My friend Erik was taking pics of Julie (10:32!!) at IM FL over the weekend and saw this guy with flippers on the swim. At the turnaround he dropped them in the water, exited and ran over the mat, and retrieved them when he entered for the second lap. The official said something to him, took his flippers, and THEN LET HIM CONTINUE THE SWIM. (What the...???)
Cheaters have reached an all new low. C'mon folks, Ironman is not about Cheating-to-get-there. It's about courage, strength, perseverance, and integrity. What is the world coming to????
Let's find out who this guy is and make him famous.
P.S. - Congrats again to the following Real Ironmen: Julie, Terri, Erin, Tim, Michelle, Shelly and Lana (whose time I predicted) ;-)
24 comments:
WTF??He should have been disqualified for sure..Obviously knew it was illegal if he left them in the water at the turnaround. That makes me mad!!
Absolutely pathetic. He should have been pulled right there. Not only is he a cheat, he doesn't have a clue what this is all about.
Wow...that is just unreal. What's even worse is that he was allowed to continue. Pretty funny that somebody got him on camera though:)
Unreal, isn't it? The length that some people will go to. I was stunned when I saw the picture of this yesterday.
Hey Jenny! I think we should all put your post on our blogs and find out who this cheater is. Your post reminded me of IM LOU and on the swim at least 25% of the participants just ignored the bouys and were cutting as much distance as possible. It just fired me up as the officials just watched them do it, and no corrections were given. I thought to myself that it sure would be a lot easier taking that approach, but that's not my style by a long shot, and I would rather take longer completing my swim, and knowing that I completed what was expected of me, and was truthful and honest with myself and to the sport of triathlon.
Travis Oberrender according to this source:
http://trifathlete.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanks-for-playing.html
If true, he DNF'd, as he did several of his mountain bike and cycling races before according to a google search on his name.
He swam 1:57:22, biked 6:52:56, and recorded no run time. Guess he was tired, bwess his heart.
His wife finished a shade over 13 hours.
There is a guy in the 35 - 39 age group that finished the race but was DQed. Obviously a stab in the dark but this guy looks like he could be in that age group.
I really wish the IM folks would do something about all those who cut the swim course, wear flippers or otherwise blatantly cheat. Letting this stuff go just seems to encourage more and more each year. *SIGH*
I also think he was the guy DQ'd after he finished the whole race. His swim was a 1:18 - with flippers? Clearly not a swimmer!
If he is the guy who got DQ'd at the end the race did him a favor by making him finish - and then not giving him his due. ha ha - cheaters never win!
by the way - the 'thanks for playing' link is no more. So perhaps that wasn't the guy.
i love the look of your blog- maybe i haven't visited for a while?? great to see you the other night.
Yeah, I would have been mad to be swimming next to that guy, like you said, "what the??". Down with Cheaters!!
kids together soon!!!!!! i like your idea of playing hookey!!! life is too short!!
If you cut the course, it should be a DNF or disqualification. There is no room for cheaters in our sport!
The race website reports two DQs
BAKER BILL WINONA MN USA M50-54 and
ROUDIERE PHILIPPE MAS SAINTES P FRA M35-39
I KNOW!! I heard about this a few days ago! What was he thinking?!?!
What is the point? Surely doing an Ironman is a personal achievement above all else! What exactly did he acheive even if he was not DQ?
The same goes for all those that cut the swim or drafted. You can't not in your own heart call yourself an Ironman, even if you have the piece of paper that says you finished.
Well, he took his flippers off for the turnaround because it's difficult to run with flippers. Have you people ever seen a penguin run?
No.
Exactly.
I think it shows initiative and I'm shocked at all the negative comments on here.
NAS needs to identify and DQ the guy. I don't think they have yet. Compare the pics on the blog with this guy:
http://www.asiorders.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=32041&BIB=598
His 2007 pics show the same QR wetsuit.
While I am against cheating, I'd have to say I think it's odd that in your profile the first thing you say is "I am a Christian" and then you go on to crucify a guy who may or may not be cheating. I hope you have NEVER made a mistake in your life.
