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A pair of Coloradans - Sarah Haskins of Colorado Springs and Mike Reed of Boulder - took the titles at yesterday's 27th annual Chicago Triathlon. Haskins won the women's title by 35 seconds over Sarah Groff and Reed won the men's race by 57 seconds ahead of Matt Chrabot. But despite excellent weather yesterday, the triathlon was marred by crashes in the 24.9 mile cycling phase that cost lead contenders Julie Dibens, a 2004 British Olympian, and U.S. Olympian Andy Potts a shot at winning.
According to the Trib's report, one-fourth of the way through the cycling phase, Dibens was cut off by a couple of amateur riders and subsequently crashed, meaning she arrived at the finish line in an unexpected way: by ambulance. In the crash that cost Potts the men's title, an amateur rider drifted in front of him causing a collision that threw Potts off his bike and skidding onto the pavement. The crash broke Pott's bike frame and rear wheel and he was taken to Northwestern Hospital after passing out while being treated for road rash.
Cycling crashes among elite riders isn't normally an issue, according to the Tribune:
In theory, cycling crashes should not be a factor among highly skilled elite riders in triathlons that, like Chicago's, do not allow drafting -- especially under dry, sunny conditions like Sunday's, even given the notoriously bumpy road conditions in Chicago.But add some 9,000 amateurs who make the Chicago event the world's largest triathlon, and the mix becomes less stable than it would were the professionals allowed to race alone, as they do in many mass participation triathlons.
The controversy over inclusion of amateurs in an endurance event has also been brought up before in regards to the Chicago Marathon, particularly in 2007 when hotter-than-usual conditions left inexperienced and veteran runners alike swooning.
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I actually took the bus down to 79th street yesterday via LSD to do a 20 mile run. At the north end of the drive I saw a few ambulances. It was weird though because while there were many bikers in 3,000 dollar bikes who looked like athletes there were twice as many people on crusing bikes who appeared to be not even non-athletes but like they were on a sunday bike rid. Most of them didn't even have racing bikes at all.
While I understand that it's great that anyone can participate in these events, I don't think it means that anyone SHOULD participate in these events. I'm training my ass off for the Chicago marathon so I can get a time that is not only respectable but something that I worked hard for. There's a lot of people in both the triathalon and the marathon who just should not be on the course. period.
"There's a lot of people in both the triathalon and the marathon who just should not be on the course. period. "
And by that I mean people who are walking half the thing or, like the bike cruisers above, are doing it for god knows what reasons.
Next time I think the triathalon course should be seperated between elite riders and regular ones to avoid entanglments like this.
The Triathlon should either be an elite event or an event that is open (and elites should understand it as such, including all the issues that come with it). The Chicago Criterion is only for elite athletes so the precedent is there.
There is of course an argument that this event has gotten so big that people should be required to qualify (like Boston) or at least compete in one tri prior to competing in the Chicago tri. This would reduce the first-timers mistakes. Personally, I would never do this event given all that I've heard about people getting run into or swum over.
The Marathon is a 100% different event. That is running only (no complicated transitions or high speed bikes), and there is separation of the faster runners at the beginning. There is no reason to limit the field like Boston - the Chicago Marathon is known for being beginner friendly.
The problem isn't including amateurs, it's in the poor planning that resulted in the elite triathletes going AFTER the amateurs. As a result, there were still amateurs on the course while the elites were racing. In most well-planned triathlons, the elites race first.
If the event is open to anyone, then the "elite" athletes should consider the wayward amateur cyclists as just another obstacle in the event.
Just because some Olympic dude crashes doesn't mean there is something wrong with everyone else, he just doesn't know how to race in a crowd of amateurs. He's so used to riding with other "elites" that he had no idea how to avoid "drifting amateurs". That makes this race race even more interesting. The more challenges thrown in, the more "elite" the winners!
Next year, they should add goats and chickens to the course!
you spent alot of time on that post, didnt you?
about 16 seconds.
or about as long as it took for an amateur cyclist to take out 3 "elites".
I'm unhappy with the reporting here and at the tribune-- nothing explains why amateurs were in front of the professionals. It also doesn't explain how many other crashes there were -- did only these two crashes occur (meaning there's something wrong with the elites expectations), or were people running into each other all over the race(meaing the amateurs were causing chaos everywhere, not just to the pro's)
Dibbens crash sounds like a mistake on her part -- in the midst of riders she believes are novices and getting ready for a turn, she looks away. Pott's crash also sounds like his fault too -- trying to pass / weave through slower moving riders at high speed is risky, especially when they're novices.
But all of that could have been prevented by putting the pros in the first heat to begin with.
garlic,
Thanks for your comments. I think we’re hearing only about these two crashes because they involved professionals who were highly anticipated to win or place. Apparently Potts was having one of his best years racing and won or placed in every triathlon he participated in this year. Dibens was also having a great year and just beat a two time Ironman world champ a couple of weeks ago. The fact that these two were knocked out affected the outcome tremendously and made it an entirely different race.
Dibens remarked in the Trib article, "...It's still my responsibility to look where I'm going, but it would have been much better to have the road to ourselves." So she isn’t entirely blaming her crash on the amateurs.
I’m sure there were other bike collisions and injuries but just as we have the pros starting the race later than the amateurs because it draws a bigger crowd (thanks mcgirl for that info!) …pros who are slated to win colliding with amateurs draws more readers than amateurs running into amateurs – possibly the reason I've found no accounts of bike crashes other than these two.
I did the tri yesterday as part of a relay (my 2nd time doing it) and was almost finished with the bike course when the pros came through. There was not a lead car honking its horn to notify the riders that the pros were coming through (they had this last year). But their start time was published along with all the waves and all the riders in the later waves should have been aware of it.
There were a lot of novice riders out there who bobbed, weaved and drifted to the passing lane and seemed completely unaware of their actions or the impact they could have on riders behind them - but sadly this is no different than riding on the lakefront path or doing Bike the Drive. I'm an avid rider, and dealing w/novices is something you just have to get used to. Stay aware of those around you and ride defensively.
To address the question of the pro's going after the amateurs, it's done b/c of TV (the pros were filmed last year) and b/c the later start time draws a bigger crowd.