Then what? The only way a race in Penticton becomes successful again is if Ironman puts a race there. It's just reality, a reality that's not going to happen.

Rev3 isn't long for this world either. I give them a year, two tops, before they're done.

---

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

No idea. Since I thought the articles implied the RD wants to do something more like the ITU multisport festival, I guess maybe we should not assume it is either a full IM or ....

---

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Maybe change you title to make it clear you are just blowing shit out your ass.

Why would you think it is rev3? I think the main point is that penticton screwed up and racing on any grand scale is basically done there. There is so much tourism that the only benefit to the town would be shoulder season events in sept/oct or April/May.

It does sound like he wants to do something similar the ITU multisport festival. The huge problem in that is without ITU's name attached to it nobody will give a shit. To me that's falling into a similar trap as before in thinking the motivator to people coming was Penticton. It wasn't. Michael Brown is still clearly thinking with his heart and not his head.

---

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

How about a H.I.T.S. Penticton? They offer at least 4 races in each of their race weekends.

I think it's smarter for the team to keep things on the East Coast and be a larger regional player (sprint series, the Olympics/halves, and the Virginia based stuff) than to try to rapidly expand, especially into a location that is a gigantic pain in the ass to get to from their HQ.

G-Man, I swear you've been spelling doom for Rev3 for years, yet here they are, still alive and kicking...

---

----------------------------------
Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I 100% agree with your point about keeping Rev3 regional based.

Rev3 did sort of disappear for a year with the Challenge agreement. I was also critical of Rev3 in different ways from Challenge. Challenge was just a disaster from the starting blocks in North America. Rev3 made the dumb decision to put all their eggs into the pro basket with big prize purses and all that thinking that somehow leads to AG registrations. It didn't/doesn't. Once again in an effort to go straight at WTC. Neither Challenge or Rev3 were happy to grow organically from small/medium to maybe something bigger. They both thought they could take market share from Ironman and compete head-to-head. Otherwise, I have no issues with Rev3 as they currently stand and the manner in which they're operating. I'm glad they survived their previously dopey decisions.

---

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

To be fair, the large prize purse stuff worked in the original core territories at Knoxville, Quassy, and Cedar Point. The addition of Maine and Florida made a lot of sense. It was the 2013 expansion, IMO, that was misguided, particularly when given the overall downturn in the marketplace.

I'm intrigued to see how things continue to work out with the production arrangement with WTC and 70.3 Maine. To be frank, that's more akin to what you saw out of the Challenge relationship, although I think WTC provided a lot more assistance both with promotional aspects as well as help with the branding around the production itself.

And although I'm disappointed to see the end of two-days worth of racing at Quassy, it should greatly reduce police/municipal expense, and potentially some other production costs.

---

----------------------------------
Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

"Michael Brown is still clearly thinking with his heart and not his head. "

This plus he puts on crap races!

The race he put on in Penticton for worlds was nothing short of first class!!!!!

And I loved he was the brains behind the legend program.

---

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

That was a massive success. 19 people did it. I'm sure that made a huge difference to the experience for the 1000's of people there and added significantly to the already full room bookings in the okanagan during the summer...

Maybe ...however the challenge in July was extremely poor

Why should they need to pay anyone to use that brand's name? They should hire a smart and passionate race director and simply do it right.

Sorry, I should've said that in pink. I think the legends program is a fine gimmick, but realistically made no difference to the event and clearly wasn't much of a success.

I was one of the people back in 2012 that was fairly certain it was a terrible move for penticton to kick out WTC. The race died almost immediately and penticton is still dealing with the same shit, just fewer people and less revenue now.

I'll put money on a new Ironman Penticton 70.3 on the traditional end of August date.
CdA is gone, so there is no race on that weekend in the region now.

Seems that could be a smart move

---

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Is there enough demand with the 70.3 in Whistler just 3-4 weeks earlier?

---

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Yes. Penticton draws from BC, Alberta and the PNW for participants and it's the last weekend to get in a race in before kids go back to school and the weather goes to shit.

