Pointing fingers is easy. It is usually the first reaction. We get angry with drafting and first to blame are the ones we see drafting, second reaction is the marshals, then organizer, then the organizations… One by one we can easily blame everybody.

And everybody is to blame!

And nobody is to blame.

We are to blame as well?

At least we are trying to make Say NO To Drafting less about blame and this is why:

Drafting is a cultural issue, it is a problem in the overall culture of the sport, it is about everybody and everything.

It is no different than how driving in Istanbul is a complete nightmare, how smoking weed is normal in some teenage cultures, how taking illegal anabolics is typical of bodybuilding, how faking to fall down is typical of Italian football, how surfers talk a “certain way”, how English like their fish&chips and how they care about the Royal Family, how Americans drive huge cars, how Chinese eat with chopsticks… you get the point.

It is also same as having coffee in Lava Java in Kona, like trying to be sub 10% body fat all year round, like wearing tight clothes with super bright colors and huge logos, like mentioning Mark Allen and Kenyans 50 times in every conversation…

It is a matter of culture, how people learned to behave within a certain group.

Marketers study it, sociologists study it, sales people love it cause it makes it easy for them to sell stuff, and those who live the culture love it cause they can be different and its obvious that they are different.

The culture of the sport of triathlon (or at least the 90% of it which is non-drafting) is a bit twisted and it includes a line which says: DRAFTING IS ACCEPTABLE.

If change is to happen we need to change this one little line to: DRAFTING IS NOT COOL.

Race owners, business people, race organizers, marshals, PROs, age groupers, spectators… we all share this cultural programming so if this one line in the program is changed we will all change and there will be less drafting.

No one is to blame, just the whole triathlon universe!

How can we change the cultural programming?

Talk talk talk talk talk against drafting so it becomes clear that drafting is NOT COOL.

We need to start a small internal triathlon cultural revolution…

Found some Ironman 70.3 World Championship drafting photos on facebook.

People were so relaxed to even tag themselves in these photos but I will not mention names.

Photos of Ironman 70.3 World Championship cycling leg on Ironman.com are obviously carefully selected so no drafting is shown. Not one photo shows drafting which we all know took place!

In the same time while we saw this video on youtube.com Ironman.com published this article.

I am sure video coverage of races is carefully controlled so drafting bunches are avoided.

Clearly EVERYBODY in the world is aware of the huge drafting problem.

Magazines write about it, websites have been writing about it for years now and triathletes have been angry for even longer.

It seems only Ironman.com staff has no clue that drafting is a problem.

I know they have access to Internet, youtube, facebook and this blog. I know they are at the races and that they see it. I know they know it is a problem.

Why are they hiding it then?

Why is there no clear message from Ironman.com that this is BAD?

Why does not Ironman.com show a video of a riding pack being completely DSQed so millions can see it and realize the age of cheating is over?

Why does Ironman.com not educate us, instead of only selling us stuff?

Please Ironman.com have a bit more courage, think it through, get off your high horse, and lets clean up the sport.

To be in a position of power does not mean only to profit, but sometimes to take initiative and risk.

You guys took the risk to put this thing together, now take the same risk and make it better. Clean up the cancer which is eating it. Beat it. Fight for what you created.

It should not be someone like me doing your work – some guy from some far away place who does it as a hobby.

It should be Ironman.com who sends a clear message that drafting WILL END NOW!

What a joke Ironman Florida is!

Nothing else needs to be said!

For a fact I know a lot of people cycled at least 10-15 mins faster than their ability, and ran faster as well, this is why obviously.

What a joke!

I watched the bike part of the race a little bit. I saw some drafting, but I was not there and did not get any reports so far, so I really do not know if this was an accident or a moment or a general atmosphere. I have never done or watched Ironman World Championships so it is not possible for me to judge it. I think one has to be there to understand the problem. This is why I try to rely on judgment from others who were there.

However Ironman World Championship has a very high authority status and, I think, many do not feel at ease to criticize it. It is easier for people to “trash” an emerging or local race (an easy target) than Ironman World Champs. It is normal human mentality to be afraid of authority. Authority makes some keep quite while some are even more stimulated to complain and rebel. I guess, like always, best method is somewhere in the middle.

However, I am not so much interested in drafting at Ironman World Championship.

What worries me is how people get to participate in the this World Championship.

Triathletes qualify through worldwide Ironman races, they place well in their age groups and win a Hawaii slot. Since, at least in my experience and judging from reports I get, some of these races are very tolerant about top age groupers drafting I can assume that a certain part of the Ironman World Championship participants got there thanks to cheating.

How many guys at Ironman World Championship are there thanks to drafting? Guys who do 8:50-9:10 in races like Ironman Austria but can not pull of a semi decent result in Kona. Is it the heat or the lack of the well known 50 people cycling packs? I respect those who work hard and have talent but for sure there is a percentage which does not play fair.

