This is hysterical. The constant upselling and ad bombarding is irritating noise, so I just ignore it. I just wanna train and race.

After oceanside I just walked right past all that finish line stuff and started the shuffle back to get my bike. I just wanna eat and go home :)

That’s hilarious. You are spot on. If your Dentists office is owned by or sold to one of the big group practices, RUN AWAY. It means your new associate dentist is not vested in your interest and is counting the days to get out, the materials in your mouth will be the cheapest available, and instead of a friendly staff you will be calling a call center in god knows where to make an appointment.

You are on the right track. WTC can also invest into a feeder system to help create lifestyle triathletes instead of one (or two or three) abd done.

Invest in more 5150 (Olympic races), even if just licensing or and providing support to established local events.

Do 2 of those events get a decent discount to a 70.3 race. Finish that and you get a discount code for a 140.6, which gets you a discount to a 5150.

That would let them capture athletes entire seasons instead of just the A race.

I've done two different branded 70.3s in the last 5 weeks. Alpha Win and Ironman. Ironman offered the complete red carpet experience for every athlete where Alpha Win was like a small triathlon clubs annual event. Huge difference. For MOST ag athletes, Ironman is going to the Grammys where the smaller RDs is like going to the dentist.

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

I think what you're seeing is that triathlon numbers are down for all races, not just IM. Races that have a long and local history are getting smaller and smaller. A bunch of events are no longer with us.

Ironman continues to rule the triathlon world in terms of participation. We (in western NY, which is a surprisingly great place to be a triathlete- if you can handle the absurdly short race season) have a few non-branded 70.3 races in the area and 1 branded event. The branded event gets far more registrations and spectators than the non-branded races. It's not even a competition. Hell, Challenge/ Clash purposely put on a 70.3 race in Watkins Glen on the same date as Musselman. They were roughly 60 miles apart. Musselman had more than 1000 athletes whereas Clash had less than 100.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

So, WWE vs AEW, sort of?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I was thinking World Cup Soccer vs the 30-and-over league at the local park

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

What do you mean when you say you don't see much interest in IM nowadays? Do you mean full-distance or the entire brand? My sense is that 70.3s are doing quite well. I have certainly seen a number of 'sold out' emails. I'm getting ready to do Des Moines and received a notice that it is 95% full-- that's not exactly one I would expect to have a huge draw. I don't really keep track of races outside the US, with the exception of France where three of its four 70.3 races are already sold out.

The growth of 70.3s seems to be coming at the expense of the full-distance races, but even full-distances may not be struggling as much as I thought. I was worried IMWI was in trouble because last year it had low numbers, but the last email I received said it's 85% full.

Participation in triathlon is down versus a decade or so ago, so IM's decline in numbers is part of a larger trend. I think that all things considered IM is doing fine.

For me it was less about losing interest in the brand... But rather the fellow participants that turned me off to Ironman events and triathlons in general.

These days I just do relatively smaller MTB and gravel events. Always an awesome time with awesome people where as Ironman events just never had that enjoyable vibe for me.

Your comment about other people being involved point to an issue with Ironman. It's not very friend friendly. There is the relay option, but as fun as that sounds, it's also a kind of lame to sit around for a few hours while a teammate goes and bikes and you want to run.

The partner swim-run races I think really highlight something IM is missing. If you could enter Ironman races as a team it would be pretty fun. The rule could be, you have to leave each transition together and cross the finish line together. Drafting rules on the bike could still be in effect.

Anyway, from a growth perspective, it's got a lot of legs because you're immediately searching for a partner to convince they should sign-up with you. The long grueling lonely day would change dramatically if you were side by side with your friend the entire time.

How Ironman treated me in regard to Ironman Traverse City 70.3 (Now Ironman Michigan 70.3) ended my participation in their events. I'll skip all the details. I'm fine with the no refund policy to an extent, but when you completely change the venue and the date of a race, that's where they need some flexibility. I ended up with a full refund, but not because they wanted to. It took some intervention.

Although I'm 50 now, I still have two kids under 6. Thus, training for long distance is harder. I'd love to do sprint triathlons, but with the increase in costs, they don't make much sense. I can do 2-3 gravel races for the cost of a Sprint. I do have two amazing triathlons near me: Grand Rapids Tri and MiTi, however they are pricey, and I'm just not interested in the logistical dancing required to participate. I'm not passionate about the sport to put in the effort. I'd rather do a gravel or mountain bike race.

