North American Sports Policy on Family Finish Pen

If you are not familiar with triathlon this 'family finish pen' may seem odd. NA Sports has recently published a new policy aiming to curb the amount of family members and kids that enter the course over the final few hundred meters of Ironman and Ironman 70.3 to finish with their mom, dad, etc. Athletes make a lot of sacrifices to train for and complete half ironman and ironman events. One of the tangible rewards of completing these races is the photo(s) taken at the finishline. Often, especially as the Ironman events wear on into the night, more and more family members 'accompany' their racers to the finishline. Often these supporters unintentionally get in the way of other competitors finishing the event. It is both an issue of safety and etiquette. NA Sports must have received A LOT of complaints over the years to have to institute such a policy. In my opinion it is about time.