I think we can all agree that there’s no substitute for the energy and excitement of onsite racing and actually competing on site, in the environment, and in person.

That said, RemoteRacing™ is an exciting additional method of racing that doesn’t require travel or time away from family and work, lowers the cost of racing, allows more frequent racing, doesn’t require being in a crowd of people, is more beginner friendly, and much more.

Athletes can now plan a race season with a blend of onsite and remote races that fits their budget, availability, and appetite for the fun and excitement of racing.

If you’re new to RemoteRacing, you might wonder about its “fairness,” especially if you’ve had any experience with “virtual racing” in the past.  You can find a comparison of RemoteRacing and Virtual Racing here.

But let’s use the gold standard for evaluating the “fairness” of RemoteRacing by comparing it directly to onsite racing.  With all things considered, RemoteRacing is actually far more fair than onsite racing.

Let's start with the big three: weather, equipment, and drafting.

Weather

With onsite racing, athletes face…

  • Different Heat and Humidity
    • Athletes with different swim start times will have different temperatures and humidity. Generally, later starters will have hotter races.  An environment that’s 10 degrees hotter can negatively impact your run time by as much as 20-30 minutes depending on race distance.
  • Different Start Times Results in Different Wind Conditions
    • Wind speed and direction can fluctuate significantly throughout the day.  Athletes with different start times will undoubtedly have different wind conditions.
  • Different Degrees of Acclimatization
    • Some athletes are much better acclimatized to race venue conditions due to where they happen to live while others are wholly unprepared.
    • Athletes with more flexible schedules might arrive early to acclimate while those with less flexibility can’t.

With RemoteRacing, you race in the environment you are accustomed to, and the results are Environment Normalized so that everyone has exactly the same weather and wind impacting their results.

Equipment

With onsite racing,…

  • Athletes with high-end bikes and wheels have a significant advantage. Lighter and more aero means faster, much faster. This discrepancy turns the physical competition into a financial one.

With RemoteRacing, a standard CdA and bike weight relative to each athlete’s size is used to put everyone on an even playing field with respect to bike equipment.

Drafting

With onsite racing,…

  • Drafting notoriously goes unpunished or is impossible to prevent.
  • Faster athletes who start in the mid to back on the bike will have much more “legal” drafting opportunity when continually passing people.
  • Faster athletes are often blocked from passing slower ones for extended periods of time due to course congestion.

With RemoteRacing, there is no benefit to drafting. Algorithms use the athletes' bike power and analyze the relationships between power, cadence, heartrate, and speed along with prior training data.

 

In addition to the big three, there are many other small factors that can cumulatively add up to a big impact on fairness, and it starts even before the race does.

Pre-race

With onsite racing, athletes face…

  • Different Sleep Quality
    • Those living close to the race locale can sleep in their own bed and likely get a better night sleep.
    • Those who are able to stay nearest the race venue get more sleep on race morning and shorter commute to the race site.
  • Different Time to Warm Up
    • Depending on your wave start time, you may not have the chance to properly warm up before you enter the water.
  • Different Wave Start Times
    • Everyone must leave transition, but some athletes will race right away while others may have a long wait before their wave, which impacts nutrition, fatigue, and nerves.

With RemoteRacing, everyone gets to sleep in their own bed, has the opportunity to warm up how they like, and are not differently impacted by wave start times.

Swim

With onsite racing, athletes face…

  • Different Impact of Relative Start Time
    • Faster swimmers in later waves need to swim around (or over) more people than faster swimmers in early waves.
    • Slower swimmers in earlier waves get “trampled” by more swimmers than slower swimmers in later waves.
  • Different Impact of Physical Contact
    • Athletes in smaller waves have less congestion to fight through.
    • Larger athletes are less impacted by congested swim starts than smaller athletes.
  • Different Opportunities to Draft
    • It depends on who’s around you, and how fast they are.
  • Different Congestion at Swim Exit

With RemoteRacing, you start on your own terms with no crowds to fight through, be trampled by, or draft off of.

Transitions

With onsite racing, athletes face…

  • Different Bike Rack Locations
    • Some athletes are forced to run further than others.
    • Some athletes have the disadvantage of running further with their bike rather than without their bike due to their position relative to bike in/out.
  • Different Levels of Congestion and Interference
    • Other competitors can crowd or impede your flow through transition or interfere with your gear.

With RemoteRacing, you set up transition how you want and everyone has the same amount of time to transition.

Aid-Station Support

With onsite racing, athletes have…

  • Different Levels of Aid Station Support
    • Mid-packers have more crowded aid stations making it difficult to get the aid they need and can slow them down.
    • Later runners may receive little to no aid if the aid stations run out of supplies.
    • Ice may not be available.
    • Cold water and sponges may not be cold anymore.

With RemoteRacing, all athletes have the same opportunity to prepare their own aid.

Age & Gender

With onsite racing,…

  • Males and younger age groups have a physiological advantage in the overall standings.
  • Younger athletes within each five-year age group have up to a five-year youth advantage over others in their age group.
  • In team competitions, those with more males or younger athletes have an advantage.

With RemoteRacing, age groups and overall standings remain, but the Equalizer levels the playing field for all ages and genders making possible exciting race formats like Team/Club competitions, Quad Squads, and Best Leg competitions that are fair for everyone who wants to participate.

 

Summary

While nothing will ever be completely fair, RemoteRacing is, in many ways, more fair than onsite racing.

There are still many reasons athletes will always want to race onsite, but a desire for more "fairness" is not one of them.

 

Related Articles