female athletes versus male athletes

[Tiggeroo]

I just watched the lifetime triathalon. This event bosts the largest purse in this field and is the first to do this with woman and men competing together I believe. They gave the men a 11:09 handicap. The women took the top three places. Without the nandicap a man would have won the race by around 2 minutes. Any thoughts on this? Do you think this was an appropriate handicap. They actually call it an equalizer.

 

[jrydberg]

Personally I think they should all run at the same time. Obviously the top women are up there with the top men. Let 'em sort it out at the finish line

 

[onecoolmama]

I agree. I would want to win knowing that I was playing on even ground!

 

[Tiggeroo]

This is staged at a very professional level. Of the 30 professionals competing at least 18 of them are on their way to Athens. So I imagine alot of thought went into the time difference. I seriously doubt that women and men can compete on an equal footing in an event like this. But the women came across the line comfortable while the first place man collapsed as soon as he crossed. So I'm thinking that the equaliser was set too large.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

If the top 3 finishers were woman it is pretty obvious that the "equalizer" was off by about 9 minutes if I am understanding your number correctly. Ideally the finishers would be mixed if the handicap were perfect.

 

[doxdogy]

I would say that their equalizer was way off. Just glancing at the 2 mile run for the military physical fitness test, the equalizer is only 2 minutes. Males would have to finish a 2 mile run in 13 minutes to score 100 points and females would have to finish it in 15 minutes to score 100 points. The military uses a sliding scale based on age. The older you are, the more time that is allowed.

 

[Tiggeroo]

From Lifetime Fitness's site here is how they compute the equalizer

Here’s how the Equalizer works: About three weeks before race time, Life Time Tri officials meet and peruse the list of pro athletes who have registered for the race. They compare the race times of male and female athletes over the same courses: What was the time difference between Barb Lindquist and Simon Whitfield in the International Triathlon Union Edmonton race? How did Greg Bennett and Michelli Jones cover the Wildflower course?

With those numbers in hand and the previous year’s LTF Tri times, officials compute a handicap for the women pro athletes. Last year, the handicap was 9 minutes 41 seconds. When the gun went off, Barb Lindquist and 15 women plunged into the water for their 1.5-kilometer swim and left 20 pro men standing on the shore for close to 10 minutes. The guys had 51.5 kilometers of swimming, biking and running to catch up. But they never did. Lindquist crossed the line 1 minute, 26 seconds ahead of Whitfield, the first male.

The Equalizer makes the Life Time Tri an exciting race to compete in, and to watch. For the second year, the entire race will be covered the same day on NBC Sports television. No other triathlon gets such immediate coverage; the Ironman in Hawaii, for example, is broadcast several weeks after the actual event.

 

[Saffron]

Seems to me they have to find a different way to calculate the equilizer. Maybe this year's time will set next year's event?

 

[vernon]

Looks like the handicap was way off. Unless they took steps to avoid it I would think the men athletes were also handicaped by having to thread their way through the slower women athletes. In a triathlon this would also manifest at the changeover areas where they would be crowded, something the elite men athletes wouldn't usually have to deal with. Granted it wouldn't make 9 minutes of difference, but it may have contributed to the reason the handicap was so out.

I can understand the argument for having such a handicap, although I don't agree with it. IMHO the cause for women athletes being treated as equal to men was done a lot more good when Paula Radcliffe (of Britain) managed to be the fastest British athlete (man or woman) of the London marathon in 2003. She was 1st of the women and her time (2 hours 15 minutes) would have been 16th in the mens race. IMHO that's a feat she should be very proud of. Much more so than the woman who won this particular triathlon because her handicap was a little off. It is in the longer events (marathon and ultra marathons) where it is projected that women athletes will be able to compete as equals with the men, it is certainly the case that their times are improving at a far greater rate than the mens.

 

[Tiggeroo]

The reason they said the crowding wasn't a problem is that the projections didn't have the men catching up to the women until they were both into the runs. Then the men should have passed the women. Also there were very few elite athletes who would be in the front of the pack. Even among the women there were 3 who were in the lead and then a large spread among the others. The women had slower swim times, and most of them had slower biking times, but in long distance running the gap narrows. But the top women's mile time was I believe 5:40 while the mens top times should have been just under 4:00. I will be watching these people in the olympic triathalon and marathon, where most of them are competing. Should be interesting.