It was great to see triathlon live on BBC1 on a Sunday afternoon last weekend. The channel was covering the Dextro Energy World Championship Series round in London’s Hyde Park and showed the men’s race live followed by highlights of the women’s event. The event was held on the proposed triathlon course for the London Olympics in 2012 so was a good workout for organisers and competitors alike. And everybody was pleased that a Brit (Alistair Brownlee) won the men’s event.
Unfortunately, from a TV point of view, the event was less of a success. The BBC don’t have a dedicated triathlon commentator, and it showed, especially on the bike leg where crashes were missed, gaps closed without being noticed and breakaways getting a significant distance up the road before anyone commented. Perhaps funniest of all was the 2 leaders burning through transition for an extra lap without the commentators remarking (it was at least a couple of minutes late before they realised what had happened). Note to organisers: was there a bell to announce the final lap? Were there marshals shouting “Dismount here,” to the approaching athletes? It didn’t look good, and I bet the 2 leaders were pretty fed up.
triathletes cycling in a peleton - not a feature of races I enter
The coverage also highlighted the difference between elite level pro series triathlon races as organised by the ITU (International Triathlon Union), and the triathlon experience that the rest of us know. Namely, that drafting is allowed. What this means is that the bike leg is very often a large peloton of cyclists pedalling around together with no one brave enough to attack off the front due to the huge difference in effort required. Anyone shooting off the front is usually a no-hoper seeking their moment of glory knowing that they will wither and die on the run. And the peloton knows this (the commentator didn’t). This means that pro series races are almost always decided on the run and it was significant that as soon as Brownlee’s lead group from the swim was caught by the chasing pack of cyclists, he disappeared into the peloton for a “rest” in preparation for the run. I’m not sure that this makes great telly.
Age group and amateur triathlons, on the other hand are “non-drafting” events meaning that cyclists have to work individually, and not in packs. This makes the race a much truer test of endurance and less of race tactics. It also stops the development of pro cycling tactics on bike sections where in the Olympics, for example, some triathletes are given the “job” of working hard on the bike leg for their “team leader”. Bear in mind that following other riders in a pack means that you can save 30% of your energy output. Triathlon has always been a sport for individuals, but the logical conclusion of the drafting regulations is the development of teams taking a pro cycling approach – a specialist swimmer for the leader to draft on, followed by some “domestiques” shepherding the leader around the bike course.
The other great thing about non-drafting races means that pros and amateurs can take place in the same race and this is brilliant for spectators and competitors alike. One of my best memories in triathlon is being passed by the legendary Chris McCormack at Wimbleball in 2006 while out on the bike, and then being “high-fived” by him as he cheered on us punters after he won the race a couple of hours previously. This connection between the elites and amateurs is one of the ingredients that makes Ironman and Ironman 70.3 so special. We’re in the same race!
Clearly the ITU doesn’t agree that non-drafting events make for interesting television and have spent years building up the World Cup Series and the new World Championship Series. It might be triathlon, but it’s not as I know it.
Photo under a CC licence from jimmyharris on Flickr
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