We don’t think it needs added to the black list but we’re hoping the pro men can keep it a bit cleaner than last year. Let’s look at last years top pro results:

Looking at the top finishers swim times:
Time:           Rank:

00:50:25    7
00:50:43    13
00:48:05    1
00:50:40    10
00:50:48    17
00:50:22    5
00:50:40    11
00:53:18    31
00:50:26    8
00:50:18    3
00:50:25    6

In 30 secs 14 athletes exited the water in around 50min.  Two guys were 2 mins up on these, one fell back on the run but not until after an outstanding 4:25 bike however he was not alone looking at top finishers bike times:
Time:           Rank:

04:25:27    5    00:50:25
04:25:13    4    00:50:43
04:27:36    11    00:48:05
04:24:52    2    00:50:40
04:25:33    9    00:50:48
04:25:28    6    00:50:22
04:24:52    3    00:50:40
04:40:03    15    00:53:18
04:27:13    10    00:50:26
04:25:15    8    00:50:18
04:25:30    7    00:50:25

So apart from the guy who swam 3 mins slower and missed the bunch and the two guys who were caught by the chase pack, everyone rode the same time (within 39 secs).  Not only that but all these guys rode 4:25 and then apart from a couple of 4:30 splits from 1 hr swimmers next closest bike times were 14 mins slower.  Why this tight knitted bunch of about 10 guys then a gulf of difference?

Finally, lets look at the top combined swim bike times which include all of the top finishers from the pro peloton:

Swim             Cycle              CyclePos       OverallPos
00:48:05         04:27:36     05:15:41………….3
00:48:11          04:27:49         05:16:00…………39
00:50:18         04:25:15          05:15:33………….10
00:50:22         04:25:28        05:15:50………….6
00:50:25         04:25:27         05:15:52………….1
00:50:25         04:25:30         05:15:55………….11
00:50:26         04:27:13          05:17:39………….9
00:50:40         04:24:52         05:15:32………….4
00:50:40         04:24:52         05:15:32………….7
00:50:43         04:25:13         05:15:56………….2
00:50:48         04:25:33         05:16:21………….5
00:53:18          04:40:03        05:33:21………….8

Within 24 secs 8 of top 12 all climbed off bike together. Perfectly matched abilities?  Tactics? Fear? Comfort?  Or something else????

JD
Thanks to John Dargie for that analysis of IM WA race splits.

Andrew with his biggest fan, mother and triathlete.

Andrew, after your outstanding ride in 2008 how did you feel and what has motivated you for 70.3 world championships 2009?

After the race in 2008 I remember how much I did not like the half distance.  Yet 16 seconds got me to come back.  The goal in 2008 was to break 2:00 and we missed by 16 seconds.  So I felt like I had a little improving to do.

You had a great build up to the race tell us how that affected your goals and race strategy?

My goals are simple, to go fast as I can as long as I can.  Occasionally we will race with the Suunto, which shows we have a race plan but most of the time, it is just to get out there and push the limit, race your competition.  As for Clearwater, it was to race your strengths.  For a race of that caliber, I do not have the ability to win yet, so I might as well do what I do best.  As we got closer to the race I was able to get a little better idea on an exact time, but the goal of 1st off the bike and record bike split was set in August when I qualified.

Your performance on the bike was mind blowing 1:58:49, how did the bike leg unfold for you?

The race unfolded not at all how I expected. In the first kilometer another guy was having serious problems putting on his shoe and was slowly rolling on the left side of the lane.  I passed him on the right, because let’s face it, I had a record to get and was shown a yellow card by a race official.  About 12K in, I was getting ready to roll into the lead, when a little guy moved in front of me and then stalled in the left lane when he hit the wind at the front.  I sat up and shook my head and waited for him to do something.  At that moment, the same official rolled up and gave me a second yellow card for blocking meaning I had to stop in the penalty box.

Finally about 16K I was in the lead and I got into my rhythm.  At the first turn around I jumped on the pedals and rolled the tubie off my wheel.  I some how jumped off and pulled it back on.  It was wobbly, but I was able to signal neutral support to get a wheel change.  By 36K I was clean of all the bad events, penalties served, first two in my life, by the way, and wheel changed and the bike was itching to fly.  The rest of the bike was a perfect storm, I had Adrenaline (it is a race), anger (penalties), confidence (great coaching), frustration (mechanical), power (great genetics), and top it off I hit a gel.  I pushed my self to misery.  I started cramping a bit around 80K, puked around 85K, but none of it mattered…I was racing the clock.  I came into T2, oh boy.  My legs were horrid.  I stopped to stretch 200m into the run.  I was in really bad shape, but once I loosened out I was able to run a solid half.

The race is heavily criticized for drafting. How does this make you feel and what thoughts do you have on drafting at this race?

I do not know what happens behind me.  I had a goal of first off the bike and I knew it would require my best.  I looked only twice, and both times I saw company.

In general how does drafting affect your racing and your career as a triathlete and how would you like to see things progress in the future?

Wow, great question.  It effects my career greatly.  Currently I am funded by a severance I took from my engineering job at Caterpillar.  I will race professionally until the money runs out.  So financially those who cheat, draft, dope, ect will ultimately end my career as a professional triathlete.  If I would lower myself to drafting, my final results would have improved this season and we would not be having this conversation right now, because nobody would have broken 2hrs at Clearwater.  The future of drafting.  This is a two horned bull.

