Colonies Zone SCY Championships - Fairfax VA

While I can certainly understand the frustration people feel about being shut out of the event and while I also enjoy poking fun at triathletes for the sole reason that it gets an unfailingly amusing rise out of my triathlete brother, I agree with the folks pointing out that Team Z didn't do anything wrong. I think they are coming from a culture in which events tend to fill up quickly and as such were faster off the blocks to register. I think that looking at changes for the future is certainly warranted and perhaps both factions (and I think penguinfan makes a good point that they are not always as clear cut as this thread makes them seen) could shift their cultures a bit - triathletes to putting more emphasis on the racing aspect of the event as well as participation in more events and swimmers to entering events earlier. I am entering an open water event later this year that is heavy on the triathletes and I can almost guarantee that I will do something out of ignorance to irritate some of them. I did one triathlon a while back and my lack of alacrity through the chute leading to the transition zone from the water did not make me popular. (I was 19th out of the water and finished somewhere around 350, to give you an idea of why this might have been such a party foul. Triathlons are decidedly Not My Thing.)

While I can certainly understand the frustration people feel about being shut out of the event and while I also enjoy poking fun at triathletes for the sole reason that it gets an unfailingly amusing rise out of my triathlete brother, I agree with the folks pointing out that Team Z didn't do anything wrong. I think they are coming from a culture in which events tend to fill up quickly and as such were faster off the blocks to register. I think that looking at changes for the future is certainly warranted and perhaps both factions (and I think penguinfan makes a good point that they are not always as clear cut as this thread makes them seen) could shift their cultures a bit - triathletes to putting more emphasis on the racing aspect of the event as well as participation in more events and swimmers to entering events earlier. I am entering an open water event later this year that is heavy on the triathletes and I can almost guarantee that I will do something out of ignorance to irritate some of them. I did one triathlon a while back and my lack of alacrity through the chute leading to the transition zone from the water did not make me popular. (I was 19th out of the water and finished somewhere around 350, to give you an idea of why this might have been such a party foul. Triathlons are decidedly Not My Thing.)