Recently the World Triathlon Corp bought Geneva's Musselman Triathlon. According to articles, participation decreased from 900 to 300 per year making it unsustainable for the event organizers to continue to the race without WTC support and licensing.
Contrary to many Reddit users I believe there are pros and cons to the WTC's continued purchasing of regional races. I want to hear what r/triathlon thinks. Here are some initial thoughts:
Pros:
- Ironman has brand recognition outside of our world. We all have lives outside of triathlons and many want to share our accomplishments with the world. Ironman has name and brand (logo) recognition. This gives more credibility to posts on social media where many of us have accounts. Spartan, Tough Mudder, and Warrior dash all have similar recognition.
- Potential economies of scale. Let's face it, triathlons are expensive. There are a ton of logistical hurdles that need to be addressed before a race can be successfully launched. Insurance, permits, timing, merch, and volunteers come to mind. If World Triathlon Corporation can manage to run a couple of dozen events around the world every year, I believe it's possible some of those savings are being passed onto the consumer (competitor).
Cons:
- Affordability. Similar to point two: triathlons are expensive. An Ironman triathlon costs upwards of $700. That's equivalent to a week at Disney World or a two-weekend music festival. Ironman is putting on an experience, one we voluntarily sign up for. But, at what price point do Ironman's profit margins start to cannibalize new and returning competitors?
I would love to hear people's thoughts. Everyone is welcome. Current and Future Ironmans/Ironwomans. Please mention if you're a race organizer as well, i'm curious to hear what you think!
Hi Reddit! This is my first time doing an AMA here and I'm both nervous and excited :) I'm just off a 5th place finish at the Oceanside 70.3, where I started my season, and entering the second week of my St. George 70.3 training block, which will happen on May 4th in St. George, Utah. I've been lucky enough to race triathlons as my profession for 10 years now and am here to answer any questions you might have! Thanks so much for having me:)
It was a completely miss-leading report
My short bio: Just a normal guy
My Proof: http://imgur.com/K7ZQpit
update 1: Wow! Just logged on. Amazed by all the new questions. Will try and answer them now.
Update 2: Having reread many of my answers, I wanted to apologize for my appalling grammar. The questions were coming fast and furious and I answered many from my phone.
### Race Information
* **Name:** Challenge ROTH - Full Marathon
* **Date:** July 7, 2019
* **Distance:** 26.2 miles
* **Location:** Roth, Germany
* **Website:** Challenge ROTH
* **Strava:** Strava Activity
* **Race Results:** Race Results with Splits
* **Time:** 4:53:14
* **Pictures:** https://imgur.com/a/vY2cvkk
### Goals
| Goal | Description | Completed? |
|------|-------------|------------|
| A | Sub 5 | *Yes* |
| B | Sub 4:30 | *No* |
| C | Don't get injured | *Yes* |
| D | Cross the finish line with the Texas Flag | *Yes* |
### Training
Back in January I was asked to be the runner in a full Ironman relay. Having never ran more than a 5k turkey trot, I took the challenge. Over the course of the next seven months I put in over 400 miles in training, more than I ever thought possible. I followed Hal Higdon's novice 2 plan mostly. Hit about 85-90% of the planned runs. Places for improvement would have been to do more group runs, all of training was solo except for the half marathon race. Also to have made more time for sleep to let myself heal instead of other methods of healing.
Practicing refueling on longer runs would have been good too. I had some bad stomach nausea feeling during the race because I wasn't used to the amount of electrolytes i was consuming.
### Pre-race
Challenge ROTH is essentially a full Iron Man with a 2.4mi swim, 112mi bike and a 26.2mi run. I was part of a relay team and I was only doing the run portion. I didn't start my run until 5pm but I was up at 6am to go see off the swimmer and biker. So much to see and experience it was hard to limit the time on my feet. Since I was starting later in the day, I consumed about 1,000 calories leading up to the start.
We were live tracking the splits of the biker and had a general idea of when he'd be finishing, about 20min before he was expected to finish I went to the relay transition zone. What a weird vibe that place had. There were about 100 runners waiting and watching as the bikers came in not knowing exactly when their teammate would be arriving. The weirdest thing was that it was so
... keep reading on reddit β‘
Iβm 22 years old and I completed my first sprint triathlon in Cozumel 9 months ago and I completed three others in between. Iβm currently training for the same one but Olympic distance. Iβm very ambitious and want to qualify to an ITU world championship someday but I feel like I started off to late. Everyone im my age group has been either swimming or running or whatever since they were kids and I just started doing all three at the age of 21... Feels like Iβm never gonna be at their level since they all have a lot more experience than me. Any advice?
This will be my first triathlon. Going with 4 buddies. Looking for additional people to split accommodations and give pointers.
I was the second youngest (25 y/o) last year to complete the Swissman Xtreme Triathlon. It is an Ironman distance triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, then 26.2 mile run) through the Swiss Alps.
Just thought this would be fun to talk about for anyone who is interested in signing up for an Ironman triathlon one day or is currently signed up for one.
- This was my second Ironman
- Training was 2-3 hours a day, 7 days/week
- 241 were at the starting line. 41 DNF
- Completed in 19 hours and 29 minutes
Proof: http://www.suixtri.com/en/
- Athlete #255 if you care to find me in the Finishers list