Firstly, it is the responsibility of the athlete to obey the rules.  For example, the speed on M-1 is 70mph, we all go 75mph.  Why, we will get there faster and not get caught.  How about 80, 90, 100…do you see where I am going.  It is human nature to push the envelope.  It just requires the integrity of the athletes to not let it get too far.

Secondly, enforcement as people have gotten smarter, technology has improved and so can the officiating.  I have heard athletes in a pack call out when officials are coming, and suddenly the pack spreads out.  Let’s go back to M-1, there are very little subjective laws, they are concrete.  Then to enforce them there is air-to-ground communication, speed traps, video surveillance…and how long will it be until all cars have a GPS unit that will just mail you a ticket.  Also, overtime the penalties for speeding have become more harsh.  This brings us back to triathlon and drafting.  The officials need to us these same technologies to officiate the race.  Many watched the online coverage of Kona and Clearwater from the chopper and it was obvious.  Yet on the motorbike you see the same thing you see from the bicycle.  You know the distance to the bicycle in front of you, but have no clue about much else.  We have to go through a hard time here of penalties, similar to 1999-2001 in cycling.  We need to clean up the sport now before it becomes widely publicized and the races will be considered a joke.  Clearwater can be fair if technology is used, it is a world championship, the athletes raise the bar, so should the officiating team.

Would you like to see a triathlon time trial at the Olympics and how do you think you’d fair?

If the sport continues to grow like it has, I foresee the sport of triathlon having 4 events at the Olympics.
1.) Olympic Distance Draft Legal (1.5K, 40K, 10K)
2.) Sprint Relay (4x{400m, 10K, 2.5K})
3.) Long Distance (2.5K, 80K, 20K)
4.) TT Olympic Distance (1.5K, 40K, 10K) – 1 pro every 30 seconds.
How would I do?  Better than if it was draft legal. At this time I am not in the medals, but I am working at getting faster every day.

Thanks Andrew you talk about ‘we’ a lot is there anyone else youd like to mention?

We is my support team. The three key players are Bob from Bob Duncan Racing, Charlie Kern, and myself.  Then there are my sponsors (especially Zoot), friends, and family who are always there for support. Keep up with me at my blog http://astarykowicz.blogspot.com, and feel free to stop and ask me questions!

Good Luck,
Train Safe,

Andrew Starykowicz

Well that’s what we thought so we took a look at the spread of bike splits across the pro and age group top 10s. What we found was not very much spread at all, the reason being drafting.

Female bike split Top 10 ranges:

PRO         2:07-2:24
F 18-24    2:13-2:35
F 25-29    2:12-2:24!! NB-1st in this AG (4:15) would have placed 10th pro ahead of Leanda Cave!
F 30-34    2:12-2:23!!
F 35-39    2:12-2:23!!!
F 40-45    2:17-2:26!!
F 45-49    2:16-2:28!!

Olympic cycling Time Trial medallist Karin Thuerig rode 2:10.

To do “well” you need to be able to swim mediocre – ride OK but draft like hell then run sub 1:30 half marathon and bingo, age group medal.

But to do “properly well” you need to be able to swim well (25-26 mins = 1:19-1:22/100m) have a superb ride then run sub 1:30 half marathon.

So what is “properly well”?

Assuming aero kit / position, flat roads and a combined rider and bike weight of 75kg. 250watts would get your PRO female rider a 2:13:30 split (40.4km/h). Wait a minute that means even the age group women are riding 250 watts for 3hrs right up to 35-39 age group? No drafting there then!

On to the men and frankly the times suggest that the mens racing is generally cleaner than the women’s at age group level! I think Terenzo Bozzone’s comment sums up the PRO race!

Male bike split Top 10 ranges:

PRO          1:58-2:01
18-24        2:02-2:12
25-29        2:06-2:15
30-34        2:08-2:13
35-39        2:04-2:12
40-44        2:06-2:11
45-49        2:06-2:15

Same calcs for men based on rider + bike 82kg slightly larger frontal surface area and fractionally higher drag (due to size) a similar 2:12 bike split would require 285 watts. Holly molly, either Florida put something in the water or there is some serious drafting going on. The guy who finished 100th in male 35-39 rode 2:07 then ran 1:43  so he can put out 300watts for 3 hrs but only run 8 min miles? Either he’s enormous, a cheat or has the most stupid race strategy you’ve ever seen. Something went very wrong with this race and there are 100’s of examples like this.

Officially this is to compliment their new anti-doping program and to improve the quality of competition, unofficially I have my own ideas.

Simultaneously however they have raised the bar for Kona qualification to within 5% of the winners time and for prize money to 8%. This will doubtless put more pressure on athletes to be competitive and increase the temptation to push the rules and draft an difficult issue we’ve dealt with before. They could utilize the PRO registration to combat this however.

A register or license implies they will keep a central record of athletes including anti-doping results and race registrations. If athletes were to get drafting penalties recorded like speeding offenses on a driving license it could identify and penalise persistent cheats.

How would it work?

One point would be given for a penalty and 2 for disqualification. Three points in one year would mean you loose your eligibility to race in World championship races and more would mean you can’t race at all. Each year one point would come off so persistent year on year offenders would be hit hard.

Will they do it?

I’ve not heard any plans to implement such a scheme but I think it could change PRO racing for the better. With suspensions for persistent offenders athletes would increase their margin for error and persistent cheats would be singled out for putting others at risk.