Changes to Mass swim start

Natalie Cayer Pilon

Hi Team!

 

Now that the Ironman race season is well under way and we have had the opportunity to either witness or experience first hand the new start formats, ie: wave and rolling starts vs mass start. I was curious to know what your thoughts/experiences were?  

I have only experienced one Ironman, and that was Lake Placid last year. It was a mass start.  I seeded myself in the water about the center of Mirror Lake and about 20 feet from the line.  There was contact and lots of it...but I fully expected it.  There were no surprises, and I have to say I loved the buzz of it all.  The build up and the release once the canon fired and we all started at once was awesome!  I recently raced the 70.3 in Mont-Tremblant with a wave start as is common practice for a HIM and it was so narrow and crowded. I felt I had more space in Lake Placid.  I went in too timid and got boxed in early. BIG mistake - should have gone out front.  Lots of bodies fighting for the same space on the water.  I suppose what I am trying to articulate is that I felt the same amount of contact in a wave start that I experienced in the mass start and I am not seeing the safety benefits or concerns of contact from eliminating the mass start.

I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. 

 

Paul Hough

5 IM mass starts and I much prefer wave starts. Getting hit from the front or sides does not bother me, it is only folks grabbing my ankles that really, really bothers me, and that only happens in IMs.

rmiller

I like the mass start. The TT start was more congested, I felt. There was the buoy line on the right, but they also had buoy's on the left that kept everyone funneled in for a few hundred yards.

Robert Sabo

I have done 7 IMLP races (one sans wetsuit-worst experience of all). I personally loved the new start. Yes there were bodies. Yes there was contact. No I did not feel that a couple hundred people were trying to swim on top of me and push me under. It was the most enjoyable IMLP swim ever and my time was among my best at 1:07:xx. Wave starts in HIMs are of course done by age and most racers will catch a couple other waves and have to swim thru.

Natalie Cayer Pilon

Interesting, thanks for your feedback. The 'ankle grab' has to be the most unsettling of all contact situations for me and I definitely experienced that in both the mass and wave start swims. I suppose it's all a crap shoot as to who is swimming around you at the time. It seems to me the wave start does not guarantee a smoother less congested swim as I have spoken with a few people now and the majority said they experienced more contact in the wave start.

I will be doing IMWI in a few weeks and I understand that it is one of the few remaining mass start swims. I guess I'll have another opportunity to see whether or not I prefer the "mass start' after all

Robert Sabo

mass start is different from wave start is different from the new rolling time trial type start.