That Pro triathletes don't make a lot of money is not news. It's been this way for a long time. The money and who makes what drops off precipitously from a very small A-Group of Pro triathletes at the very top.
My wife raced as pro triathlete for 10 years. She regularly finished in the top-5 of various Ironman races around North America and elsewhere ( 5th at Ironman Lanzarote one year). It could be said that over that 10 year period behind Lisa Bentley she was Canada's second best woman's long distance triathlete. I'm a bit biased, but the results speak for themselves, but Triathlon Canada and Triathlon Ontario recognized her hard work and performances by honoring her with Elite Long Course Woman Athlete of the year several times. She qualified 3 times for Ironman Hawaii in the old system and raced there twice
Total winnings in most years was on average about $4,000. In Canada, money sponsorship is next to impossible for an athlete at this level - so getting some help with equipment is about as good as you are going to get. Thus, she kept working at her job which is a Professional Hair Stylist. She ran her own business, so the one advantage of that is that, she could come and go as she pleased time wise, set her own work schedule, for training and racing. All tolled not a bad balance.
Could it have been different if prize purses were bigger and deeper? A couple more thousand dollars while helpful, at this level would be a plus, but it's really not that substantial. For really fundamental change, there would have to be a lot more money in the Pro pool and paid more evenly through the ranks. But then you have to shift over the the question of where would that money come from and how are the Pros as a group generating value that would allow for that sort of money to be put into that pool in the first place?
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
My wife raced as pro triathlete for 10 years. She regularly finished in the top-5 of various Ironman races around North America and elsewhere ( 5th at Ironman Lanzarote one year). It could be said that over that 10 year period behind Lisa Bentley she was Canada's second best woman's long distance triathlete. I'm a bit biased, but the results speak for themselves, but Triathlon Canada and Triathlon Ontario recognized her hard work and performances by honoring her with Elite Long Course Woman Athlete of the year several times. She qualified 3 times for Ironman Hawaii in the old system and raced there twice
Total winnings in most years was on average about $4,000. In Canada, money sponsorship is next to impossible for an athlete at this level - so getting some help with equipment is about as good as you are going to get. Thus, she kept working at her job which is a Professional Hair Stylist. She ran her own business, so the one advantage of that is that, she could come and go as she pleased time wise, set her own work schedule, for training and racing. All tolled not a bad balance.
Could it have been different if prize purses were bigger and deeper? A couple more thousand dollars while helpful, at this level would be a plus, but it's really not that substantial. For really fundamental change, there would have to be a lot more money in the Pro pool and paid more evenly through the ranks. But then you have to shift over the the question of where would that money come from and how are the Pros as a group generating value that would allow for that sort of money to be put into that pool in the first place?
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog