As much as I like Terenzo, he will be lucky to make top 10 with the lack of top end speed with all the top ITU guys competing.

Brownlee
Gomez
Brownlee
Murray
Mola

If they can pull off that type of coverage for this event, they have it figured out completely. also means they have big $ big $ backers.

Not saying they don't but itu telecast is a very very expensive endeavor.

What do you think. Should be fast and exciting.
http://www.triathlete.com/...n-race-series_298454

We should also mention, we are only postponing the women's series until our research on uterine prolapse is published. We think the new format can't safely be applied to all females. Especially if someone is pregnant. That uterus is really heavy. People think Gwen did a lot for women's triathlon by winning an olympic medal... but her pregnancy is two giant steps back for all of women's triathlon. I just wish women weren't so selfish. But that's a different research project.

We should also mention, we are only postponing the women's series until our research on uterine prolapse is published. We think the new format can't safely be applied to all females. Especially if someone is pregnant. That uterus is really heavy. People think Gwen did a lot for women's triathlon by winning an olympic medal... but her pregnancy is two giant steps back for all of women's triathlon. I just wish women weren't so selfish. But that's a different research project.

Wow. This must be a troll who hates Macca. If you are actually with the Super League (and appears that you are implying that with your wording) you may have dealt them a serious blow in public perception. What a clown.

Americans are strictly there to make up numbers as they basically are second rate cannon fodder, but they need some so you guys will watch

The format sounds awesome. With that said, Macca's track record of success in terms of creating staying power has not been very good.

- UnderArmour as a triathlon brand?
- Tristar?
- Challenge expansion? Challenge has basically contracted back into a focus on Roth. We'll see if their new "The Championship" event takes off. But again, the big expansion push they made with Macca pretty much fizzled.
- Thanyapura as a "destination" resort for international triathletes?

Now by no means would I lay the blame entirely - or even primarily - at Macca's feet in any of these cases. But still, that's not a great track record for anyone involved not named Chris McCormack.

So far, the Bahrain13 team has been a "success" - though I think there's a worthwhile debate here about how we choose to define "success. But we're what, two years in?

Beyond any of that, there's certainly a large part of me that is a bit reticent to view the Bahraini royal family, a Russian oligarch, and a Bahamian financier as the stanchions underpinning the future of our sport.

to your bold comment ,how much difference do you think there is in comparsion to an american hedge fund or an chinese ogliarch ;-) ?

this Russian oligarch (whose name I have not yet been able to find...)

this is honestly silly, ITU is the tri big league. why bother to compete? but itu is shafting themselves requiring you to pay to watch. the russian billionare should have just purchased a slot on ESPN,BBC sport,etc to broadcast ITU instead, and profit off commercials.

and what ever happened to that major league triathlon in the usa? fizzzzz

You haven't looked very hard...

You can find that out in under 10 seconds from going on the super league tri website. There's even an interview with him.

I think it's less about who they are than the why behind the investment.

While I don't necessarily understand the price that Wanda paid, I nevertheless see a logical business plan. WTC was rolled into Infront, which is a global sports-and-media conglomerate. So that makes sense. Also, there's already been a rapid expansion of Ironman in China, with a very clear focus on reaching a growing Chinese middle class. Overall, China and Southeast Asia is a demonstrably growing region for the sport of triathlon. So there's an actual business plan that makes sense. Target the new wave of consumers who have the means - and, looking at past precedence anyway, an interest - in healthy lifestyle activities.

Ironman makes a LOT more sense for Dalian as part of Infront than it ever did for Providence. I think Jesse Du Bey was able to convince Providence to buy WTC at a time of explosive growth for triathlon. But it never really made sense given what else PEP was invested in. That's not the case for Dalian. However, in both cases, I think there was a business argument that could be made that was at least sort of logical. In all cases, it was focused on expanding a lifestyle sport to an increasing number of age-group participants. Now, the nuts and bolts of that are obviously complex, but i get it. Triathlon always has been - AND ALWAYS WILL BE - a participatory sport.

These other "ventures" (using the term loosely) have no logical business platform. Now, this doesn't mean they'll fail. But by what metric do you actually measure success? I don't believe that whatever does - or does not - come of these programs will have much - if any - long term impact on the sport of triathlon as a whole. They will always be ancillary to the growth of the sport. What PEP chose to do - and what they chose not to do - had a huge impact on the sport. Likewise Dalian. What Ironman chooses to do - and what they choose not to do - under their ownership is going to have a big impact on the sport overall.

To that end, the Bahrain13 effort actually seems to be the most impactful. Which surprises me. But I think it will have an impact because they seem to want to use it in much the same way that Dalian wants to use it. Dalian wants to target the emerging Chinese middle class. Prince Nasser wants to target the health and wellness of an existing "middle class" that basically exists because of state largesse. On the Bahraini side, there's also the issue of what impact the price of oil has on their economy, and whether or not Bahrain can actually serve as a tourist destination to bolster the oil revenue. So I'm not sure how much the Bahrain13 has an impact here; I think the impact of the actual races in Bahrain and Dubai is exponentially greater. But at least they are a part of a larger two-fold vision: 1) make citizens of the Middle East more active & 2) generate tourism revenue. Superleague, like Island House, is great for the pros who take part. But I don't see it as something that actually impacts the sport. They will exist simply as long as the men writing the large checks have interest in writing large checks. And not a moment longer.

That's what I see as the difference. Ironman's success is not solely connected to the interest - or lack thereof - of Wang Xianlin in the sport of triathlon, just as it was not solely connected to the interest of Jesse Du Bey in triathlon (he left PEP not that long after they acquired it). In these other cases, if Prince Nasser, or Mark Holowesko, or this Russian oligarch (whose name I have not yet been able to find...) decides they don't want to support these efforts anymore, they vanish overnight. It's not to say that a US private-equity group or a Chinese multinational corporation is somehow better or worse than the Bahraini royal family, a Russian oligarch, and/or a Bahamian financier. It's about whether or not there's something more than fancy keeping a given party involved.