Busting The Drafters - Is This The Answer?

El Director

The Ballinrobe Duathlon people released this video yesterday. Check their facebook page for comments.

It looks awful in fairness. Now personally I would prefer if something had been done during the race and/or time penalties at least being applied. Especially for the top guys. In the video the top 3 guys (well not the first I guess in that snapshot) are drafting, then comes a nice train of four so that is the top 7, 2 of them were part of a relay team. Here was I wondering how the hell were they pulling so far away :P What happens further down the field looks like a good old sportive

Anyway, some were tagged/named but not sure if they were offenders but the questions remains - is this the way forward in the fight against the cheaters? Personally I think it isn't. A static camera taking a snapshot, it would be better placed on a motor bike and video offenders for 30sec or so. But fair play to the organisers for doing something different, perhaps we will see more effort to stop drafting this year...nobody wants a repeat of Kilkee 2013!

catweazle

El D you will have to do something with that yellow water bottle, looks totally out of place with the rest of the kit.

It's too difficult a call to make on the first 7, cameraman comes on them late so it's only really a quick moment in time, there is some token attempt at a pace line at least. Was the lead guy at that stage the relay lad that did the super fast bike split?

Further on its gets worse and worse alright, the camera has them from a long way off and yes it starts to bring back memories of Kilkee with the bunches - the two leading ladies are in the thick of one group.

mloc123

It has been so long since I raced I forgot just how blatant drafting is, towards the end of my 'career' I begin to think I was a mug for not drafting... **** it, take the 1min penalty for the 2-3 mins I gain overall.

woody1

its completely ridiculous further back.. i havent done that many races but i dont think ive ever seen bunches like that, whats the point, id be busting my ass to get out of a bunch like that.. its not a team sport
is it very early on in the cycle and people havent spread out yet ?

griffin100

mloc123 wrote: »

It has been so long since I raced I forgot just how blatant drafting is, towards the end of my 'career' I begin to think I was a mug for not drafting... **** it, take the 1min penalty for the 2-3 mins I gain overall.

This ^^^^^

If the risk of getting a penalty is minimal and the penalty itself is small then why not draft? It's playing the rules, no different to a foul in football or GAA. If the rules were proper;y enforced and the penalty's were harsher then that might dissuade people from drafting.

El Director

The thing is that this video is in the last 2km! Not sure if the lead was the relay team or not. The second placed lady is experienced enough to know to either drop out of the bunch or get out of the saddle and try to drop them, but they probably would just catch her up again and dropping back is not easy to do! I see Rodneyr1981 doing his best to keep to the right hand side of the road to keep out of the draft, fair play.

I still don't think joining the cheaters is the right thing to do. If we all did that there would be no body left to fight the good fight and they win. As Johnny Giles once/often says - if something is the right thing to do then it's always the right thing to do - no matter what the circumstances

rodneyr1981

To be honest it was fair annoying. It was towards the end of but all of a sudden this group came up on me. About 5/6 in total. Tried pulling away but competing against a group isn't easy. Was tempted to say something to them however small race and don't think it would have made a difference. I'm not a top 3 nor ever will be but frustrating all the same. I put it down to it being a smaller race and people thinking less chance of getting caught. Also not sure if all know or understand the rules?

Bambaata

I generally call them out while in the race and curse them every name under the sun. These guys need to be called out. Rosses Point last year still sticks in my mind, plenty in top 10 drafting.

Oryx

griffin100 wrote: »

This ^^^^^

If the risk of getting a penalty is minimal and the penalty itself is small then why not draft? It's playing the rules, no different to a foul in football or GAA. If the rules were proper;y enforced and the penalty's were harsher then that might dissuade people from drafting.

This is the Lance defence. Everyones doing it, the only way to compete is to join in. And its wrong. If that's what people want, change racing to draft legal. (Except that brings a whole host of its own issues).

As has been said in this kind of debate before, TI need to get their act together, and police races better, and DQ repeat offenders. Jesus I can be DQ'd for nudity in transition, which has no effect on the race outcome, (unless it distracts the race leaders ) so drafting needs stronger penalties. Maybe they are afraid to, because it is always a judgement call, with no appeal?

El Director

Oryx wrote: »

... If that's what people want, change racing to draft legal. (Except that brings a whole host of its own issues).

...yeah...the main one being I just got my new TT bike!

miller82

rodneyr1981 wrote: »

Was tempted to say something to them however small race and don't think it would have made a difference. ?

i would have roared at them and sent as many snot rockets there way as possible. i wouldnt care if it made no difference, i think its better than ignoring it. not having a pop at you, thats just me

Solobally8

Wow just read some of the comments on the Facebook page. I can't believe people take part in Duathlons/triathlons and say they don't know what drafting is. Surely to take part in a sport you should have some knowledge of the rules.

speedyj

Ha, that fella in blue at 45 seconds wasn't letting go of that wheel for anything! Comical yet sad..

lopesc

Does it matter if the race was TI sanctioned or not? This race wasn't - so there is no rules against drafting by a governing body - it's up to the race organisers. I'm not condoning the drafting here, just asking! It could be that they were doing nothing wrong.

woody1

Solobally8 wrote: »

Wow just read some of the comments on the Facebook page. I can't believe people take part in Duathlons/triathlons and say they don't know what drafting is. Surely to take part in a sport you should have some knowledge of the rules.

locals ( non triathlon people ) just taking part for the craic, wouldnt have a notion what drafting is , but a lot of these would be towards the back .. ive done my local triathlon in some form most years for the past 5 years and i have to explain it to the same people every year ....

Green&Red

Which one was a relay team El D?
I was expecting to see a westport CC top there as part of a relay but didnt recognise the face

rodneyr1981

As far as i'm aware both 1st & 2nd in the relay were both Westport CC.

joey100

As bad as the drafting was and it looked bad, I think the race organisers haven't come out looking too well. To say on facebook that they have caught people drafting but the only thing done about it is they have called them bold? Surely if the proof is there penalties can be applied after the race?

Dory Dory

Snappy music in the video, though. Which leads me to believe that whoever put this together didn't realize the incriminating evidence contained therein (and is that part of the problem?). Or just had a twisted sense of humor.

Green&Red

Dory Dory wrote: »

Snappy music in the video, though. Which leads me to believe that whoever put this together didn't realize the incriminating evidence contained therein (and is that part of the problem?). Or just had a twisted sense of humor.

He mightn't but his son is a handy TTer and would, although I didnt see him in the video so he may not have been in a relay

Moonfruit

Same thing happened at the 'land of giants' duathlon in Dec and I see many familiar riders reoffending in Ballinrobe. I recall having a good bike having past two guys out early in the cycle only for to see them pass on the tail of a relay cyclist with a km to go. It's really annoying having worked hard and legal. Having to travel a good distance to the west of Ireland for these events I hope that the Connemara Duathlon on the 22nd is worth the journey OR will it have the same guys breaking the rules again without any consequences?

peter kern

it can be the answer if they had a camera at 17 18 and 19k and saw the same people in the same bunch like at 1.20in the video where intend of drafting ( or at least doing absolutely nothing against it ) is clearly seen . also with the 2 guys in blue we see in the video.

for the top 7 guys not really the answer and I wager a call that 5-6 out of top 7 rode legal in this video . one has to be very careful with angles and lenses of cameras.


And yes race organiceers dodnt look good since we dodnt see a single draft buster in the video. And yes, they should give penalties in a retrospective of the people where the intend is very much beyond doubt. ( like they did for challenge Barcelona a few years back when they handed out some 200 penalties after the race)

not fair to blame TI if not a ti sanctioned race.

El Director wrote: »

The Ballinrobe Duathlon people released this video yesterday. Check their facebook page for comments.

It looks awful in fairness. Now personally I would prefer if something had been done during the race and/or time penalties at least being applied. Especially for the top guys. In the video the top 3 guys (well not the first I guess in that snapshot) are drafting, then comes a nice train of four so that is the top 7, 2 of them were part of a relay team. Here was I wondering how the hell were they pulling so far away :P What happens further down the field looks like a good old sportive

Anyway, some were tagged/named but not sure if they were offenders but the questions remains - is this the way forward in the fight against the cheaters? Personally I think it isn't. A static camera taking a snapshot, it would be better placed on a motor bike and video offenders for 30sec or so. But fair play to the organisers for doing something different, perhaps we will see more effort to stop drafting this year...nobody wants a repeat of Kilkee 2013!

El Director

Green&Red wrote: »

Which one was a relay team El D?
I was expecting to see a westport CC top there as part of a relay but didnt recognise the face

I'll have to check that to be sure. I remember doing this race back in 2010 and the Westport CC had fully functioning trains, team time trialling they way around the course. Videoing and post it isn't good enough really, these guys cannot be shamed into keeping to the rules - penalties is the only way they will learn. The race director did warn people before the race and explained the rules but really all this shows is that their bark is louder than there bite. Action speaks louder than words and that is what is needed. I mean at the end of the day people were warned and warned again but these guys still were applauded as they accepted their prizes, they knew nothing would happen.

Now I'm not having a go at the race ref/director here or even the fact they released a video (which is limited and in isolation cannot be used as evidence) but it is pretty typical of racing around the country and, yeah, I too would think twice about making the trip to Mayo again because their is a trend there now.

TBH I probably would still go because these are good training events.

rooneyjm

This is near impossible to police as drafting/not drafting is an honor system and as we all know humans dont fair to well in such circumstances. Some people will go to great lengths to gain an advantage, take performance enhancing drugs, cut the course short. Look at diving in soccer or rugby players with packets of blood to fake injury and get blood sub on the field. Every where you look there will be cheats so id imagine a little bit of drafting is hardly going to register any concern for those who want to gain an advantage, appeal to peoples better nature/sportsmanship all you like its just human nature.

scuba05

Why not just make the whole thing draft legal?