Bethany - thanks for your input. Christians do believe in justice for all. And the proof is in the eye-witnesses (plural) and photo documentation that this man is cheating.
My friend Erik was THERE taking the pictures. The guy swam the first loop with them, then was holding them against himself while he maneuvered over to the spot where he dropped them in the surf (why hide them?), he then ran over the timing mat without them (again, why not keep them in your hand? Why leave them out in the surf?), then he retrieved them back from the surf and began running into the water to swim the 2nd lap.
As you can see in the second photo, the race official has taken them away from him. If they were legal, the race official would not have taken them away. Erik said the official took them, put them into the seat compartment on his wave runner, then let the guy finish the swim.
My point is that he should have been DQ'd on the spot.
Obviously you aren't doing this sport, and don't understand what it takes and what it means to be an Ironman. I hope you try it someday! It's an amazing testament to the beauty and power, strength and endurance of your own body against the elements. I am certain you would find it thrilling.
And if in the future you want to hurl rocks at me (on my blog!) for being a Christian, you can step up and not be anonymous. I would love to hear back from you what your argument is that "he may or may not be cheating".
Unbelievable. Cheating with fins. I will say that IMFL races have been notorious for illegal actions in glorious photography.
You and I did that race together in 2006 Jen, and I am sure you recall the helicopter picture of several dozen swimmers cutting the buoys. Then it was either 2006 or 2007 that the photo jumped online of the peleton of riders disregarding the bike margins.
Cheaters never prosper.
Come on, Bethany isn't anonymous...and although I don't agree with her, she has a point, and you just justified her point to a T by crucifying HER. Sorry, you just bit...!
Bethany is smart and chooses not to be a public figure by blogging. There are some blogs out there in this sport that are total inane crap (not yours), the "look at me, I am so cool" blogs that scream "no self-esteem in MY world". They invite crazy comments. ALL public blogs, whether pertinent or not, are going to get good and bad comments. If you can't handle both, then don't publicly blog about life and let people comment!! I find it hilarious that people get so bent out of shape about comments that they deem "bad", and then they blog to their heart's content and rip on these people in them! And that is different from the person who left the undesirable comment because...?
djh - Dana in California - Do you know what a troll is? They are small friendless people who hide under bridges, jumping out from time to time to assault the happy travelers living above ground. Then they crawl back under the bridge where it's slimy and cold and lonely and eat whatever prey they captured. It's not pretty.
Our community of triathletes in Minnesota truly love one another inside and outside our sport, and we are genuinely happy for each other when we do well, or get married or have adorable kids. We blog about our wins and losses and triumphs and trials because our friends want to hear it, and this way we can speak to a lot of people in one post, rather than trying to communicate to all our friends one at a time.
Maybe you don't have a lot of friends in CA where you live, but we are a warm and welcoming group here. I have read what you say on one of my friend's blogs and it reveals such deep resentment, anger, jealousy and loneliness on your part.
What is your point? Why do you do that? Why do you hide your identity in blogspot? Why even have a profile? Is it only because you need to have one in order to leave your mean comments on blogs that refuse anonymous ones? Are you that desperate to be publicly mean? Can't you see that I refuse anonymous comments because I don't want people like you being mean to me in front of my friends? It's kind of embarrassing. What do you get out of this? Do you see anything in your behavior that would have pushed people away from you in the past as well as currently? CAn you see that you've become a troll? When you were little, did you want to be a bully when you grew up? Why are you a cyber bully now? Can't you just be happy with your new life in CA and your new adorable baby?
I am actually pretty intrigued by the way you are stalking people and am interested to hear about why you are that way. If I could in some small way show you kindness and honesty and truth and integrity, I would be happy to oblige. My email address is in my profile if you'd like to talk privately. You CAN have a nice life being nice to people. Being mean to people you don't even know has got to be hard on your soul.
I don't want to be rude, but would you mind not visiting my blog anymore? It's for my friends and me.
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