Taking Responsibility

On Sunday the Sunshine Coast hosted the IM 70.3 World Championships. I would’ve loved to have been competing, but since I’d missed out on a spot I decided to film some of the action for my website and blog. I positioned myself on the Maroochy River bridge, lined up a shot and hit the record button. A fraction of what I captured and subsequently posted on my Facebook page has, shall we say, gone viral. At the time of writing this, a little more than 2 days since it was uploaded, the post has reached 32,000 people, the video has been viewed 15,000 times, shared 30 times and started a conversation that has ignited a debate among age groupers and pros alike.

The clip only lasts a minute. In the first 30secs we see a group of professional athletes (they do the sport for a living) riding, or at least attempting to ride, at the required distance of 12m between bikes. In the following 30secs we see a pack of age groupers with, what would appear to be, complete disregard for the rules. What they are doing is technically referred to as ‘drafting’ Basically they are cheating…and they know it.

Now not all of the age groupers on the day were involved in this type of behaviour. You’ll see some in this footage that have tried to ride off the front, others are sitting back. What you might not notice is that there are other ‘packs’ further back and in between lots and lots of empty spaces – spaces which could’ve been filled had these athletes decided to drop back and ride at the legally required distance. The crazy thing is, had the athletes all done the right thing, they probably would’ve a) recorded the same bike split and b) had fresher legs for the run as these bunches typically go through a series of surges which take far more from your legs than the drafting benefit delivers.

I’ve no wish to add anything here to the debate that’s currently raging on my Facebook Page what I’m more interested in doing is understanding what motivates people and why some actively avoided drafting whilst others willingly took part.

Yesterday I spoke with one age grouper, whom before the race I regarded as one of the favourites to podium in his category. He made the decision 50km into the bike leg to sit up and coast into T2 – no longer wishing to be part of something he regarded as farcical. This individual holds himself to a high set of values that guide him not just through his sporting goals, but also through his business and personal life

Personal standards are nothing more than a set of behaviors. These behaviors are built upon expectations you have of yourself in a variety of situations. They are in some respects performance standards. They lay down the benchmarks of performance for your life.

Your personal standards are reflected in how you treat yourself, and also in how you treat other people. They are also reflected in how you expect to be treated by other people.

When you have high standards you expect to be treated with the highest of regard. However, when your standards are low it suggests that you are lacking self-esteem. In such instances you probably allow yourself to fall prey to other people’s influence – and follow the herd.

In my opinion it was the herd mentality that created those packs on Sunday, and it’s the same herd mentality that now lays the blame at the feet of others – whether it be the organizers, the course, the conditions or their competitors.

What do you think?