Penaltys in USAT races
2727
Member
1280 days
Anton posted 1 year ago.
Review the rules and know what is what.
The rules are not harrassment, but have sound reasons...even getting a penalty for littering.
MOST race officals are not beasts but I have met a few who are.
Time penalities can be tough to take. While I have never gotten one I know people who have. If you are a mid-packer...no big deal, but if you are shooting for a place in your AG, it can hurt.
To be honest, after awhile,you don't worry about it much.
You'll have enough to worry about on race day...don't let this get in the way.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://anton.trifuel.net
204
Member
1105 days
sldotter posted 1 year ago.
I just found out that my race that I am doing on the first of october is a training race for officials. DOes it mean that they don't pass if they don't give a penalty it would suck to get pinged for some reason so I guy can pass a test. A couple of race officials are great but A WHOLE CLASS!!!!
Trevor Douglas YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!
325
Member
1605 days
jeslol posted 1 year ago.
Most of the rules are really common sense/curtesy with the exception of bike position rules. The officials around here are really good at explaining the bike position rules before the race. Don't be afraid to ask questions before the race! The rest of the rules are simply, don't litter, obey traffic laws, no headsets, etc. Shouldn't be a big deal.
I wouldn't get too wrapped up in it. Just because a race is USAT sanctioned, doesn't necessarily mean there is officials at the race. I think this part is crap, but that's the way it works. We've got a couple of races here that are notorious for drafting, because the race is too cheap to pay an official.
173
Member
814 days
wesmeyer11 posted 1 year ago.
Agreed...they mostly are common sense. Probably the most important one to understand is drafting. If you get passed YOU have to drop back out of the draft zone after the person pulls in front of you. If you start to make a pass and use the draft zone to get in close and build some speed, once you enter the draft zone you have to make the pass otherwise you have incurred a drafting violation. Depending on how long the course is and the number of officials, I have found that they tend to ref the front of the pack more heavily than the back. But when you are doing a race like treasure island where there are 6 or 7 laps on the course, the refs are pretty much everywhere.
Read the rules, the essential ones should be part of your race pack, and they generally are only about 2-3 pages long.
946
Member
1116 days
PJT posted 1 year ago.
Fathom,
I agree with everything said above.
Drafting & littering seem to be the rules people get penalized for most often. But there is one other rule that, while not enforced as often, you should really make a conscious effort to abide by for the sake of your fellow racers: that is riding right, passing left (riding left is the penalty known as blocking). You'll put a faster cyclist in a a bad spot if you drift out to the left and block the passing lane. At that point, the options for the person coming behind you are to 1. cross the center line (a penalty) 2. pass on the right (also a penalty) 3. slow down and tell you to move right. Most will do option 3, but they won't necessarily be very polite about it.
Also, if you do get penalized, be as polite as possible to the USAT officials. They don't make their living doing this, and they do their best to make the race safer and more fair.
And, since you're sure to hear about it, make sure your bar ends are all safely capped, as the USAT seems to have a wild hair about this (was there a rash of people getting impaled lately that I'm not aware of?)
4464
Member
1638 days
beads1985 posted 1 year ago.
Probably the best place to go for info on the USAT is
http://www.usatriathlon.org/
for the specific USAT rules on events
http://www.usatriathlon.org/Rules_Officials/rules.htm
Most of them are common sense.
Do a little looking around on the site and thru the rules and you will be better informed, and better prepared for your race.
Good luck!! :D
''Nothing to it, but to do it''
http://beads1985.trifuel.net/
4464
Member
1638 days
beads1985 posted 1 year ago.
BTW
I was penalized at a 1/2 IM distance event for blocking on the bike.
I was riding next to a woman and there wasn't anybody nearby for about a mile each way on an empty back road.
The official rode by on a motorcycle, gave me a grumpy look and wrote my number down on a little pad.
OOOPS!!:rolleyes:
I had fun and I shared a beer later with that woman.
I was in it for the fun, obviously!!
''Nothing to it, but to do it''
http://beads1985.trifuel.net/
So I just had a very interesting conversation with a guy who often officiates at USAT races around the bay area, where he told me a number of tales about people who he had to give penalties or DQs to in races. Not just penalties for drafting but also for crossing the center line in the bike portion, dropping gu packets, leaving behind tubes after a tire change, etc etc.
I'm coming into tri with a background in distance running and mountain bike races, neither of which are really big on rules per se. Now I'm freaking a bit, since my first tri is the Sentinel oly in a week and a half. I know the rules and all, but how much should I be worrying about the race officials? And just how big a deal is it to get a time penalty? Any advice would be welcomed...
thanks
Emily
"Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional" --Zen aphorism
my blog: [URL="http://fathomharvill.typepad.com/"]fathom harvill