I did the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon last year and (despite the rain) felt that the event was good overall ... certainly not perfect - Registration was a mess, there was no expo, and the post race party was 5-6 hours after the race and not at the race venue. But, as I have friends in Minneapolis, the race was a good excuse to get out of Chicago for a long weekend.
So over the weekend I was checking into the race again this year as a 'B' or 'C' priority race heading into IMWI. It's an easy international distance event (.75s / 21.3b / 4.7r) ... oh, and a 2nd year race. The only problem this year is that entry fees went through the roof. As a USAT member one will pay anywhere from $76 - $151 depending upon when they enter (plus Active.com fees). Am I out of whack, or does this price point seem a bit rich?
The folks at Lifetime Fitness are hyping this "Battle Of The Sexes" thing big time once again this year ... going so far as to increase the $50k purse from last year. My beef lies in the fact that you and I as age groupers seem to be the funding the prize money.
Is this a sneak peak into the future? Half and full Ironman entry fees have been slowly climbing over the years, but many quality 1/2 ironmans are still less than $100 bucks. How is it that Lifetime Fitness can demand such fess for a Sprint and International race? I'm guessing that many first-timers are not willing to shell-out this kind of cash for their first race, not to mention registration fees and USAT one-day coverage.
I don't know, just seems a bit much to me.
One last thing, OLN got the boot this year; NBC will covering the event. If prior Ironman coverage is any indicator, NBC will build-up lots of crappy drama into the coverage. Seems appropriate; why talk about the age groupers ... all we do is fund the prize purse.
So over the weekend I was checking into the race again this year as a 'B' or 'C' priority race heading into IMWI. It's an easy international distance event (.75s / 21.3b / 4.7r) ... oh, and a 2nd year race. The only problem this year is that entry fees went through the roof. As a USAT member one will pay anywhere from $76 - $151 depending upon when they enter (plus Active.com fees). Am I out of whack, or does this price point seem a bit rich?
The folks at Lifetime Fitness are hyping this "Battle Of The Sexes" thing big time once again this year ... going so far as to increase the $50k purse from last year. My beef lies in the fact that you and I as age groupers seem to be the funding the prize money.
Is this a sneak peak into the future? Half and full Ironman entry fees have been slowly climbing over the years, but many quality 1/2 ironmans are still less than $100 bucks. How is it that Lifetime Fitness can demand such fess for a Sprint and International race? I'm guessing that many first-timers are not willing to shell-out this kind of cash for their first race, not to mention registration fees and USAT one-day coverage.
I don't know, just seems a bit much to me.
One last thing, OLN got the boot this year; NBC will covering the event. If prior Ironman coverage is any indicator, NBC will build-up lots of crappy drama into the coverage. Seems appropriate; why talk about the age groupers ... all we do is fund the prize purse.
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dave in chicago: Jan 13, 03 11:50