND THERE, on the course. Too many times, I've seen huge packs
who are "loosely" hanging together. Seeing the marshalls going by and
waving a hand at a few of the riders, then taking off is NOT a deterant
to the drafting that goes on. I think that if the marshalls, after
issuing a few warning cards, start pulling riders out of the pack and
giving them the "standing" penalty, others around may start paying more
attention and watch themselves more closely.
This brings up another point : giving warnings. I was up in Seaside
Heights a few weeks ago with my girlfriend, Laura. Talk about a
draft-fest, I was spectating and saw packs of twenty to thirty riders
continuously at the turn-around. Laura told me after the race how it was
impossible to avoid the packs all together, but she was doing the best
she could to stay to the extreme right or left of the lane and give at
least a few bike lengths, which was way more than anyone around her was
doing. She's done many races like this back home in Germany, and is well
aware of the drafting distances. Laura said she saw the marshalls yelling
at other riders in the pack, telling them to back off and break it up,
etc. NOT ONCE did an official say a word to her or even look at her, so
she assumed she was OK for drafting.
Anyways, Laura got off the bike in 8th and fought her way up to 5th among
elite women, running her guts out to place and collect some gas money. As
it turns out, as we are reading the results, we see a SIX MINUTE PENALTY
next to Laura's name, dropping her back to where she started before the
second run. She was so floored and neither of us could believe it, so we
looked all over for a Tri-FED official just to confirm that there hadn't
been a mistake. Talked to Eddie, the race director, who told us the
officials had all left. So where do we turn?? She's screwed basically, by
anofficial who never said a word to her or indicated that she was doing
anything wrong. If the other penalties were similar, it seems the
officials may have just been singling people out of the crowd, not paying
attention to who was actually trying not to draft. Perhaps she was
singled out because she is an unknown here in the States, and it was
assumed that she MUST be drafting in order to be where she was in the field.
In a race where everyone, except the studs way off the front,
drafted at one point or another, it seems appropriate, although I can
appreciate how difficult with the volume people on the course, to at
least issue a warning card to those who are being flagrant about
drafting, then come back and nail them a few minutes later. There were, I
believe, only 34 drafting violations issued to the entire field, so
arguing that issuing warnings takes too much time is bogus. I know from
talking to officials at other races that warning cards (yellow plastic
dinner plates, actually) are used in most races.
A general point to be made from all this is that I believe
the communication level between triathletes and TRI-FED officials needs
to be improved a lot. Laura's experience with them at Seaside left a
terrible impression on her, mainly because it seemed that they were there
to "govern" with no input or communication with the athletes. I realize
they were probably dealing with some pretty irate people after the race,
but part of any officials job description should include the ability and
requirement to handle athlete's questions and requests.
Just my two cents worth.
Looking forward to hearing others ideas.
Thanks,
-Jay Crooker
jcro...@email.unc.edu
Rolf Arands
OK. I've bitched and moaned about drafting.
I offer two suggestions:
1. Course spotters - A few people can be stationed on the course
to either relay info to motorbikes, or else they can note
drafters. I think they could use videocameras to selectively
record packs as they approach and pass. I think videocameras
can be borrowed, or rented rather cheaply these days, so the
$$$ cost is minimized. Also, the spotters will selectively
film packs as they see them, so there won't be miles of tape
to review.
2. Stiffen the penalty - I say 10 minutes for 1st violation, an
additional 20 minutes for the second and DQ for 3rd. I do not
have a clue what USAT has right now. If/when I direct a race,
you better believe I will have a whopper drafting penalty.
Flame away.
-Rolf
--
Rolf "Ironman" Arands, PhD in ChEng
"This above all, to thine own self be true."
Tim Iverson
In article <4sgv6h$h...@newz.oit.unc.edu>,
Joseph Crooker <jcro...@email.unc.edu> wrote:
|This brings up another point : giving warnings. I was up in Seaside
|the communication level between triathletes and TRI-FED officials needs
|to be improved a lot. Laura's experience with them at Seaside left a
|terrible impression on her, mainly because it seemed that they were there
I've heard this kind of story many times -- "I was never warned", or
sometimes "I never even saw an official."
