Raleigh half? (Page 10)

You could rent one. I think InsideOut Sports in Raleigh/Cary rent them and probably companies associated with IM.

If they don't have official wetsuit strippers then I'm sure any volunteer would gladly help you out of the wetsuit.

I wonder what the equation to calculate when fgump goes cycling/running past me depending on the water temperature! :-) For qrkid it doesnt matter because even though he swims zig-zags and finds bouys that don't exist to swim around, its irrelevant when you spend an hour less on the run :-)

http://www.ironman.com/~/media/586dee8a5a3b43348c2ba7b4afe55428/raleigh%20bib%20list%205%208.pdf

I am 709

louiskie 839

qrkid 863

Go find yourself!

Bib #941  Jason "Alan" Parker

ETA:  I totally read "Go find yourself" wrong the first time!

I beat qrkid on bib number!!! YESSSS

I highly doubt that over half the field will choose to take themselves out of the running for awards.

I would guess that a few hundred at most will opt for the 8:22 wetsuit wave.

Time will tell. The number in my head is much lower! And just FYI, this is not something I just decided to implement for just this race. We have been doing this for a while! Everyone needs to be prepared for the swim, wetsuit or no wetsuit. And lets not forget that there is a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run after that!

Its cool seeing all the chatter about the race, must mean we are getting close! I remember our first site visit to Raleigh over two years ago and thinking how far off the actual race was!

What are we talking here? 12 age groups x 2 sexes x 3 awards/AG = 72 AG awards.  With 2500 participants, do you really think that 2200 people honestly think that they have a snowball's chance at one of the 72 awards? I'd say that much more than half the field knows they have no chance at an award and would wear a wetsuit to make what many consider the toughest part of the race a more pleasant experience.

I agree with Alan on this one. I see a few hundred swimming in the wetsuit wave if water temp goes over 76.1

I already go against your most people know they will not get an AG award or Vegas slot so they will opt to use a suit. I don't believe I have a real shot at top 3 in AG but if water is 76.2 I will not be wearing a suit. Oh yeah I also suck at swimming and a suit will benefit greatly, but the rules of the race are the rules of the race. If it was USAT rules I would be putting a suit on at 79.9 but it is WTC rules so it will be no suit for me unless it is under 76.1

It is almost like saying that if it is really windy on the bike we will change the drafting rule from 4 bike lengths to 2.5 b/c it will make a challenging bike course more enjoyable amd afterall we will be on the bike for the longest portion of the race.

Well, it's looking more and more like the discussion is going to be moot and I really hope it is.  Temperature was 66 yesterday and I don't think Jordan has had a 10 degree jump in 3 weeks or less.

BTW, is the temperature taken right on the surface? 3 feet below the surface?  There's definitely a difference between the two.

I happened to ride part of the bike course this morning but in the opposite direction.  Lots of riders out there on the course!  If my sense of direction is right, you had a pretty good wind for a point-to-point ride.  Probably at your back more often than not.  No matter what it was a nice day for a ride though.

Many good points here, Ironman SHOULD be tough.  But it is also a business.  And when people are deciding to sign up, they look at a number of things such as distance, typical temps for water and air around the time of the race, hilliness (there's a reason IMFL fills up so fast) and other things.  They also look at the rules at the time of the sign up and see that a wetsuit is allowed for non-AG award participants and when historically, the water temp has never been below 82 on the race date, that will encourage some who are weaker on the swim to sign up that may not have otherwise.  And the WTC wants those people too (and their dollars) otherwise they wouldn't have set up the rules that way.
So, thank you for respecting those of us who might be struggling through the swim, because if it's 90 degrees+ and 90% humidity, those of us who run all summer in those conditions will be respecting those of you not used to running in that kind of heat.