I will say I did the Dirty Dog Gravel Triathlon last year and absolutely loved that.

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The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

I have personally done about 25 multisport events, 2-3 a year for the past 10 years. Two of those races have been Ironman branded races. I don't like that Ironman races are 30-40% higher priced than other races. I don't like the games that Ironman with events in 2020. I do like the competition that is at the IM events. If I go to a non-branded evert I am lucky to have 200 people in the whole event. If I got to an IM race I might have 200 people in my AG.

I am following the IM Pro series. I know one of the Pro Women who is a contender and two Pro Guys who are not contenders. That has been fun to watch so far.

I think that there has been some lost love for IM, but they are still here and 3-4 of my favorite triathlons are not.

Got it. I read the other thread. I’m sorry they were difficult about honoring the plan the way it was written when you signed up.

I can’t remember what the rule is about transferring now, I just got my 50% refund and told myself I saved a lot of money by not traveling to the race. My reason for not wanting to go anymore was totally personal so getting anything back seemed like a bonus.

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Move on. Keep training. Be an adult.

When you are number one, haters are going to hate


I have done somewhere around 40 IM branded races and several non-branded long course triathlons. IM is clearly number one and 2nd is not even close.

First and foremost is a safe, professional race which is the number one reason the cost is higher. Particularly the bike course. Often at non-branded races, there are not enough athletes to create a race course feel and local traffic does not treat it as such. It's like being on a training ride except you are on a road that you would never ride alone.

Second for me would be competition. If you are competitve, again, nothing compares to IM. Realtime tracking allows for position updates while racing that can be given to you by your support. Threre are rankings in both IM and USATriathon. It's just a hobby but if you like to compete, IM is number one hands down.

Crowd support. Most communities come out to watch and generally embrace the race

T100 is trying but they would have to drastically up their AG game to compete. Also T100 distance is closer to and Olympic distance and is totally different from a training standpoint. Currently T100 is operating at a loss so their prices will most definitely go up if they grow.

I wanted to start a new to thread.

The point:
1) Real fun is hard..
2) Triathlon is just an excuse to go outside and have fun.

This forum has always been too obsessed with the details surrounding the excuse...

The technical details associated with the- coaching, bike's, shoes, sports nutrition, name brand races.


I don't think Ironman was ever "cool"
(Maybe for douchy endurance tourists!!)

On the other hand, Ironman is STILL...

A pretty good excuse to go outside and have fun!!!

n=1 so take this for whatever little it is worth.

I did my first triathlon ever, Waco 70.3, in 2022 with 2 friends, all in our mid 30s after picking up cycling that same year with a goal of completing a century ride.

In 2023, we had 7 friends doing the same 70.3 solo and 3 relay teams. It was a blast!

So far this year 6 of us did our first IM 140.6 and have plans for another big group to do Waco 70.3 later this year. Several of us are hooked and plan to continue in the sport for the foreseeable future. Some prefer running and have BQ as their next goal. Some (myself included, want to start doing gravel races in addition to one or two 70.3s a year). None of us had any real interest or experience in endurance sports before 2022, but it has become a fun thing that has bonded us regardless of the IM brand or even triathlon specifically. We have new guys still jumping into running and tri, and it's fun to bring them along for the ride.

All that to say, the allure and fame of the IM brand is what got us into the sport, and will likely keep us in the sport. The conversation going, "How crazy is Ironman, those distances are insane and impossible but it would be so cool to do one day" leading to 70.3 to eventually 140.6 and now the goal of getting fast at 70.3s.

And while i'd love to participate in local triathlons, but we exactly have one sprint that is hopefully starting this year within 100 miles of us. For longer races, If I am going to spend the money and the time to travel to a race, I want the experience to be well-done, I'd like there to be some energy from a large participation, etc. and IM is a safe bet on those things in my eyes. Even if it is a big corporate, expensive, etc.

There are several Olympic distance races within a 2 hour drive of me, but I work a somewhat unique work schedule (Sun-Thurs work week) that means I have to take a vacation day to participate if the race is on a Sunday (95% of them are). Another draw of gravel rides to me is that a majority are on Saturdays. I'm assuming Sunday for tris and run races is to give Saturday to set up logistics, but man I would love Saturday races for shorter events like Sprint/Olympics (even if my work schedule was a normal M-F).

Same issue for me for non IM branded 70.3s - no local ones anywhere near me, so vacation days and travel expenses are required. At that point a $100 cheaper entry fee isn't ALL that much compared to hotels, food, etc.