by Doug Kopp

This feature is a continuation of the DeGray Lake Triathlon coverage in the October 2003 issue of Runner Triathlete News. To get all the details on the 2004 long course national championships, pick up a copy of the October issue of Runner Triathlete News. Subscribe to RTN today!

Race officials were out in force for both the DeGray Lake CATS Half Ironman and the DeGray Lake Sprint Triathlons. But the big shock may be that officials wrote up more than eight times the number of penalties in the sprint race as they did on the half Ironman race.

"How can this be?" you ask. Part of this is perhaps due to the fact that the competitors were more spread out on the longer course. Wave starts were five minutes apart in the long race and only three minutes apart in the short race. And the time element of doing the long course spreads the field out further.

Part of this may also be due to first time triathletes in a race - much more likely in a sprint race than in a half Ironman race. An estimated one-quarter to one-third of the field were first timers in the De Gray Lake sprint race. Many penalties in the sprint race were penalties commonly associated with first- timers not being familiar with drafting, blocking, entry and exit rules.

But four of the forty-nine penalties were for traffic law violations. One other penalty was for endangerment; that penalty resulted in a disqualification.

Ed Cheatham, USAT head official for the half Ironman race and also one of the sprint race officials, explained that most traffic law violation penalties occur when triathletes pass in the left lane of a two lane road with solid no-passing zone yellow lines in both lanes. A no-can-do for cars, trucks, SUVs, etc. A no-can-do for triathletes, either.

Cheatham also explained that an endangerment penalty can be called by officials if a triathlete creates a potentially life threatening situation. The disqualification was called because the violator nearly had an accident with a motor vehicle with the triathlete being in the wrong on a traffic law violation. A lightweight bike and triathlete are no match for four or more wheels of massive weight.

Sports organizations, including USAT, have had a tremendous struggle getting liability insurance for their events. Some of this struggle has been from past accident claims. But a big part of this has come from the wariness of insurance organizations on any situation as part of the fallout from the 9- 11 terrorism. Athletes need to use common sense and put their head ahead of their heart in racing if they want races to continue. Doing something that endangers lives isn't worth the few seconds one might take in being reckless on the course.