Zip up your tri suit or be disqualified

124

Comments

  • Regardless of your opinion of any single rule, I cannot believe the degree of rudeness from some people towards those who give up their time to enable them to participate in a triathlon. It's completely inexcuseable, disgusting behaviour.

  • I think everyone should be given the opportunity to rectify their errors in the majority of events and be 'educated'.  Problems come when people ignore these requests. However if it an event with a professional field, or a qualifier then rules should be properly enforced.

    An issue with 'local' events being lenient is that if competitors are not warned then they will never know and be surprised at a more high profile/ larger event when reminded.

    And regarding the zips, who really cares out on the course if it down? Zip up on the way out and zip up on the way in. (And any other time you are reminded.) But it does look much better everyone arriving zipped up.

    BTF Rules are the remit of the Technical Committee and not elite athletes.

    Wise words from FB.

    Runner, swimmer, cyclist and triathlete

    Devoid of a competitive streak :)

    Who cares, I'm in it for the medal!

  • RicFRicF ✭✭✭

    Common sense about a sport where not getting dressed fast enough or correctly will cost you a victory.

    Still, we always have golf. In that achievement (sorry, sport) farting on the 1st tee will incur a two shot penalty (so I've been informed).

    🙂

  • It's plain and simple people.If you don't like the rules, go and play elsewhere.

    FIFO.

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    kittenkat wrote (see)
    SwimsL1keaWalrus wrote (see)

    I think everyone should be given the opportunity to rectify their errors in the majority of events and be 'educated'.  Problems come when people ignore these requests. However if it an event with a professional field, or a qualifier then rules should be properly enforced.

    An issue with 'local' events being lenient is that if competitors are not warned then they will never know and be surprised at a more high profile/ larger event when reminded.

    And regarding the zips, who really cares out on the course if it down? Zip up on the way out and zip up on the way in. (And any other time you are reminded.) But it does look much better everyone arriving zipped up.

    BTF Rules are the remit of the Technical Committee and not elite athletes.

    Wise words from FB.

    I don't understand this bit? My guess (and it was just a guess) that they are written with elites in mind.

    Elites tend to do races run under ITU rules and their rules are a lot more detailed. the Tech Committee of the BTF adopt the essence of the ITU rules but adapt them to apply in UK events, so drop a lot of detail that becomes unworkable at the majority of events.  if us officials had to enforce the full set of ITU rules at UK races, then most athletes would get a penalty of some sort and races just wouldn't happen.   back to the common sense approach again. 

    you have to separate elite triathletes from age groupers when thinking rules

  • M..o.useM..o.use ✭✭✭

    What does FIFO mean? Fit in or F off?

  • On a slightly different tack, my running club has for several years organised a short triathlon designed mainly for beginners. I was marshalling on the cycling element this year and was gratified to see a woman come sailing past on a fold-up bike. Apparently the observer from the national triathlon body went a bit ape-shit over this but was persuaded not to disqualify her. I guess it's almost certainly against the rules (but I'm not familiar with them), but my feeling was that in such a small, low-key event why not let her bend the rules on something that really wasn't going to give her an advantage. If she liked doing the tri, she might want to do more and might get a more suitable bike...

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭

    Mouse - usually First In, First Out but Fit In or Fuck Off is pretty apposite here!

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭

    PC - I'm no expert on the design of fold ups but it might be that many do not meet the technical requirements of a bike suitable for a triathlon (all in the rules - 11.1 if you want details).   I've officiated at low key events and allowed fold ups but advised users - always beginners - that they should invest in a proper road bike for the future.  

    the only bike that I would not allow would be a fixie as they are definitely banned (rule - both wheels must be classified as free wheels). 

  • Well, of course, but this event is so low-key you have to get on your belly to unlock it. I think at that level it's best not to discourage people, and I'm sure if she wants to do something bigger and better she would have to get a more suitable bike.

  • fat buddha wrote (see)

    FF - he'd get a DQ on the "muffin roll" rule - no gap greater than 10cm between shorts and top.  image

    pops - we aren't jobsworths just because we are applying a rule that is there. and just because someone doesn't happen to agree with a rule doesn't give them carte blanche to ignore it.  would you expect a football referee to ignore things in a game that are penalisable??  no, of course not.  

    there are odd and arcane rules in many sports but that's no excuse for a referee to ignore them because they aren't frequently applied.  look at the aggro over a England cricketer being given out when the bowler took his bails off as the batsman had left the crease - a little used law, but perfectly allowable in the rules.  

    as I have said many times, we apply common sense but if we don't tell people to pull their zips up, how the hell are they going to know the rule, or obey it??  I bet most triathletes have never read the rulebook, and are probably unaware of many of the lesser know ones like this.

    at an event on Sunday I told many athletes to zip up as they were coming to the finish - all complied without complaint and no penalties were issued.  a few asked me afterwards what the rule was about so I told them.  job done - no problems.

     

    FB, I appreciate exactly what you are saying but in football and rugby refereeing courses you are told to apply contextual judgement which is ignoring some rules in the context of the game. It is what differentiates a good referee compared to one that thinks the crowd has come to watch them rather than the game.

     An example I give when teaching referees in rugby is that if you are refereeing a pro match and the throw in isn't straight you would penalise it. However, if you are refereeing an under 12s second team match on a windy day and a throw was slightly crooked you would probably let it go as it wasn't deliberate and it is about letting people play the game. There are actually rules about having socks pulled up, but they are rarely enforced as common sense is applied.

     This goes back to the point about common sense. If it is an exceptionally hot day, the organisers have not bothered to put any water on the course and there is an unfit bloke at the back of the field who has his zip down a couple of inches it may be time to use a bit of contextual judgement as it is not exactly a safety issue! Just an opinion.

