Oh tough one! Its hard to say that he contemplated the option of adjusting the limiter screw. You would think sitting as an outside spectator that Chrissie would of known to not screw the CO2 into the inflator before she put it on the valve but she didnt. Wanting to repeat and being in 'great shape with no demons' as he said and knowing that waiting 30+ minutes is going to make it impossible would make you not want to press on. Norman gets two flats and quits, you know being the lead guy he wasnt waiting 30+ minutes for a spare. Flip side, Rutger walks the marathon because in his words, "you dont have the right to quit just because the day doesnt go your way." If he was already falling behind then it was just good fortune in his own mind that he had a perfect opportunity to bow out when he did. If he truly didnt want to try and fight for a top 100 or so then thats his deal too. Ill ask him if I get racked next to him during New Orleans in three months haha.

I saw an interview with him in an Australian paper recently. Apparently in assisting him, the on-course mechanics stripped the screws or something like that in an effort to get it onto the big ring permanently. He was going to continue in the big ring, but didn't have a choice except to DNF.

It's not unusual for any pro to call it a day if things aren't going their way. They only earn $$$ if they place high, so it makes sense from a business standpoint to save their bodies and thus earning potential for another race. In a way though, to an age-grouper it seems kind of unsportsmanlike to watch pros dropping out of races the minute something doesn't go their way. Look at any of the IM races and you'll see dropout rates for pros of 10 - 20% or sometimes even higher. Some Pros drop out even if they have a bad swim.

I did read though like Tamara said that Macca tried to carry on with the big ring but couldn't.

Pro's Don't just do it for the paycheck, I DISAGREE very strongly in that.

They are Pro's, and yes they do get paid on performance, but I doubt ANY of them said...

"I want to be a Pro Triathlete when I grow up for the money".

In all, its just what they get at the end of the day, and they should. It's a full time job, and when they aren't training 40+hrs a week, they are doing media, or sponsorship type tasks

I disagree too...they do it for ego and a paycheck! ;)

Swim Bike Run for a living...do some coaching, give workshops...sounds like a sweet gig compared with some of the jobs we all have...and I bet they make more than a bunch of us.

Poses a good question though...What is the yearly take for a mid level pro triathlete?

And quite frankly you could not even eat Top Ramen on that.

I do have mixed feelings on that though. It does seem a bit unsportsman like to just quit because you aren't having your best race. How do you KNOW the person in front of you won't take a header and put him/herself out of the race making you winner instead? Now if your bike is inoperable (sp) then I get that.

Beke has never won Kona, so I am thinking that having won it before changes your perspective about walking "just to finish."

I saw Zack do it and others, but I can't recall any Pro who has already won it once, "just finishing" for the helluvit on a subsequent occasion .

As to the point about "do it for the fans" Ironpros don't have a fan following like Kobe does or Brett Favre say, to whom they sell jerseys and other memorabilia, from which they scoop big bucks, so I don't imagine that is much of an incentive to finish in 898th place.

Now in 2007, Beke finished in 898 th place and drew inspiration from it to finish 3rd in 2008 so there was a point to that.

If I had won it last year, and had a mechanical incident this year, like a cable or a couple of flats, damned if I'd spend another 5 or 6 hours out there "just to finish." I already have a t-shirt.

PoC

+1 I don't remember if it was a big-name ol' school IM guy (Mark Allen, Dave Scott), or and ol' school American marathon legend (Salazar, Rogers), but someone said that competing at that distance for "#1 OA" takes so much out of you that you really only have a few efforts (five or six?) like that in your lifetime. For example, after The Duel in the Sun between Salazar and Beardsley, neither runner was ever the same.

Couple points

1. To RV's question: I know a very good way to make a FD cable stop shifting, if not snap entirely. It happened to Mrs. PJT the day before IM Wisconsin last fall. If your FD cable housing is ever so slightly short, you can pop the plastic ferrule from the internal cable entry hole by turning the handlebars 90 degrees (like while transporting a bike). If you don't notice the ferrule sitting out of place (and who checks?), you can split the ferrule when you try to ride it next . This can create enough friction to make shifting difficult/impossible, and could cause the cable to snap if you keep trying to shift. Thankfully she noticed the problem about 10 minutes in to our 15 minute pre-race ride, and I had the spare parts on hand to fix it before bike check in.

2. I'm wondering why they didn't just take off the entire FD and mount the chain on the big ring by hand. That's about a 2-minute operation if you are using Shimano.

Thanks PJT!

He won't have to pay taxes...

Here's my reasoning on why I posed the question on why Macca backed out, and why I think it was because he was having a relatively bad go of it up to that point and didn't want to sustain further embarassment. In the interview of him after backing out, he looked almost jovial, with a smile on his face. Not knowing anyting about his personality, I took this to be an expression of relief that he didn't need to continue sufferring. It could very well be that he's just a relaxed person who takes things in stride and doesn't worry too much about it (especially here since he'd already won Kona). If you contrast that to the emotions of Stadler in '05, you see a starkly different reaction to a mechanical failure. Norman had a mental breakdown on the course, actually showing some emotion and malcontent with having to pull out. That's how I would expect a champion, who's life revolves completely around one event, to react.

Regarding the top pros, most will make more from endorements than they do from race earnings. Macca has a pretty lucritive deal with UA that will stipulate he appear and compete at a number of events worldwide. The brands want the exposure, which is why they endorse athletes. Macca pulling out halfway, ensured UA had all of about 15 seconds on national TV, whereas Argon18 and Craft had a considerable showing with Sindballe, as did Dresdner Kleinwort with Stadler, Spiuk with Llanos and American Interbanc on Alexander. I would suspect any of these athletes earn more from endorsement deals than they would off prize money (Sindballe especially).