https://www.slowtwitch.com/...Bonus_Pool_8820.html

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Thanks for the extra info. From your article:
"According to IRONMAN, prize money offered at most races will remain unchanged..."


I am not well versed in prize money races, roughly how many races that are not part of the series will have prize money, if any?

This is really great news for the long distance folks. So looks like you will have to do at least 3 fulls and 2 half's to be in the running for big money. And most likely a few more to throw out any bad races, or late season move ups. Big enough jumps at the top to really pay attention to what you got, and what others are likely to do too, I like it...

And there will be some crossover with the PTO series, but I can see mostly a totally different athlete that chases the Ironman series vs the PTO one. For some it will be a real conundrum though, athletes like Lucy, Sam, and anyone else not on the ITU tracks. And then there are those that specialize in the PTO distance that dont generally move up past a 70.3, they will be shut out too because of the heavy weight to full Ironmans...

Just glad Ironman answered in this way and not the big middle finger to the pros. This is gonna be great for the fans too..

Any existing prize purse out there for other races still exists. They just won't count for the purposes of this new series -- so expect some regional pros to go make money there instead of trying to earn points in these "big" races, at least for 2024.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Woah. Hopefully this helps some of the lower level pros if the high ranked ones are occupied at PTO. Could get complicated if some bail on PTO for this. Either way great for the sport.

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

Really curious to see how IM is funding this. Will we see a raise in entry prices for age groupers?

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blog

This seems like a series that the likes of Joe Skipper and Skye Moench are about to feast on.

It’s a proper long course series. You’ll need to race at least one IM very well to get into the upper ranks of the bonus pool.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

That is my gut reaction as well. The Venn Diagram overlaps with PTO, but definitely plenty toward the edges. Joe was the first name I thought of, Skye is another great call.

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

Literally gasped when I got this in my inbox. Seems to be great but I'm sure I'll find things to complain about. For starters, the 5000/2500 max points is too big a discrepancy. It's clear they want to push pros back to 140.6. 70.3 has been hot but I'm guessing 140.6 AG registrations have been down so this is one way to get people back to the long distance. But you could finish 41 minutes back from the winner in a full and make as many points as winning a 70.3. That's just too much. Surprised it wasn't a max of two 140.6 for scores, but that almost certainly was a calculated, "how much is too much for the PTO contracted athletes" in order to ensure they don't double dip. I'd imagine some find a way to do it, but it'll be tough for sure with 3 fulls required. And for those top top guys and girls, no point in doing three superfluous fulls if you're not going to make top 10. The $5k just won't be worth the crazy schedule otherwise.

Lots to think about on this one. Pretty excited overall though.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

It’s a proper long course series. You’ll need to race at least one IM very well to get into the upper ranks of the bonus pool. //

You're dreaming if you think one big IM will get you near the top, no way Jose...IM's are worth double a half, and you are allowed 3 fulls in your scoring of 5 best. So some low level pro could get 10th in 3 Ironmans, and they would crush someone that actually won a full, but who had to then fall back on 4 half's or less to fill out their points. I will go on the record here and now, you will have to do 3 fulls, and place very well in all 3 to have any chance at a top 7 or 8 placing in the series. Just simple math, and it tilts heavily in favor of doing fulls. Athletes will have to quota out in that category to have any hope of the big money...

Well, no.

It depends on how far back that 10th placed athlete was. If they were 40ish minutes back each time, the pro who won one IM, won a couple 70.3s and was close in the last would still come out ahead.

It heavily favors racing a minimum of two IMs a year, but it can be done in one to make the top 10 at the end of the year.

I think once they change the WC qualification (sounds like it might be coming for 2025 cycle), it’s going to lock people into either IM -or- PTO events.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Nice. At first glance, this is an Ironman distance focused series. I don't see anyone being ranked too high without doing 3 Ironmans. It should be a nice split between those more interested or better at 70.3/100k (PTO series) versus Ironman (this series). Of course Blummenfelt will find a way to max out points in both series.


It seems odd though that this series doesn't include all the regional championships.

Great. Age group entry fees are going to be 1000 bucks for a 70.3 by the end of this.

