I watched a couple of draft legal races on television this summer and I didn't like it. Its toally out of character for the triathlon. How you do is too dependent on which pack you get in on the bike.  It actually seems silly to allow it.  Trithlon is an individual sport; not some semi-team event  for one segment.

I am actually doing a draft legal race in a couple of weeks.  It is bike/kayak/run race.  The bike has a Lemans start, not sure how long the run is, a couple of hundred yards.  The course has some rollers and one big climb, part of which is on dirt with a dirt descent, so that will break up the pack.  I think it would be an interesting format for a race with a swim too.

No,  I feel a triathlon is an individual sport and the "best"  all around athlete should win. I believe drafting offers an unfair advantage to those cyclists that are not as strong as others.

During my tri this weekend I was passed by 4-5 guys on nice carbon bikes that were I would say maybe 3-4 feet apart as the passed a few bikers in a row.  I could have just been a lack of room but we were on a stretch with no officials so who knows.

I think that drafting would definitely diminish the best athlete aspect of the sport. Looking at all 3 disciplines - drafting is of inordinate value on the bike. Any speed over 20mph is a race against air resistance. Being in a peloton will reduce the workload by 30%. Does drafting reduce the workload in either swimming or running by even 1/3 this amount. I don't think so.

It is nearly impossible for a solo rider to outrun 3 riders of 10% less strength. If you want to legalize drafting then go ahead and make it a team sport.

Drafting creates tactics. I thought the purpose of the original triathlon event was to see who was the strongest, best, fittest (pick your adjective) athlete. Not who could weasel their way into a win or placing.

I find it interesting that the majority of people on this post don't even want to try a draft-legal tri. I seriously doubt that the USAT is all of a sudden going to mandate that all triathlons become draft legal. Though there was an excellent point made earlier that the future of American triathletes competing on the ITU and Olympic level would benefit from draft-legal racing.

So why are people resistant to giving it a shot? To clarify, I'm really only thinking about Olympic- and maybe sprint-distance races. The length of 140.6 and half-distance bike legs are so long, I don't think drafting would benefit the race all that much. But are folks really that afraid of people on beach cruisers suddenly popping the podium champagne?

I guess I'm just looking at it as another version of tri (like Gale says) that could be available to us--the same way an off-road tri requires a mountain bike, other races require kayaks and some just require more than one leg.

There's also the competitive angle. I'd like to pit the legs and cycling smarts that power my $900 Specialized Allez Sport , cheap helmet and no tri bars against the legs and bike skills of the guys who rock the Cervelo P3 and aero helmet (though I also agree with the poster who said tri bikes shouldn't be allowed in draft-legal races for safety reasons). I think it'd be fun. I don't see any problem with adding smarts and skills to a contest of strength and speed. And don't worry, you'll beat me in the run...unless you average 10-minute miles, too.