At the finish line in Clearwater Greg Welsh asked the 2008 70.3 world champion, Terenzo Bozzone,  if the race was ‘clean’ and he replied; I wouldn’t say it was clean. . . if there are that many guys around that can hold 28mph the sport is really going places.

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.

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!

WTC has announced it’s plans to introduce a PRO registration scheme.

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.