Subject: RE: Reminder-Herbalife LA Triathlon moved up a week 9/29 Looks like LAT will have a new way to start waves with a self seeded swim start
Participants will be allowed to self-determine at which time they begin the swim portion of HTLA. Those with the fastest anticipated swim time will be encouraged to start in the earliest grouping or stream. For the Olympic Distance, this would be below 22 minutes; for the Sprint it would be below 11 minutes.
The swim chute will be no different than our previous construction or other swim starts you've seen. Volunteers will be holding a sign that has a specific time on it (similar to a run pace for a half or full marathon ). Swimmers should line up in their appropriate anticipated time. Note, just like a running event, we will not force someone in a specific time/pace. It is on the honor system. This will allow some variability if friends, members of a triathlon club, co-workers from the same company, or family members want to swim together. We want swimmers to have maximum comfort and relaxation when entering the ocean.
Once a stream enters the start chute, swimmers will move toward the end of the chute, cross the timing mat and proceed directly into the water. Similar to a funnel. Your time starts when you cross the SwimStream timing mat. We will have streams of approximately 100 swimmers each (e.g., 100 swimmers in the under-22-minute Olympic swim stream ). We will run streams of swimmers until we get 400 participants in the water. At this point, athletes will be allowed into the water as earlier streams of swimmers finish and come up onto the beach. Lifeguards and our swim coordinators will assist in controlling the flow of the swimmers (like turning off and on a spigot ). |