  • if women aren't allowed to be topless in tri then neither should men.......especially if they have bigger man boobs than me image

  • I was wearing a sports bra to support my moobs image

    I won't give my opinion on women doing triathlons toplessimage

  • Tricoops my son played rugby for many years at various levels and during an under 14s game several years ago a former professional referee coming out of retirement trying to get his fitness back refereed at  a game he was playing in.During the match he blew the whistle a number of times for infringements the lads had never heard of and went out of his way to explain why,it, was a bit crap watching but the team took a lot away from it and some of the lads who went on to play at county level had a better understanding of the rules. If your breaking the rules and someone lets you know it's not that bad and some newbies will become top age groupers and get penalised if bad habits form.Also just an opinion.

  • BTW I am defo not one of the newbies who will become a top age grouper so I will just wait to be told image

  • Tricoops - I take your point, but in the majority of Tri events you have a wide range of abilities in the same race - so its more difficult to differentiate between near elites and newbies - so the rules have to be applied (more or less) evenly.

  • M..o.use wrote (see)

    What does FIFO mean? Fit in or F off?

     

    I think you will find it comes from an old european saying, which went something like

    "FeFiFo Fum i smell the blood of a triathlete with his top unzipped, do it up or be DQ'd"

    Or something like that...but it was Cat that said it on here and he's just a duathlete so what does he know......image

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    Rafiki wrote (see)

    Tricoops - I take your point, but in the majority of Tri events you have a wide range of abilities in the same race - so its more difficult to differentiate between near elites and newbies - so the rules have to be applied (more or less) evenly.

    Tricoops - +1 what Rafiki says - he might make a useful official as well...image

    we do use contextual judgement - read back through what I've said in previous posts and you'll find I say "common sense" quite often.  

  • Late to the party as usual!

    M..o.use wrote (see)

    What does FIFO mean? Fit in or F off?

     

    fat buddha wrote (see)

    Mouse - usually First In, First Out but Fit In or Fuck Off is pretty apposite here!

    The latter is what I meant.

    Flat Footed wrote (see)
    M..o.use wrote (see)

    What does FIFO mean? Fit in or F off?

     

    I think you will find it comes from an old european saying, which went something like

    "FeFiFo Fum i smell the blood of a triathlete with his top unzipped, do it up or be DQ'd"

    Or something like that...but it was Cat that said it on here and he's just a duathlete so what does he know......image

    I know that other than my monaco (and tri shorts) everything else has a rear zip.

    I also know that water can be dangerous and I should stay away from it. image

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    kittenkat wrote (see)
    Rafiki wrote (see)

    Tricoops - I take your point, but in the majority of Tri events you have a wide range of abilities in the same race - so its more difficult to differentiate between near elites and newbies - so the rules have to be applied (more or less) evenly.

    You must mean newbies that are pretty fucking good? image

    you get a few of them.  at a recent tri, the female winner of the sprint was doing her 1st tri.  but she did run for England as a junior (she's only 20 now).  her brother, 17, won the male sprint and was 6 mins quicker  - 6 mins ffs! - than a GB junior triathlete he beat. (but it wasn't his 1st tri.)

    in fact they both won their respective sprint tris yesterday, and by some distance, at another event I was reffing at. awesome talents both of them and nice kids as well.  

    I suppose having parents that were international modern pentathletes (mum was world champ twice) helps.  image  they've clearly inherited some quick genes

  • Not quite sure whether athletic genes are inherited though FB.  Lanky came 1st in his AG yestrday and as I sure as hell don't know where he gets his talent from image

    I reckon I brought the wrong baby home 14 years ago image

     

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    Pop-Up Schmunks wrote (see)

    Not quite sure whether athletic genes are inherited though FB.  Lanky came 1st in his AG yestrday and as I sure as hell don't know where he gets his talent from image

    I reckon I brought the wrong baby home 14 years ago image

     

    but it sounds like you picked a good 'un....image  well done Lanky!   

  • At Portishead yesterday loads of competitors were unzipped. Mostly chaps at the pointy end of the race too!

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭
    blindcider wrote (see)

    At Portishead yesterday loads of competitors were unzipped. Mostly chaps at the pointy end of the race too!

    lots yesterday at the event I was reffing at - 100% of them complied with a zip up request from me.   but lots of zips down as they came past on laps but again 100% compliance when I asked again  - many zipping up as soon as they saw me.  image  and bar one - nobody complained - so that was pleasing.   

    over officious?? maybe given the conditions (very hot) but if us refs keep drilling the message in, then people will gradually cotton on and comply without being asked to do so.

  • Hi - I'm not a triathlete so firstly apologies as feel a bit of a fraud posting on here.

    I've been, and still am, an injured runner who has been doing a bit of cycling and swimming. As my running year is destroyed I am considering doing a sprint tri at start of August just have sometihng to aim for.

    But reading some of rules on here I'm a bit worried.

    I was planning to swim in some swim shorts then put a running T-shirt on at first transition (after quickly drying myself) - is this allowed or does your top half have to be covered at all times?

    If it does what is best cheap one off solution?

    Thank you for any help.

  • fat buddhafat buddha ✭✭✭

    SKF - you'll be fine doing as suggested.  for my 1st tri I did exactly the same.

    it's one of the anomalies with the rules that you can swim bare chested (as a bloke) but not bike or run without a top.   that's probably a hangover from years gone by and frankly 99% of males pool swim bare chested so this carries over to OW swims.

    however, if you want to play uber-safe, look for a cheap trisuit or tri top to get you started.  Aldi sell them at times for less than £20 - not state of the art kit but good enough to get you going.  

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