The lineup looks solid to me. Gomez and Jorgensen aren’t racing, but Gwen just quit the sport so nothing you can do there. There is a lot of ITU talent mixed with IM talent. I don’t remember Mola or Luis racing before or Holly Lawrence. Sam Appleton is a nice addition to the men’s side. I’m not sure who you expected to roll in? Frodeno, Lange, Sanders and Ryf weren’t going to be in the mix.

Agree, they ramp up the excitement on social media only to make us wait for the coverage show. Now that super league has come into the picture, one would hope they follow suit for streaming coverage

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Jonny Brownlee, Gomez, Blummenfelt, Stanford, Holland, Stimpson, Spirig all could of been exciting additions off the top of my head.

Prety sure Lawrence has raced all so far.

Can anyone find a start list? The one on the website still has Tim Don on it.

Very dissapointed, was expecting these nightly re cap highlight video's, can't find anything on youtube or the website.

Spoilers going up all over Twitter and Instagram from Island House and the competing athletes so having to keep off there.

Why spend all this money and have such shocking coverage?

https://m.youtube.com/...be&v=QCbI2HFJ7pU

They probaly don’t really give a damn honestly.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

That does NOT count as a ''highlight'' video. Talbot really just seems like a hype man. Not that much substance to his vlogs/videos at Island House. Some of the early Kona ones were more what I assume he's trying to do.

Agreed. Super League set the bar pretty high for coverage and this is disappointing.

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Cheers,
Sam

I don’t think it really matters. People assuming IHT is going to be this same SL coverage etc I think are missing the point of IHT. This truly is the rich blowbagging their money in our faces. SL while yes has same rich money it’s basically structured/format for media. IHT seems this over the top weekend that the media coverage of it is 10th on the list of things to do.

ETA: It’s like I said in my 2nd post, I don’t think they give a damn.

It’s obvious SL was backed to create an premiere racing league of the top triathletes in the world in cool remote places. IHT seems obvious that it’s an weekend away to be pampered and oh yeah race a few times for a lot of money. But the racing is almost an after thought for the “exclusivity” feel they put out.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Thats awful!

Slow motion replays of various athletes over the two days, I know exactly the same as I do about how the race unfolded as I did before watching!

I hope he's not being paid for these.

Eh, like I said I think "your" (fans) expectations/demands are much different than what the race cares to do. From what I gather they are on a remote island with very little internet access. So yes it sucks, and it's kinda funny almost. It's like they really don't give a flip. I went to their website and the race "countdown" clock was like a week off (or maybe that was the timing for the "broadcast"). So media blasts, etc isn't really big for them. It's really almost back to the basics of drawing the race up in the sand among the upper elites of the world and giving no real updates to us mere "mortals".

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I think that the format is much worse this year than last.
The ITTs were always interesting so that you could see who is the best in each discipline. The Olympic distance Enduroman was very cool too.

This year it seems like they are copying super league with super short stuff. 2 days is worse than 3 too..

After listening to Luke McKenzie on IM talk, I was surprised by his lack of confidence about the island house, he seemed to pretty much admit that the super league is better.

I'm not surprised at all. SL from the beginning has been about fan engagement, IHT not so much. Hell, one does it at an resort with the masses (yes these are wealthy locations, but one has huge fan engagements, one has no fans on site), another does it on "secret" islands with no infrastructure/no fans, basically setup up almost like they draw it up each morning as to what the event will be. And I'm not knocking IHT. I just don't think IHT has ever really been "we want this to be big for the sport"....I think it's been some billionaire saying "here's a boat load of money, bring in the best triathletes and entertain me".

That's why I've never really thought the 2 were similar. I mean they are identical in that it's essentially an all star event with the best triathletes attending, but that's about it. How they are setup, how they are marketed, how they are structured are nothing alike. And I also don't think IHT wants to go into "live" video feeds, etc. This is an all star event with no "goal" other than simply being a showcase of the top athletes. So they aren't trying to gain 1 mil views and market it to advertisers, etc. This is simply an event that is bankrolled by a billionaire and will be around as long as he's willing to be entertained by this sport..when he's bored and doesn't want to bankroll it, off the map this event will go.

IHT isn't trying to "build" anything. SL is. Their goal is to essentially create an elite level series. IHT simply wants to put together the best in the world together for the weekend. The goals are completely different for each.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

They've been hyping this up all over Social media for weeks, why bother if they're not arsed about greating a buzz and getting an audiance?

Because it's just a holiday for Luke McKenzie and his drug cheat wife and their friends at the expense of a rich guy.

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Haha

Well, some of the guys in that short vid don't really seem to push that hard....others do seem to do so.

You've got to remember that it's been a long season for some of those guys. Hoffman just came off the Hawaii double which could explain his slower performance. And did you see where Sebi collapsed at the finish of the beach run? Dude gave it everything he had!

I was in charge of making the recap videos. They have been posted on social media. Luke and the team are not capable of doing a live coverage the island only has 3g cell service. After being at the race for the second time its more about the pros having fun and racing for some cash. Not brand building. Quick question for everyone though. Would you rather have terrible coverage from and Iphone or a recap video posted directly after each race?

Given the way the mens race finished this year I would have loved to see that develop, even if it was low quality cell coverage. But I don't know that every year you can count on a sprint for the win. And that's where some creative editing and quality footage really helps make it more interesting.

Quick question for everyone though. Would you rather have terrible coverage from and Iphone or a recap video posted directly after each race?

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I can only answer as a coach of itu developing athletes that iphone coverage is the new trend for coaches who are going to races with no coverage. Yes it's grainy/shaky and iphone level quality, but it's atleast live coverage and there are lots of people who comment now asking about coverage at races. In this day and age, recap videos imo are sorta only really useful to play up the race organization much more than the actual racing.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Why not both?

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Yep, chapeau for Kienle. he sure earned his vacation and some mad props to the LD guys who took on the short course Aces.

Thanks for the feedback. I will ask about live coverage next year. Maybe it can make their budget. Here is a recap video of the final day.