Ironman World Championship must eventually clean up all qualifying races before they even think about stating that Kona is clean of drafting. Most Ironman drafters have enough brains to know they can draft in places like Austria and not draft in places like Kona.

As always all comments are welcome…

I am trying to understand the position Ironman PROs are in when it comes to drafting.

PROs are making a living from Ironman and triathlon racing which is super hard. If they do not draft they will drop 10 positions and might even be beaten by age-groupers who might draft. This will result in their sponsorships being lower. No drafting = less money.

One Ironman PRO I know has been collecting money for ten years now to buy his own place. He gets bonuses for being in top ten. Rewards for being out of top ten are not good, especially if a sponsor does trully understand the sport and only looks at results and sees the PRO is slower than some age-grouper. It is a matter of quick impressions and decisions.

Ironman PROs can loose their salary they race fair. Their job is on the line in every race. There are no promises, no securities.

So Ironman PRO has to draft because other Ironman PROs will draft and also strong age-groupers will draft.

But if Ironman PRO is caught drafting that the audience hates him. He/She is a cheater, and the audience is right. Audience will never hate an age-grouper because he/she is not a public figure, but an Ironman PRO is a public figure, an athlete who they identify with.

Being an Ironman PRO is balancing how to cheat and not get caught?

Maybe this is how PRO sports are everywhere – boxing, cycling, football, basketball… All top athletes cheat and hope not to get caught because when the money is on the line (medical insurance, house payments, school for the kids…) they do their “worst”…

But in Ironman this situation might be most extreme. There is very little compensation as most Ironman PROs can not really save money, maybe top few %, but others have to coach and do other jobs to get a semi-decent life. Also difference between drafting and non-drafting results is huge, unlike other sports where difference might not be so extreme.

Conclusion might be not to blame the PROs – they are at the end of the chain.

They have to satisfy the audience, the sponsors and the marshals. No one cares about them too much and as soon as they are out of luck they are forgotten. There are always new PROs. Ironman PRO racing is harsh and it is an extreme sacrifice which obviously includes the sacrifice of morality as well. They chose the game and they play it, but they did not make it such.

The ones who make the game as it is are the audience, the age-groupers, the race organizers and the sponsors.

Let me know what you think?

This video is about Mark Allen, Mike Pigg, Lance Armstrong triathlon race in Bermuda in 1987.

However amazing how much attention is given to drafting as a problem and also interesting that so many triathletes were DSQ-ed.

Found this at PulsSlag.dk.

It is amazing how many triathletes break the rules like drafting… but still a lot of people do not really see this as a problem. Here are some examples how other sports would look like if same disrespect for basic rules would happen.

Marathon running

Imagine how during Berlin Marathon about 3000 runners suddenly get off the course and cut the race course by few kms through side streets.

Cycling

Imagine how during Tour de France Lance Armstrong and his team all hold hands and are pulled by their team car up Mount Ventoux.

Swimming

Imagine how in 100m freestyle one swimmer gets to start 3 seconds before everybody else and no one does nothing about it.

Football

Imagine how one team has 15 players.

Fencing

Imagine how one guys electronic vest is turned off for half of the combat.

Boxing

Imagine how a 100kg boxer would fight a 50kg boxer.

Any more examples? Please post them in the comments or on Say NO To Drafing facebook page.

Ironman Switerzland 2009 drafting photos by Rainer Lilischkis.

This is what Rainer emailed me as well:

“Speaking of races where drafting happens although it should not: Ironman Switzerland this year. I was standing back to back with one of the head organizers of the race watching huge groups chasing the first bikers in the second lap as they were heading towards the “heartbreak hill”. No race-marshal to be seen in the first half hour behind the leaders. And the guy next to me commented my inquiry, quote “we can not have a motorbike following every single group.” Admid that, but it would have helped to have two or three referees cruising amongst the first 100 bikers. Not one instead. And we are talking about Kona-qualifiers!”

Several triathlon coaches support Say NO To Drafting. This is great.

Coaches are usually the ones who introduce the sport, step by step, to triathletes. Even the greatest had to learn from someone and this was probably their first coach. Is this when their understanding of the sport was imprinted?

If we agree that triathlon coaches to some extent influence how their triathletes understand the sport, then we can say that triathlon coaches have a very important role in preventing drafting.

Triathlon coaches in theory only give training information but in practice they teach triathletes how to respect the sport and its rules. How a triathlete behaves should also be a responsability of the coach.

So who coached the drafters?

Who are these coaches who’s triathletes do not respect the most essential rule of the sport and cheat? Do they pretend they do not know their triathletes or do they support this behavior? Do they just try not make fuss and look the other way?

PS I used another Ironman Austria photo – thank you Ironman Austria for a never ending resource of photos of drafting.