It depends on how far back that 10th placed athlete was. If they were 40ish minutes back each time, the pro who won one IM, won a couple 70.3s and was close in the last would still come out ahead.//

Well no right back at ya: You assume that the pros will all be doing the same fulls, they will not. There is going to be a huge amount of cherry picking going on here, and folks will be looking for the weakest fields in the full arenas. Yes some pros will of course do ok with a full win or two good placings, but the Joe Skippers of the world are going to be doing 3 fulls, probably more if they have a bad one, and then fill out with a couple half's. There are a lot of races on that schedule to choose from too, so some easy win race is going to net a lot of lower lever pros a lot of points they would not get at a race with an uber off the front guy or gal...


But in the end with so many chances at points, I'm telling you, it will be 3 fulls and 2 half's that make up most of the top money places at the end of the year. Good enough bonus money to chase towards the top too, so incentivized to over race for many long distance folks that dont crack the top 10 of PTO races

No one asked what will Sanders do yet. So I'll do it.

What will Sanders do? He's not a bad Ironman racer if he races patiently. Think we'll see him back to full distance based on the news?

What's the ideal US pro schedule?

Oceanside
IM Texas
(St George is pretty close to Texas to expect a good result there if you do the double?)
Bolder
IM Placid
IM WC (if qualified)
70.3 Worlds

That's 6 races. I wonder if St George will suffer quite a bit with the pressure this puts on athletes to attend Texas?

Fortunately a lot of the US guys already got their New Zealand slot as some of those 70.3s are going to be pretty competitive.


Will the US pros see more euros come over to eat their lunch now that the pay off got better and those US races look pretty vulnerable?

100% agree.

Agree with Ben too, I don't necessarily think that double distance should equal double points. But if the goal is to get more pros racing more fulls while pulling some competition out of the PTO fields.. makes sense.

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Too old to go pro but doing it anyway
http://instagram.com/tgarvey4

Someone needs to do the numbers on the men's field from this year and see what the top 10 would be. Obviously and outlier year, but the results would probably be surprising.

From the article, "Points are then deducted for every second behind the winner you are, with no floor."

1. Did IM give their calculations for how many points are deducted for each minute?

2. Is it worth changing this to be something like, as long as you're within the time cutoff? Right now it sounds like they're being charitable and not doing the whole, you have to be within 8% of the winners time to get prize money, thing. You mention no floor, then mention the 'floor' being the time cut off a sentence or two later. Not criticizing, just saying my n=1 found it a tad confusing and had to reread a couple times.

3. As I typed the last question I wondered, did IM give any reason for making it a hardcut based on time and not % of the winners time? perhaps this figures into the calculations for how many points you can get

One of my biggest gripes is that you guys don't race enough or head to head enough. (People thought Moritz Events would do that but it didn't) This will drive frequency and head to head competition. I'm glad that it is Long Course heavy. When Kona was a points system for pros you had so many back of the packers qualifying by racing a bunch of 70.3s...why ta 70.3 counted for KPR I have no idea, ask Messick.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

My first reaction would be: great for the pros (more money), and especially some of those 2nd tier pros who don't have access to the PTO. Possibly not so great for the fans, as we want the best to race the best at all times and this may dilute both fields (PTO and Ironman) to some extent.

1 point is subtracted per second behind. Eventually you'll get to zero, which is in effect the time cutoff for points. The points don't go negative.

I’m still trying to digest this news and figure out how it might impact the pros’ choices about when and where to race. One thing seems likely is that IMTX will have a big pro field. It’s the only early season full-distance race in a series that encourages 140.6 racing.

With 70.3 price purse growing to half a mil maybe the pros will not overextend themselves and fly off to exotic places a week prior to swim in poop water and have the PTO ruin an IM marquee event.

Middle distance specialists like Gentle, Findlay will probably go all in with PTO as I am assuming the contract they will sign will include some cash, travel and accommodation? And prize money should be relatively unchanged from 2023

For those like Lange and Haug who probably will focus on WC/Kona/Nice + Roth and others who are stronger at the full distance will likely opt for IM races. Hard to commit to 6 PTOs and be top form for WC and Roth