IM Mass Starts

Hello there!  I haven’t written a post in about 12 days.  It’s good to be back at it. 

Today’s topic will involve the minutia of how a triathlon starts.  If this doesn’t interest you, I suggest one of my 32 other interesting posts.  I sometimes worry that my enthusiasm for the sport can have an overpowering dominance during my conversations about it.  But here goes anyway.

There have been rumors circulating in an online forum I frequent that might change how a lot of the Ironman races are held.  I’ll get to the details of all of it, but first we need to go through a bit of background.

Ironman is a brand.  They might run some of their own races, but I believe most of the races are run by other organizations.  The largest organization is the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC).  The WTC is a for-profit company.  They run a lot of races like the Kona IM in Hawaii (the one televised on NBC), the Wisconsin IM I’ll do next year, and many others.

The WTC is reportedly contemplating a change to how their Ironman races start.

There are usually three different ways for competitors to start swimming.

1. Time Trial -- Every so often, usually every three or five seconds, another racer is allowed to begin.

2. Wave start -- Each gender and age group combination is released all at once, then three or five minutes later the next group is allowed to start, all the way until all of the groups have started (The order of the groups depends on the triathlon – some have traditionally faster ones go first, or last, or a random mix).

3. Mass start – This is the one used most often in both the extremely large races like Ironman, and the really small races where there are only like 50 or 100 racing.  You usually start in the water, and when the horn, whistle, cannon, or whatever goes off, the entire field goes.

The WTC is thinking about doing away with mass starts to their races.

I’ve raced in all three types of starts. 

Least favorite – time trial

I believe I’ve done this method twice, maybe three times.  It made the start seem like a nonevent.  There was nothing to really get your adrenaline going.  Everyone just calmly waits in line and you talk to your neighbors until you get right near the starting point.  You are told to go and then you are on your way for the day.  Opportunities for drafting on the swim (legal for swim, not for bike) are very small because the competitors spread out too much.

Middle option – waves

This is the version that occurs in a large majority of my races.  The good news is that you start in the same grouping as the smaller subset of racers you compete against.  Everyone in your age group has to compete in the same weather conditions.  The bad part is that it makes it harder to draw a good comparison for the overall results.  In large races, there can be somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 different groups.  At three minutes between groups, that is 72 minutes from when the first group starts to when the last group starts.  Weather conditions can be vastly different by then.  Triathlons usually start not too long after dawn.  The temperature can increase a lot during that time.  In addition, by the time that the last wave starts, there are already racers a good portion of the way through the bike leg.

Favorite – mass starts

Here everyone is on a level playing field.  Everyone starts at once.  Everyone faces the same conditions.  If you come across somebody and pass him or her, you know you just moved up one spot in the overall competition.  It’s not where you passed them but are still ten minutes behind because you started earlier.  Everyone also gets the chance to get off the course before the run gets too hot.

Many people get a real adrenaline rush out of the start.  It is called a washing machine because of all of arms and legs that are churning up the water at once.  Mostly it is a well-behaved crowd that is trying to get off to their best start possible.  You’ll get bumped around a bit if you don’t seed yourself properly, but it’s usually not too bad.  There are no lane lines like in a pool, and some people can’t swim in a straight line to save themselves, but the danger really gets overhyped.  If you are worried about the start, stay away from the middle of the front rows.  That is the area where the speed demons start.  Off to either side at the front or anywhere in the back is usually a very calm place to be.  Another strategy is just to wait ten or fifteen seconds after the start before you start.  This will give the ones in front time to sort themselves out and clear out.  You should then have clear swimming the rest of the way.

I have used this strategy whether I was in a mass start or a wave start.  The first couple of times I raced I started right in the middle regarding front to back and left to right.  That was fine.  I was jostled around a bit, but nothing major.  Those times showed me that I was a back of the middle of the pack swimmer.  Waiting those ten to fifteen seconds really didn’t hurt me at all.  My strength is the bike leg.  I am in the front of the pack for the bike portion.  I will pick off many people that I let battle it out for the swim.  I then go and give away quite a bit of those gains back during the run.

That is just the way triathlon goes, though.  Everyone has his or her limiters and their strengths.  My limiters are my swim and run and my strength is the bike.  Others might have two strength sports and one that is terribly weak.  Triathlon allows you to be a jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none.  However, if you want to be near the podium spots, it is best to get all three sports to a decent ability.

Sorry, I’m getting a bit preachy here, back to the Ironman start change.

There is just something magical about the start of an Ironman that thrills so many people.  Look at this video.  It’s the start of the Ironman Wisconsin.  IM Wisconsin video  Notice how it is a calm and orderly procession.  Listen to the announcer’s comments about it.  He says, “One of the most amazing spectacles in sport today – a mass Ironman swim start”.  I have to agree.

The online forum I referenced earlier had a poll up.  By more than a two to one margin, people think that the idea to move away from mass starts in WTC run Ironmans is a bad idea.  I won’t try to recreate all of the arguments that came up for and against the rumored change.  You can go to the site and read them yourself if you wish.  Beginner Triathlete Discussion Forum

Side note: at almost every triathlon, including in the first link above, U2’s Beautiful Day will be played at some point.  It’s kind of a tradition.