I’d lean to agreeing. Certainly is what Skipper claims, that AG are going to Hawaii largely because of the pro fields and that without the pros IM wouldn’t have a multi-million dollar business.
And yet imagine what the AG entry fee and numbers would need to be to double the IM prize money.
As @buzz and others said, the real Q is how much are advertisers willing to pay. Joe compares himself to top golfers having to pay $20k out of pocket to compete at a major masters.
Without recognising that many sports have less degree of professionalism, and most Olympic athletes are hardly living plush lifestyles even with federation support. A
Sounds like that’s how it’s perceived. When reality might be they should be lucky to be in a sport they can earn money from. By all means try and grow triathlon and increase that purse, and yes they should have a fair share of what they bring to other companies, but true Q is whether tri is big enough for that.
Kona lose its appeal but IM won’t. Triathlon in its infancy had sponsors throwing money at athletes and prize pools. It was new and shiny.
The F1 series in Sydney used to shut places like Manly down, just for a race. All televised live on channel 9. That’s about as high profile as it gets.
There isn’t a single pro triathlete that I care about being at a race or anything they schill that would influence my buying decisions.
I’m glad they are at Kona, I’m glad the race exists but wouldn’t lose sleep if it didn’t.
Which is easier to say because I’m slow of course.
Really? Why? Numerous events run a 3.8/180/42.2 distance race. The only copyright claim Ironman have is anything associated with the word “iron” it seems
It’s a brave race organiser that moves away from the “standard” race distances
Does anyone remember Tristar? I think they experimented with a race in Spain which started with a mass start, draft legal bike leg, then a swim across a river with a run at the end. I don’t think they survived for very long.
There does seem a sort of orthodoxy of distances, well published distances , but PTO have already shown they prepared to change them. They could do other cool stuff like have a sprint Saturday a.m., Standard p.m. then their half distance on the Sunday with points for the overall winner. I know this is the sort of thing that happened in the past but it would be a good watch and I reckon could make a better highlights package.
I’ve heard @mw22 swims to work upstream in the Trent, then runs via Leicester to home, before bench pressing 140kg non-stop until it’s time for the TT TT
Always thought the o3 format is almost there, 4k 120k 30k, id probably go something like 5k, 150k, 50k
Or whatabout 10k, 100k, 40k 2hrs each event for the best at solo sports
No, because it didn’t consider the physiological parity of the 3 sports. 3h of biking is not equal to the same duration of swimming/running unless it’s uphill a the way.
So a silly suggestion. BUT that said, if they were brave enough to put up a long course race at the same time as Kona and take all of the main pro’s with them, I’m sure IM might try and claim infringement even if no solid basis. Might not be such a bad thing to take the chance to go 4-160-42.
Agree I think this is the best distance, but finishing long-course with a marathon is so well understood that it’s hard to see moving away from that.
I think anything more extreme than that would be fine as one race on the calendar but not take off.
, but PTO have already shown they prepared to change them. They could do other cool stuff like have a sprint Saturday a.m., Standard p.m. then their half distance on the Sunday with points for the overall winner. I know this is the sort of thing that happened in the past but it would be a good watch and I reckon could make a better highlights package.