IMHO, if the official doesn't inform the athlete at the time of the
infraction, there can't be a penalty; this goes for ANY sport. From what
I've seen, Tri-officials don't even make a token gesture to inform
triathletes to break up a pack.
It would be pretty easy for them to wave a flag at a pack and/or blow a
whistle. Yellow flag for for warning. Red for penalty. (Can you tell I
play soccer? ;-)
Anyway, that said, I can also say that it's next to impossible not to draft
on the one short distance Tri I usually do (Santa Cruz Sentinel). Last
year it must have looked like one giant 40K bike pack to the officials.
How they're supposed to prevent drafting there, I can't imagine. However,
on the IM/2 races, there's relatively little drafting and the bikers are
well spaced, so it would be pretty easy to officiate drafting there.
It's odd. Last year I was vehemently opposed to drafting, but not so much
anymore. It doesn't feel fair, so I don't do it, but if someone's hurting
so bad they need to suck my wheel, that's ok, too. I suspect it's 'cuz I'm
much more confident of my biking skill than I was. Besides, if someone
wants to draft *me*, they really do need help. ;-)
- Tim Iverson
ive...@lionheart.com
BDPLATT
>I've heard this kind of story many times -- "I was never warned", >or
>sometimes "I never even saw an official."
USATri Officials will not warn you about drafting, you foul you lose,
to take your metaphor further, ever see the NBA ref say to Michael Jordan
" hey thats four steps , one more and I'll call traveling."
>As a frequent participant in drafting-ridden tri's, I've come to >think
>that an effective way to penalize drafting would be to give the >penalty
>RIGHT THEN AND THERE, on the course. Too many times, >I've seen huge
packs
>who are "loosely" hanging together. Seeing the marshalls going >by and
>waving a hand at a few of the riders, then taking off is NOT a >deterant
>to the drafting that goes on. I think that if the marshalls, after
>issuing a few warning cards, start pulling riders out of the pack >and
>giving them the "standing" penalty, others around may start >paying more
>attention and watch themselves more closely.
Good idea, but if we stop to penalize one person for a stop and go it
takes the offical off the course for the time required to do so, not
praktical in the large age group fields.
>...Tri-FED official just to confirm that there hadn't
>been a mistake. Talked to Eddie, the race director, who told us >the
>officials had all left.
The head USATri Official will be at the race for atleast 1 hour after the
race is complete. Drafting is a judgement call and can not be protested
anyway, see rule 10.1
See ya at the races!
_______________________________________________________
TriRef
bdp...@aol.com
BDPLATT
Drew
USATri rule 9.9 Notice Of Violations, states that upon violation of these
rulesthe official shall notify the the participant, but failure to do so
does not invalidate the penalty. We use several method to notify
participants, whistles, red cards and shouting, and sometimes it is not
possible to inform the athlete.
_______________________________________________________
TriRef
bdp...@aol.com
Drew Fudenberg
BDPLATT wrote:
>
> >I've heard this kind of story many times -- "I was never warned", >or
> >sometimes "I never even saw an official."
>
> USATri Officials will not warn you about drafting, you foul you lose,
> to take your metaphor further, ever see the NBA ref say to Michael Jordan
> " hey thats four steps , one more and I'll call traveling."
thought the foul was commited .How would it be if, at the end
of regulation, they announced "Seattle now gets 34 free throws, and Chicago gets 12??"
For this reason, I think that all drafting penalties should be announced on the spot,
with a louspeaker "#24, you're drafting, x minute penalty". this way the rider
learns what is considered a violation. It can also have a beneficial impact on
the spacing of riders in earshot :)
Drew
--
Drew Fudenberg
email: fude...@fas.harvard.edu
http://fudenberg.fas.harvard.edu
Drew Fudenberg
>>
>USATri rule 9.9 Notice Of Violations, states that upon violation of these
>>does not invalidate the penalty.
notification is within the current rules, but rather whether it -should- be.
>
>
>We use several method to notify
>participants, whistles, red cards and shouting, and sometimes it is not
>possible to inform the athlete.
point to another weaknesss of your earlier analogy that I was responding to.
But I'mnot convinced that officials in every race make a good-faith effort to
notify those they are penalizing. I have seen some races where
officials did seem to make an effort to notify, and other where they
pretty clearly didn't. Guess which races had more drafting?
>Drew F