How does one get 4 penalties at Ironman World Championships
Oct 12th, 2009 • Category: BlogOctober 12, 2009
Two days post Ironman World Championships and I am still stunned as to my outcome; a DQ. It is unbelievable to me that a race of such prestige can hire such amateurs to hold the fate of an athletes outcome in their hand. I want it to be noted that I have not yet read any of the race reports that have been written either by WTC itself or by any other people who fell victim to this very poor sportsman ship type of behavior. I want to get my side of the story out through my thoughts with out any other influence. Below is a summary of the 4 penalties I received during the bike portion of the Ironman World Championships on October 10, 2009. I am and always have been a fair player and I stand true to my integrity as an athlete and human being.
Penalty Number 1: It was somewhere after we turned off the Queen K and were well into Kawaihae heading to Hawi. I had been caught by a large pack of woman somewhere around mile 25-30. The pack consisted of names like, Michellie Jones, Belinda Granger, Joanna Lawn, Miranda Carfrae and Rebekah Keat to name 5 of the 7-8 woman. The pack was strung out in a line and it looked as if everyone was staying the proper distance. There were times when the group would bunch up and that was especially true heading up any grade. We would ride consistent and then have to put on the brakes to naturally stay the distance. My first penalty came when I accidentally was pushed into the draft zone due to pace of the group slowing up not due to riding up the wheel. The pace would slow and boom-you are in the zone. That is how it happened; I was riding along and then the pace slowed I entered the draft zone by .5 meters and then got flashed a RED CARD.
Taking the Penalty: I took my 4 minutes in Hawi along with Michellie Jones and Rebekah Keat-they entered the tent about 20-30 seconds ahead of me. While we where there Joanna Lawn came in with her second one but I learned that was just serving a yellow which is a check in. I also learned she served her first one (4 min for drafting) on the highway. She must of been popped in our group as well but was able to take her 4 min in the first tent which was along the highway.
Penalty Number 2: Once leaving the tent I hammered to try and get back in the game to keep the other two woman in site. It looked as if Rebekah and Michellie had regrouped and added a few people on the way. I did all I could to just keep them in sight. As we turned back onto the Queen K things were starting to go a bit south. I was feeling how hard I had ridden the beginning and was having some fuel issues. The winds had picked up and around mile 80+ an age group guy caught me. I dropped back but then caught back up; I had my head down and new I was too close and before I knew it I was tagged again for drafting. He told me the next penalty box was in transition and to take it there.
Penalty number 3: After that referee left me I knew I was 2 strikes against me; I was bummed but I was still feeling like I was in the game. I would just take a little break in the transition. I was in no mans land or what I also like to call the “dead zone” when the third one happened. Still in need of fuel, the winds were pretty tough and I was swerving all over the road. I even said to my self, “wow Gina you are all over the road get yourself under control” when this woman came up to me with a VERY bad attitude almost like she was angry; like we had had some sort of confrontation earlier. Now it should be noted I had a red slash on my number indicating I was one penalty in. Anyway, she came blazing up to me and screamed I was blocking and flashed me a yellow card. I was STUNNED. Blocking? Blocking who? I was in no mans land at about 90 miles.
Penalty number 4: I was all over the place emotionally. First thought was…3 penalties….what. I guess I should quit. Then it was “no I am going to ride this in.” Then it was, “this is crazy I am going to ride in and protest this. I have been here 8 times, I know how to ride this course, I know how to ride period, I have had ONE penalty in my entire 10 year professional career and today I get 3? No no no, something isn’t right I am going to keep going.” I am at about mile 95-100 when I hear the motorcycle behind me again. An age group guy had passed me and I slowed down and let him get his distance. He was actually a dot and half in front of me, I hear the motorcycle just hovering behind me and when I look I see that it is the same lady referee. She rides up to me and stares me down. I was floored. I said “WHAT are you doing? I know how to ride, I have been here 8 times and I know what I am doing. I don’t get it.” I stood up as we are on a climb, not charging just standing and she glared right at me and took her stop watch and started it right in front of my face as if to say, Take That, and after 30 seconds she flashed me a red card, called me for drafting and rode away.
