Im Lou...

[KSH]

Well, I knew about the TT start for the swim and for some odd reason I thought they would make everyone come in under 17 hours. So if you started at 7:00 AM your cut off was midnight. Sounds like they didn't track who got in the water first or late. So yea, that's kind of lame that those people who took longer than 17 hours are considered offical finishers. I'm sorry but I wouldn't take the medal. I would feel like I cheated to get it.

The swim was not wetsuit legal, the water was too warm. One of the selling points for me to do it in 2008!

The hills, I have heard they are not so bad. I live in Dallas, TX and it's pretty flat here too. If you read my thread where I say I signed up for IMKY 2008, you will see the review he gave of the hills. It's just all a matter of hill training.

[makbike]

Here is what I heard on the radio this afternoon regarding the start. According to the local guy who participated every participant had to wear a timing device which was actived when they entered the water and recorded their times along the way. I'm not and tri person so I don't know if this is norm but based on what he said in his interview the times were not adjusted. The started was handled the way it was due to river conditions and the point of entry they used was too narrow for all participants to spill into so for safety reasons they sent swimmers out one at at time. I would not doubt that the swimmers came in to shore covered in green slim, heck they were in the Ohio River. I do believe wet suits were premitted for they were asking for volunteers a couple of weeks ago to serve as wetsuit strippers.

To those to participated I tip my hat. For those who will join in the fun in the coming years I say go for it.

[Wahine]

The race would still be called wetsuit permitted or no on race day, depending on water temp. But they would have to have wetsuit strippers ready to go if they needed them.

I'm surprised they had to call for wetsuit strippers so late. That's a prime IM volunteer post. Think about it....

[Running Mommy]

Yep Mak- timing chips are the norm. We wear them on our ankles. There are timing mats throughout the course that record your time when you cross them. If you go on www.ironmanlive.com and click on the Louisville race banner, and then track an athlete, a box will pop up to enter the bib # enter bib 1539- or any random bib #. but then you will see what I mean. It has all the times posted.
I think once you finish the lag time is about 10-15 minutes before it hits the website. It's a very cool feature, and a great way to track your athlete from home. Besides the handy live web cam of course.

Hmmm... I may consider LOU in a couple of years, tho I'm not crazy about swimming in slime. But really the course isn't hilly? I had read recon reports from people training for it saying it was going to be hilly??
I think the humidity might do me in tho! Remember I'm a desert dweller. I thrive in 10% humidity.

[silver]

Here is what I heard on the radio this afternoon regarding the start. According to the local guy who participated every participant had to wear a timing device which was actived when they entered the water and recorded their times along the way. I'm not and tri person so I don't know if this is norm but based on what he said in his interview the times were not adjusted. The started was handled the way it was due to river conditions and the point of entry they used was too narrow for all participants to spill into so for safety reasons they sent swimmers out one at at time. I would not doubt that the swimmers came in to shore covered in green slim, heck they were in the Ohio River. I do believe wet suits were premitted for they were asking for volunteers a couple of weeks ago to serve as wetsuit strippers.

To those to participated I tip my hat. For those who will join in the fun in the coming years I say go for it.

It's normal for races to use that type of timing. They are timed with "chips" computer chips that you wear on my ankle. The chip is activated and your start time is recorded when you cross a mat just before you enter the water. That is your official start time. Then as you progress along the course you cross subsequent mats, recording your progress. This is how we are able to "follow" a participant along the course.

So for instance, say a person started at 7:05 and finished at 12:10 that would be recorded as taking 17:05 total time. Another person could have started at 7:15 and finished at the same time 12:10, but their total time would be 16:55.

I don't think that I'd feel right accepting the medal. I don't know how they could have "fixed" the problem, unless they checked each persons CHIP time as they crossed the finish line.