did not want to hi-jack the maple grove tri star thread

hehehehehe...let me be an Elite for a day!

Oh Yeah BABY!

My experience has been that the "Elite" catagory in MN has been selected by the racer and no real checking has been done by RD to see if someone "qualifies."  When I've seen it, there has been little done to recitify the benefits some of these people had at the race: Start in the first wave, so they don't have to swim around anyone struggling in the group ahead of them.  If a good swimmer, less need to deal with passing bikers who are slower and came out of the swim ahead of them.  Some times, a very convienent bike rack (old chisago transition set up and HOTL for overall results).

I don't sign up Elite, because the embarasment I'd feel for having a time that is signifiicantly slower then many of the "real elites" keeps me from taking advantage of some of the said benefits.

Exactly.  Even if my projected time is faster than what the RD considers elite, I don't want to be 'that guy'.  Just stick me in with all the rest of the AG-ers. 

One thing I've always liked about Tris is that average schmos like me can compete on the same course right along with the pros - something that can't be said about baseball, football, hockey, etc.  That said, I'm torn on the whole elite issue. 

On one side, I think there should be some kind of qualification process for athletes to compete in the elite category.  At the very least I should have to show a race resume in order to qualify for a smaller wave and preferred rack spots.  I'm not sure how realistic this is with most RDs already having too much on their plates to deal with wave seeding.

On the other side, maybe elite waves should be done away with entirely.  If one is truly elite, then they should have no problem dealing with the human washing machine and crowded courses that the rest of us schmos experience.  (Pros are a diffent story - if my sponsorship dollars depended on my race results, I'd want every advantage possible.)

The whole point of an "elite" wave is not to give certain people a time advantage.  It's to give the people contending for overall placings a fair race against each other. 

That's also why age groups start together, and in races where rack position matters, rack together.  To give the racers in that AG a fair race against each other.

The only legit complaint I see in this thread is the occasional race that allows elites to double-dip for AG awards.  That's pretty bogus IMO.  It's also an easily correctable issue, so tell the RD's your thoughts.  They'll change if enough people complain.

wow!  i am really glad i asked about this.  You all have brought up some great points, that i did not think of previously. 

All summer i thought the local "elites" had met the USAT elite qualifications.  That was actually a little discouraging to me, because that is something that is very out of reach.  However, some day i can set my goals/hopes on being a respectable "elite" in local races. 

Pete. The way you raced today at St. Croix Valley Tri I would recommend sign up as Elite. Need to work on the run and you'll be PRO!

Found this in Square Lake short course. This guy declared as Elite so he can swim without getting clobbered on by common people. Smart move.  

  271   6/6     257 Walt Johnson            E    56 M   St Paul            MN   94 15:07  1:44  6:28  167   54:19  18.2  2:50  336 50:47 10:10 2:09:29

Pete: regarding the St Paul tri, I posted this comment on your race report, just wanted to make sure you saw it, and I'm interested to hear your answer. Thanks:

Awesome race, Pete. Just looking at your race reports, you're obviously an awesome swimmer, but also have made great strides in just one year on the running. I have two questions for you: 1) How did you get to be such a great swimmer? 2) what did you do over the winter and spring to improve your run times by nearly a minute/mile? That is a fantastic gain for one year!

Congrats again

Awesome response, Pete! That was exactly what I was looking for. I a diver in college 16 years ago (I did swim in high school), but watching Linda Gallo (the distance swimmer on our team) come out of the water at IMMOO a few years ago nearly 2 minutes ahead of the next woman and 8th overall (just behind Chris Lieto and less then 2 minutes behind the swim leader) got me intrigued in triathlons. 

I'm hoping I can do what you did over this winter, with the goal of doing some HIMs next summer. 6 days a week of training, approximately 7-9 individual workouts (a couple of days of bricks) with 2 long workouts per week, and lose some weight. I actually have lost 20 lbs since January when I signed up for the MG tri, but definitely still have work to do.  If you look at my logs, it's easy to see I still need to put in more time on the run, and especially the swim. 

Anyway, congrats on the great improvement, and thanks again for the thorough response!

One other thing that i think helped me, is stretching.  I stretch a lot, all day long! At our age i think it is important.  As a former diver, i am guessing you already know this.

feel free to ask anything at all.  I am a bit obsessive compulsive, so i have read everything tri related, that i can get my hands on.  I love to theorize about anything tri related....