DRAFT BUSTERS

IT'S BEEN A BLIGHT ON THE SPORT FOR MORE THAN THREE DECADES, BUT TWO KIWI TRIATHLETES WERE DETERMINED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF DRAFTING IN TRI - AND THEY MIGHT'VE JUST CRACKED IT

- TIM HEMING

A sea change in triathlon's history was triggered because it was decided that drafting - the act of riding in a competitor's slipstream - couldn't be properly policed. It was almost 30 years ago, and the switch to draft-legal racing, abolishing the need for triathletes to mind the energy-saving gap, was a critical if controversial step to earning the sport its Olympic bow in Sydney 2000.

The rifts of that period - and there were plenty have mainly healed, and triathlon has evolved so now short-course draft-legal competition and the longer non-drafting scene reside more or less happily alongside one another.

But the issue of how to solve drafting, or - more bluntly and in the eyes of many - cheating, drags on. For amateurs looking to complete a first Ironman it's rarely a topic of concern, yet for those who love competition, especially the strong cyclists who feel most compromised, it remains the bane of racing lives. While different strategies have been adopted to try and enforce fairer racing, such as lengthening draft zones, putting more technical officials (or draft-busters) on course, and even introducing shame-inducing penalty laps on the run, nothing, as yet, has cracked the code.

SOLVING THE PROBLEM

It's long been thought that technology would provide the answer. But would any system be accurate enough, and would anyone be crazy enough to invest the years and cash in devising a niche product that had no guarantee of being embraced by race organisers?

Step forward two former pro triathletes from New Zealand, James Elvery and Dylan McNeice, and rewind nine years to the origins of Race Ranger.