Calgary 70.3 and Whistler almost conflict dates and both get a good crowd.

Good point. Calgary is the week before Whistler if memory serves. I said years ago that WTC should swoop in and make Penticton a 70.3.

---

Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I was actually pretty disappointed to see the number of people suddenly flocking into OOB just because the medals suddenly said IM instead of Rev3 and the finishing chute was red instead of blue. My little naive heart was hoping that the race being awesome was enough to sustain it, but judging by the number of Facebook posts I saw about this "amazing NEW race!", people are just pig-ignorant when it comes to knowing about *and supporting* indies.

Penticton is not in my back yard and I don't know the area or politics etc., but looking at what happened in Maine this year is certainly an indication that if the town wants to keep a race its best option is to get IM in there one way or another. Alas.

I think in the case of Rev3 Maine, it had a really solid turn out the first two years (2012-2013), then took a hit in 2014 due to IMMT pulling away the sizable Quebecois attendance. 2015 with Challenge...well, that was hard to attempt to explain, the re-brand in 2016...

It had pulled about 1800 athletes on its own as a Rev3 event before. But that took a hell of a lot of legwork to make happen. I think it probably would have had close to that number had it not been licensed this year with the end of Timberman, but I don't know what the WTC response would have been had Charlie/Eric decided to keep the branding under Rev3.

Between the success of this and AC70.3, I'm inclined to think we're going to see the return of the licensed 70.3 as a core business principal, allowing WTC to work with local RDs to build a feeder system from the sprint/Olympic distance to 70.3, and eventually, a full. But that's just me spitballing.

---

----------------------------------
Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Let's not forget Rev3 already tried to expand west with the Portland race several years ago. They ran it for one year only with a shade over 300 people in the half. Then I think some road work effed up the bike course the next year and they never brought it back. Not surprising with that low turnout.

That all makes sense to me - and my engagement in the sport is not long enough to know the history in the way that you do around the other area races. I was interested - and pleased - to see Barrelman licensed out to Rev3 this year, although I wonder if that isn't one WTC would like to pick up or pick off.

My concern with the IM licensing arrangement in ME was that this year, they still ran an aquabike. They still ran Clyde/Athena divisions. They still permitted relay. All of those are good things, IMO, that are quite likely to go away under the licensing agreement.
They also nixed the oly race. In prior years, Rev3 worked with the local womens tri club (which happens to be my tri club, in the interests of full disclosure) to put on a special wave for a "race within a race" that encouraged a bunch of women who would never have attempted anything beyond a sprint to get more involved and engaged in the sport. Now, that part of it has been picked up by the Lobsterman, but that's a much less friendly course in terms of water temp and hilliness, a smaller event, and doesn't hold the same draw that the Rev3 did being this late in the season. Sure, Pumpkinman seized that opportunity and added an oly, and I was glad to see that they did. But for those of us whose season is not primarily built around long-course racing, the IM licensing of the race at OOB was not all good.

I imagine that if WTC wanted to put on IM Penticton 70.3, that idea of a multi-distance, multi-event multisport festival would get pushed aside. Seems like that would be a loss to sprint/intermediate distance athletes in that area.

In the interest of full disclosure - I am a former Rev3 employee. I race direct a fair bit down in CT off the side of my desk.

The advantage of licensing is that you do get more flexibility with race arrangements. DelMo has run the AquaBike and other options down at his event in AC the past few years, too.

I do recall the old sheJAMs wave (and the spin classes out the back of Maine Running Company, back in the day, before moving over to Marginal Way...) To be honest, I think the best fit for that would be at Pumpkinman, IMO. Especially without Kat running the show there, I think it would provide a larger overall boost there than anywhere else. Plus the course is friendlier (well, without the whole hill coming up to transition) than Lobsterman, and I think the roads themselves have more shoulder than in Freeport.

WTC has tried its hand at short course, and I think they realized that their strength is in long-course events. So by licensing to local RDs, you get the opportunity to work with people who have their own local series of events throughout the year to build up future registration for the 70.3. I don't think we'll see them jump into short-course again.

---

----------------------------------
Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter