People will always get away with drafting because there are not enough tech officials to do draft busting at all races. They generally only watch for drafting in the leaders, where it really matters. This sucks if you are competitive in your age group, but in one of the slower age groups. I have told competitors to stop drafting or blocking, during the race. In general if someone is drafting me, I sit up and let them pass, rest for a few seconds, and then pass them when ready and clear them fast enough they can't catch my wheel. If you have any questions about drafting, you can check the rules on the TA website.

I wasn't going to respond to this one, as I believe this is a 'below the line' topic. but here goes anyway :) Great comments from B+ and miners btw

The Tour de France and other road races are that - road races. They are tactical endurance events where riders train in packs and teams and pace lines. They also have banned the use of aero bars for safety reasons (not so in tri's of course). The tactical use of drafting is part of the race itself.

I don't think drafting in triathlon is complicated. Essentially, it's currently an illegal advantage over your competitors and apart from earning penalties, its practice is also frowned on as unsporting. It's common knowledge that you can conserve about 30% of your effort when drafting - so if one competitor starts a run with fresher legs than the other, not due to pre-race preparation but drafting - it would be agreed to be an unfair and illegal advantage.

There are always examples of people who've been penalised inadvertantly and it's never a happy story. However, it is up to all competitors to adhere to the rules. There is no point getting indignant about what is essentially cheating. Good on Owen for checking the intricacies of the rulings.

If runners were cutting corners in a marathon (or the City to Surf as has been debated on CR)to save distance on a road race would it be considered cheating or just taking advantage of an opportunity?

I have heard of one race briefing where during a discussion with the RD the competitors decided that drafting would equal disqualification. That race, there was no drafting.

I am new to triathlons too but my question is why is that those in the 'elites' are allowed to draft in triathlons? This is the case with the Gadorade series here in Melbourne....

Hi All


After a 10 year break from triathlons I was a bit confused as to the rules when I went to Port Macquaries HIM last year. I had no idea about the blocking rule and thought 7 m was a long way. Fortunately I was mainly caught and passed so it was not a problem. However, I had to be careful with the wave starts at the Nepean as I did pass a few people, as well as the elites lapping me. They have seemed to crack down more since my earlier events.

Just some experiences from one of the Nepean Triathlons I did in the 80s (or it might be a composite story). I came out of the water and found myself in a pack of riders and we could not physically split up traveling north along Northern Road back to the freeway. I soon realized I was in the middle of a pack of elite competitors. We did the 40km in 61 minutes which is a speed. I could never have achieved by myself. Could I reitterate it was a big pack of maybe 30-40 riders.

I must admit it was a real buzz and terrifying experience going at that pace. I finished the bike in a very high place not due to any time trialing ability and managed to hold on to 100th place my highest placing.

The thing I will never forget is that many of us had little or no pack riding experience and I remember two distinct scary situations.

The first was when a big pot hole emerged in the road ( I assume there was one but I did not see it) and the whole pack swerved to the right and those on the right including me were on the other side of the road and all I could see was cars coming in the other direction.

The second experience was when we were in a pack on the same section of road and I was in the middle of the pack. I was normally around the elite women on the cycle in these races. The pack was whisking along and I heard a clip behind me and I looked around...I was now at the end of the pack as a number of cyclists went down behind me. I found out later one of the riders who went down was the lead female competitor.

I am quite happy about the drafting rule even if I get nabbed by mistake. Leave it for the road racers.

Cheers

Plu


Year and Post Number

2032: I have got it right now. 100 years since the Los Angeles Olympics and we are back there.

Yep drafting is cheating.
Yep the pros seem to have excessive licence.

I heard criticism of the interpretation being too lenient at Huskisson, however, in the application, a slightly lenient interpretation is surely more appropriate than killing off a whole stack of people's races (including first timers and newbies) for minor technical infringements. Particularly at the back end of the fields where there is generally a lot of passing in the bike leg.

I genuinely attempt to keep the appropriate distance, however I would cheesed if I had to wear a penalty for someone dropping in front of me and then running out of puff going up a hill.

Personally I am happy to see the spirit of the rule enforced.

It is funny you know like lots of things like drafting everybody always accusses every one else of offending but when ever people get caught they say it wasn't them..blah...blah...blah.
I draft when ever I can and I am at the pointy end of my age group at plenty of races. The reason I do this is, when I was less experienced and the bike was my strength I would try to blow evrybody off my wheel...it hardly ever worked as the good athletes could hold the wheel and then run better or I blow myself to pieces trying to gain a small advantage and several times I got pnged for drafting anyway. Now I just sit at the back of a pack if it forms and ride at a cloese enough to legal distance until the pack starts to break apart due to some riders pushing to hard or if a Tech official comes and breaks things up, I have never been busted during this time.
As for the pro's they draft for TV reasons...it is more exciting to watch. They also draft if they can to stay in touch. My view of most races though is that they draft less than the age group athletes. I think it is just sore grapes when people always say that they don't do it but everybody else does.
If your good enough ride away if your not drop off till your legal. If we all followed that rule nobody would be drafting.

Hi All,

I guess this is a tangential comment but when this topic goes below the line, as QueenBee suggests, it will be okay.

B+ makes a good point about drafting when he, as an athlete, is being disadvanged. In the absence of on course marshalls I did the same thing years ago. Is it correct that they allow drafting in certain events and not others? I remember speaking to a mate in IMG in the 1980s saying they should televise it and he said no way as there was no atmosphere. A few years later they (who?) decided to do more intense multiple loop course and triathlons were right for TV. I think B+ is right in that draftng makes for good TV.

Have you ever noticed the difference when you go for a ride with a person who is used to road racing? Or when there is a difference betteen road racers and triathletes in a training ride? Miners has pointed out in his blog a few times when he writes about his training rides in Port Macquarie. (That will boost your hits Miners!)

When I am with road riders, even just one, (unless it is Uncle Dave and I am on the tar) the average pace is higher and I have to learn how to sit just behind them. If I don't I might have well just gone for a ride by myself.

Cheers Plu

Post number and Year

2034: after what happened in 2032 Olympics they let athletes compete with EPO.

Tubby, pros often have the elite drafting rule as mentioned above - they are actually allowed to draft. They pay a lot extra for this opportunity, and they are expected to have the skills and judgement required to ride in a bunch.

There are only age groups for the rest of us at races, not skill groups. I would really hate to be stuck in a bunch of gumbies that never bunch ride, and I would also hate to be a gumby getting sucked along by a bunch. It's asking for accidents. Yes it can be frustrating if you have to drop back, but you only have to drop back 7m, and that's actually from their front wheel to your front wheel, so it's not a huge disadvantage. Our tri squad used to train with our bunch spread out at 7m spacing - you'd be surprised how much draft you still get, only you've also got room to react.

It can be frustrating when someone hangs onto your wheel and then races past you on either the up or downhill, depending on their preference .. but you know - unless you are competing at the top level and are in it for the elite/professional rankings I think its about your personal best and not owrrying about everyone else. Although it is fair if you get pinged for something someone else is doing - this is when you need to ride smart and not let their actions dictate your ride (touch wood haven't been warned yet!). But on the other hand when you are out on a group ride draft for all you can - its lots of fun with a few of your having a go at dragging and being dragged around. :)

Whoops - meant it is unfair when you get pinged for someone else's riding!

The bike leg is only 1/3 of the triathlon ! What about drafting in the swim and sitting on someone in the run! :unsure: Exactly the same I would have thought ! What makes the "bike leg" special ? I would have thought that it was just part of your overall race stategy :rolleyes:

I don't thinking that drafting in the swim or the run would give anywhere near the 30% energy saving it gives in the bike.

... and personally, I've always thought the "acceptd" figure of 30% savings is way under-estimated. That may be an overall speed/power output calculation determined through wind-tunnel testing or similar. However, I reckon it's a *lot* more when you factor in the savings it provides for your running legs (and thus contributes to your subsequent running speed), as well as the huge psychological boost you get sitting behind someone when struggling into a headwind for example.

Swim & run drafting can provide small assistance, but are no comparison whatsoever to the advantages of the bike draft

... oh and I should also add (not that I'm specifically trying to be contrary to wilbur's posting), that the bike leg is invariably much more than 1/3 of the triathlon.

Unfortunately, other than perhaps an Olympic distance race (1.5km/40km/10km), or some Long Course race distances (particularly those run in Europe which are commonly 4km/120km/30km), the bike leg is more often than not proportionately more than 1/3 of the race. In most sprint distances, as well as the HIM and IM, the bike leg is significantly longer in proportion to the other 2 disciplines.

And being the leg in which the greatest amount of ground is covered in the quickest time, the gains that can be made in the bike leg are significantly greater as well. So, if you're gaining an advantage in the bike leg (i.e. racing faster due to a drafting advantage), then it will have a greater overall impact on your overall race time - than say if you happened to get snagged by a passing water-skier during the swim leg.

wilbur,

The difference is in the percentages. At 32km/h air resistance is about 80% of the drag on a bike. Whereas at the average running speed it is negligable. Swimming offers some drafting advantage , but it's not in the same league as the bike, also open water swiming can negate some of that advantage anyway.

Alchemy

Ok I wasn't going to post on this topic anymore but seeing as Mikeymelb has asked me a direct question I will respond.
No I don't think it is ok to draft!! In fact I am very anti drafting.....but I am not naive enough to think that I can outride a pack of drafters even if I am stronger individually than each of them.
So what I do is sit about 5-7m off the back of the pack, so I am pretty much legal, but am still gaining benefit of their combined draft, particularly if the pack numbers 15 or higher, which regularly occurs at Ironman type races especially in the first 90-100km. I have monitored my Heart rate at thesetimes and have gone from sitting in E3 on my own to E1 with out a drop in speed once the pack is in front of me. When a draft buster arrives they never look at me closely as I am always the rider furthest away from any other rider, they then bust one or more riders who are "sitting in" pack. As these guys disappear then only the better riders are left. They all then start to ride as a pace line, i.e. each rider single file 7m apart. This is legal but still provides an advantage as you have a constant gauge infront of you to concentrate on and your workload is slightly lower so you either ride faster or save energy for the run to come.
Hope that ansers your question