At this point I admit it, I lost it. I was crying and just have never felt so picked on in all my racing career and at the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS none the less. I then got so pissed I told myself I was going to finish this race and still get top 10. I rolled into transition in 9th place; I did go straight to the tent. It was total chaos. They had ran out of watches, there were people everywhere and the head referee was over his head with what to do. I told the head referee I wanted to protest, tried to explain quickly what had happened but he was lost for words. He said I could go run but that I needed to know I would most likely get DQ’d but that I could go have a good run and we would deal with it after the race. So into the changing tent I went, and off to the run I went and now I was in 16th place with the time lost in transition. Mentally, I was trying to wrap my mind behind what was happening. I was trying not to focus on it but at the same time I knew once I hit that highway on the run I was going to need all my mental strength to get through that run. It was then that I stopped to talk to my husband and tell him what happened to get his opinion. As you can imagine he was shocked and to make a long story short by the time I would run again I had lost so much time that at 8 miles it just seemed pointless to keep going just to finish. I have done this race too many times to know that it takes everything out of you to get through that marathon and I was just not willing to go there under those circumstances.
The thing that I want to get across is this. I am all about fair play and I will be the first to admit when I was wrong. Of the 4 penalties, I absolutely will accept number 2 and take full responsibility. Number 1 is questionable and I know I am not the only one who walked away with one of those. But number 3 and 4 to me was purely bad sportsmanship on the referee. She was out for blood. I am disgusted by her, she purposefully gave me penalties and DQ’d me. As far as I am concerned she has put a red mark on WTC and the types of people they hire. I have no idea how this can be made right, all that I worked for for that particular race is gone, I was disrespected as an athlete and as a supporter of WTC.
Nice writing style. I look forward to reading more in the future.
Gina,
We’ve been anxiously awaiting this blog!
I’m disgusted to hear that this can happen. . . ever. . .to any racer (not to mention a PRO). When I saw your original tweet (that you got 4 penalties & DQ) I knew something completely ridicuous had to have happened.
To get 4 penalties, a professional racer would have to be entirely delerious in caloric deficit, or blatantly trying to cheat. Obviously we know you’re a winner, in every possible way, and you would never try to get an unfair advantage. We support you all the way. Nothing will change what happened. But nothing will change the fact that you have the spirit of a champion.
I surely hope that the WTC board/head referees will take a close look at the fact that a returning top-10 finishing pro had this outcome under such circumstances. Absolutely ridiculous. It makes me boil.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Gina Kehr and Andy Harmon. Andy Harmon said: Can't believe @GinaKehr a returning top10 Pro gets DQ'd at Triathlon World Championships under such shady circumstances. http://bit.ly/I9hZl [...]
Saw your tweet and couldn’t help but drop a note. That is absolutely ridiculous. Why this ref (or any ref) would systematically want to “hunt you down” (or anyone down for that matter) makes no sense whatsoever. A ref assigning 4 penalties to a pro who makes their LIVING racing at this level is completely assinine – any rational person is reading this thining WTF.
[...] Gina’s blog post on this, check it out here: Gina Kehr’s Blog Mail this postSHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “It Just Takes one…”, url: [...]
thank you for your comment but I do want to make it clear, only penalty 3 and 4 were from the same referee.
Gina, Oh my God! I can’t believe this happened to you. I’m stunned and pretty much at a loss of words. I’m going to keep my ears open around town. Will get back to you.
I’m still shaking my head at this…. total disbelief.
Patrick
Gina,
This is ridiculous, you must protest.
And what more ridiculous is to hire unprofessinal persons/referres for such an event.
Organization failed in that matter. Period.
Keep us posted on what’s going on with the process. Keep faith … because we believe in you !
Gina,
We all just read this and feel for you….
Your integrity stands true from your actions….
Your actions have spoken for themselves for 40 years….. well I can only account for 37, lol !!!
Keep your head up! We love you! We’ll talk soon!
Rich
Gina,
Oh, I am so sorry to hear this… I was so psyched that you appeared so soon on the bike and thought to myself that you were out for another great race! Later in the day, I was standing in the GU tent along Alii Drive with Brooke (cheering our heads off for you!) and wondered what had happened to put you so far behind.
I cannot imagine your disappointment. To train this hard and come so far to be DQ’d under questionable “judgment” (somehow “air” quotes don’t translate to written word. Bummer.).
Should you pursue this and want help, please let me know. Seriously. I was standing in the grassy median on Palani Drive in the morning and was absolutely appalled at the lack of course marshals in that area. APPALLED. People were walking and running across the street directly in front of the athletes and yet I only saw TWO marshals in that last downhill block from the driveway to the corner. For a race as prestigious as this, for as fast as I know everyone was going (and how hard the TT bikes are to handle), and to only have a small amount of fencing and such few marshals? Completely inexcusable. It wasn’t fair to the athletes to have to worry that some clown would walk in front of them going 30-35 mph downhill. All you should be worrying about on that downhill is executing the corner. Period. I know how mad it made me, and I wasn’t even racing. I finally had to leave the area, as the chaos was just too much to take (my HR was super-elevated!).
Anyway, for such an important race, there need to be more professional people involved in both marshaling and officiating. Sorry to hear your outcome, but you should totally come back next year and kick some butt.
)
Holly
I am very sorry to hear about your treatment on the bike course. It sounds like there were a lot of officiating problems by the sheer number of pro women who were getting carded. I’ve read other pro racers reports and they all seem to corroborate your story. It sounds like they were a little over zealous at the start and then the athletes were frustrated and then the officials took it personal and started taking it out on all the other athletes which just went into a downward spiral as the day went on. I look forward to your racing next year. Good luck and …let it go….
Michael
Thank you Michael for the great response and for helping me to remember my moto… “let it go”
All my best to you-
Gina
I read on you twitter where it said DQ and I really had to look at it twice to believe it. Especially since it said 4 penalties. I thought no pro can get 4. I immediately knew somthing else was wrong. I felt so bad because I have read your blogs and twitters. I met you back in 05 when you were the asistant track coach at the Silicon Valley Tri Club ( your a great coach) I was at the San Jose Pro Challenge doing the Age group race and could see then you were in great shape ( looked like your best shape ever) so I know you have been training so hard. This whole penalty thing is BS and you deserved to be treated as a professional especially at a World Championship event.
Gina – I’m really sorry to hear about what happened in Kona this year. I was following the race online with my husband, Mike, and we were so excited as you moved up on the bike. We were cheering for you from Santa Cruz! I think everyone agrees about your integrity and high level of professionalism in this sport. It sounds like a complaint or some sort of follow-up could happen on your behalf, although I know that doesn’t change the outcome. I hope you are looking toward next year and like you said above, remembering to “let it go.” If you ever want a training partner, I’d love to train with you – and I definitely don’t mind driving up to your area. Stay positive.
Kristin
Gina, I can’t believe what happened to you. I first read about you in Jayne Williams’ book, where she mentioned that you used to coach track for SVTC, back in 2004 when I was learning about triathlons. I’ve been keeping up on your results since, and it’s always awesome to see your Top 10 finishes at Kona. I even met one of your clients from PAC at the start line of San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon, where he mentioned that you were getting him ready for Big Kahuna, and I told him that I was looking forward to reading about how you’ll do this year. I’m not a pro, I just do tri’s for fun, but still — what happened to you doesn’t make sense, it’s unprofessional and wrong because your record speaks for itself. I hope something positive will come out of this, I think they owe you for the time and training you took to prepare. I also agree to what was said above — I hope you return next year to kick some butt!
Best of luck,
Carolyn
Gina-
I of course, did not witness the circumstances you faced, but I know you as a competitor a person and to be sure, like so many others am “stunned” by these actions.
To think you were so calculating to be drafting in this frequency means in reality that you must have been in violation the entire ride. Of course, that is not possible though in order to “catch” you this number of times means well, you were an “easy mark”. Everyone knows this is not true. A professional athlete no matter how audacious would not do this.
Their needs to be a better way to enforce the rules (and clearer rules) and perhaps, someday there will be electronic and or gps systems in place to do this. In the interim, referee competency becomes most critical as professionals and amateurs alike have a lot at risk from their decisions. And therein lays an important consideration when certifying officials.
I have coached more IRONMAN finishers than most over the last 25 years. And in the 80’s and 90’s some of the best in the world. Even then, drafting in Kona was a huge problem yet, in all of those years I never witnessed (I was on the course) an athlete drafting with such blatant disregard for other competitors or the rules. Yes, there were always one or two people, and of course, the lead vehicles definitely provided an advantage, but 4 penalties…are simply impossible.
I wish this hadn’t happened to you. It is unfair and to be sure, IRONMAN should look very closely at this circumstance and make certain this never happens again.
Marc Evans