"The fall-off after that is quite dramatic, though, and unlike with golf, it can be tough to make a living at the bottom of the triathlon circuit."
Professional traithletes fall into three groups.
1. A very small group at the top who are doing "well" making possibly into the moderate 6 figures
2. A larger group that is making OK money but, in reality just covering costs
3. Finally group who make little or no money and get by on part/full tike jobs, supportive partners or other financial arrangments.
The money does drop off very dramatically. IMH this week end is a great example. The winner makes a huge amount of money. nest to the Life-Times fitness race the biggest prize of the year, plus I would suspect significant sponsor bonuses for the high exposure. However, move done to say 6th or 7th place and that athlete may not even be able to cover their costs of getting to/from the race with their winnings.
Fleck
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog