Now, this post isn't a rant to criticize the decision to cancel the swim. For me, that decision was pretty straight forward. There were shark (or sharks depending on whose story you are hearing) in the water moving towards swimmers and so water safety had no option but to pull the pin. Once the water safety had made the decision to get people out of the water, then Ironman had no choice but to comply. Rules are rules and in the end whether they are overly conservative or not, they are there to ensure they safety of everyone. Not a lot that you can do about it. Moving on.
In fact if I am going to say anything about the swim cancellation is that I think Ironman handled it pretty well. I mean they must have had contingencies in place for just such an event (it is Busselton after all), but still it is one thing to have a contingency and another to execute it. Whilst it wasn't seamless I think Ironman did a good job of getting everybody together and getting the race back underway, quickly and without too much grief. Frustrating decision for sure, but pretty well done. Kudos.
There were a couple of things about the changed event that I thought were interested, but I am not all that surprised about. Firstly, nowhere was the word shark used. Everybody knew that there was a shark or sharks in the water, but it was never actually said. I am not sure whether that was to avoid panic of for some other reason, but I never heard it given as an official reason. I suspect that wasn't down to Ironman, but probably more down to how these events are usually handled, but I thought it was interesting all the same.
The other thing that I found interesting is that I don't think I heard anyone called an Ironman at the finish line. I hadn't noticed it, but then a friend pointed it out, they called people over the line with 'you are a champion' or something similar, but those iconic words 'you are an Ironman' weren't used. Once again not all that surprising, after all there was no swim, so it wasn't actually an Ironman. But to take that to the extent of not acknowledging it at the finish line felt a little petty, they had just spent hours racing through horrific conditions after all. Now I may be completely off base here and there may not have been a deliberate decision to not call it an Ironman, but if I am honest it wouldn't really surprise me if Ironman had made that decision.
Okay, so all that aside, what does this latest cancelled swim mean for Busselton Ironman events?
Well, without a doubt this latest cancellation will affect participation rates in the events next year, I think that is almost certain. There are numerous events that you can point to where one year it hasn't gone to plan and then the next year entries have struggled, Ironman Melbourne is the easiest of these examples that I can think of. Ironman Melbourne used to sell out in moment, until one year the swim got cut short because of bad weather. The year after the short swim the event either didn't sell out at all, or took a very long time too (I can't quite remember). The Avon Descent, a white water event here in Perth, is another classic example. Every year they get good conditions, the next edition of the race sells well. Every year the conditions are bad, the next year the entries struggle. Common sense really.
So yes, I think entries for the Busselton Ironman events next year will struggle. The Busselton Half Ironman event in May will still be popular due to the position it has in the local triathlon calendar, but I suspect it will lose some of the casual participants and some of the teams. I would be surprised if it sold out.
I think the impact on the Ironman event will be more pronounced. IMWA didn't sell out this year and I don't think it will next year either. Combine the shark with the tough weather and I think people will be spooked for next year, same goes for the 70.3. The 70.3 sold out quite quickly this year, however, I suspect it will take much longer next year, if it sells out at all.
So what can TriEvents (the race organiser) do to restore confidence and convince people to come and do the race. Well, in the end there isn't a lot that they can do, Geographe Bay is full of sharks and nothing is changing that in a hurry. But I think it is important for TriEvents to be seen doing something. Most triathletes in WA will hang around for next year even if they do nothing. However, if they do nothing for 2018 and there is another swim cancelled due to shark then that will be exasperating quite a few people and some might lose a bit of patience. My gut feel is that action is necessary on their behalf, even if just from a PR perspective. In years past they did the swim leg of the Half Ironman in a long rectangle along the beach, so it didn't go out so far. Perhaps that might be an option as it would mean that the sharks would have to come much closer to shore to trigger the 'shark too close' criteria that the water safety uses. It wouldn't eliminate the sharks, but it might reduce them.
However, if you remove the jetty swim from the Busselton Ironman, is it still the same? Without the iconic jetty swim the rest of IMWA is pretty average, not bad, but nothing to really write home about. A prettyish, but flat, kind of dull ride and a very open, quite repetitive run course. Not really the same.
Anyway, I am glad the problem isn't mine to solve as it really isn't an easy one. Pretty much whatever TriEvents do they are going to annoy people. If they change the swim the traditionalists are going to be disappointed and there will be calls of 'it isn't the same'. If they don't change the swim they will be accused of just being interested in money and not valuing the experience of the athlete. Tricky. Very interesting to see what they end up doing.
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