After Outcry, IRONMAN Overhauls Kona Slot Allocation

Reader: Each individual should be in charge of their own race. The digital display is for assistance and is known to be erroneous at times. Admittedly, it can be difficult to count laps in the heat of battle, but like all other aspects of training, this can be trained too.

Reader: The T100 loves courses with a ridiculous number of bike/run laps. I suppose it makes for a more exciting race for spectators, but it is confusing for athletes (and gets way too crowded for age groupers). The confusion wouldn't happen as often if they kept the loops to < 3 and had accurate total distances so athletes could consult their device if they lost count of their lap number.

Reader: Ultimately, it is the athlete’s job to know the course. Don’t add to the confusion by giving them wrong information. Both parties are at fault.

Reader: An 80km bike course should not be 76km long. So IMO it’s T100’s fault that led to Hayden’s confusion. And it’s T100’s fault for the lap counter being wrong on the run.

Reader: Mistakes by all in my view, but mostly blame with the organisers, an 8 lap bike and 8 lap run??!! How boring is that!! Was it obvious to the athletes that 8 laps on the bike wasn't actually 80k? I do agree with you, though, we're talking about the race and the T100 now, but maybe not as positively as they, or the Athletes, would like!!

Reader: 2 points: 1) Bike: I read somewhere that T2 was blocked for Hayden, and that's why he went for another lap. If true, he was Mathis, and Marten should be compensated financially. If not true, then it's their mistake. 2) Run: Yes, T100 is at fault for sending the athletes to the finish one lap too early, BUT the athletes also--and mainly--are at fault because every athlete knows how fast he can run 18km, given takes 1min. And the range of times has been 56min-1h06. Thus, if you see 40 minutes on your watch when you are directed to the finish, you know this is wrong and there is another lap to do. Consequently, all those athletes should be DQ. Then, an athlete vote!! What a joke, for what? They know perfectly well they ran 1 lap too few. And overall: Shame to T100.

Reader: Athletes are responsible for knowing the course. However, T100 should have the course distances accurate as advertised. It’s not T90 something but T100. The bike was the athlete’s mistake. The run was T100’s mistake. Acknowledge the mistakes, learn and move on.

Reader: This was mostly on the T100 organisation. If Hayden's bike computer was correct (76K), then I can see where he thought he needed to do another lap. Did T100 tell the pro's that the course is short? 4K is not GPS being off. I've always thought that the rule that athletes know the course is ridiculous. You go to a race somewhere you've never been. You might not get there in time to check out the course & even if you do, sometimes a course map on the race website is wrong. In a race, you are counting on course markers & volunteers. It's just crazy that you as a racer should know turn here if there's no sign or mark on the road or that a volunteer is pointing you in the wrong direction.

Reader: I feel it’s mostly on the athletes. Counting eight laps is hard when you’re deep in the red, but you’ve got to stay focused or you might make a costly mistake.

Reader: If they are going to have such silly short lapped courses, with riders travelling at such high speeds, perhaps they should pull the lapped riders off the course like they do in WTCS racing?

Reader: This is a Pro Race and everything should be tracked/monitored in a professional manner by the organisation so there is no room for error. If the organisation wants to succeed, they need to do all things necessary so the athlete can just focus on racing.

Reader: Find a decent race location, where people truly care about Triathlon and provide one or two loop race courses - get away from a criterion circus with $$$ Pony rides in the desert”