Lance was a no-show after the race at St. Croix, too. Just disappeared after the race. Contrast that with Chrissie winning Kansas 70.3 (many times) and then turning right around and handing out medals for 2+ hours to everyone that finished. Hmmmm, no wonder she is univerally loved and respected; she gets it. Lance, Lance, this is an opportunity....

Would it have been nice? Sure, but I have no problem with him leaving right after the race. He's got a lot more going on in his life than just triathlon. Spending an entire day waiting around for the awards ceremony probably isn't the best use of his time. I've had to miss awards ceremonies several times due to other obligations, and my time isn't in nearly as high demand as LA. I realize there's a big difference between an AG hack like myself and a professional with fans, but time is valuable to everyone.

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-Andrew

this thread...yep, it is going to go downhill pretty fast.

I will bank this in the file of who cares.

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@rhyspencer

Nope, professional athletes race to inspire and entertain amateurs in addition to making a living.

He should take a lesson from Wellington.

He's not a professional athlete.
He's a celebrity that happens to be really frickin fast.

They do??? I thought they were professionals because that is how they make their living, or at least part of it. Some may race to inspire but most race because they are fast.

This is one of my pet peeves....having to wait for 2 hours or more even after a sprint triathlon because they can't do awards until the last person...who clearly did not train for said event to finish. I know this sounds elitist, but every race I go to a have started to feel sorry for the volunteers that have to hang for HOURS because said participant is floating, coasting and walking their way to the finish, but hey, anything is possible!

Like th poster above, I have also skipped awards (even with an over all win, backdoor brag!) because I have kids soccer games, chores or other things that need to get done on Sunday.

Lance is CEO of a huge company for the most part, Wellington is female triathlete, a damn good one and very nice to boot, who outside this board NOBODY knows.

Kuddos to her, but we should not bash Lance, especially since he is flying to the next venue to train for his next race! Hell, the guy went so fast he was done before 10:45

Just because people are slow, doesn't mean they haven't trained.

I have no issue with Lance rolling out. If I had been there it would have been cool for him to stick around but that is up to him. Is it awesome that CW sticks around to hand out medals? Hell yeah! but it doesnt mean LA is a bad person because he didnt.

Of course, this is just another excuse for some STers to nit pick at Lance because they find the need to fill their lives with hate for the man.

Not that money matters for Lance, but for most pro triathlon races the race directors specify that if you are not at awards you do not get prize money. (Unless you have a good reason like still being in doping control, or on the other side if the RD says awards are at noon and they dont go off until 1pm)
This is one of the things that PROTA is working on, a pro triathletes code of conduct. Professional Triathletes no matter whether you are a celebrity or just scraping by should be at awards ceremonies.

Really? Professional athletes compete to earn a living. Nothing more. Some take it upon themselves to inspire the masses, but that's not an obligation.

As far as entertainment goes, I think Lance Armstrong is doing a superb job of that, even by skipping the awards ceremony. I mean, here we are, talking about something this trivial, simply because of his celebrity. It's not his responsibility to entertain people, but consider how many extra people are tuning in because of his presence in the sport?

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-Andrew

Actually Doug Ulman is the CEO

Twitter followers:
Lance: 3,457,000
Chrissie - 40,000

Surely some of Lance's 3+M followers love and respect him...

here's my counterpiont to that. how many raced at IM florida 70.3? how many showed up at the awards? a fifth? a tenth? most of the folks who showed up at the awards - you included, by your own admission - showed up because you were getting an award.

what you're upset about is that somebody you particularly wanted to see did not wait for the awards ceremony. but that is your private wish that didn't get fulfilled, rather than his responsibility that didn't get executed.

yes, it's a problem when pro athletes don't stick around for the awards, but only for that pro athlete when he or she wants to re-up with sponsors at the end of the year.

there are a LOT of awards ceremonies i don't stick around for, and there are obviously a lot you don't stick around for. there are a lot most of us don't stick around for. why should we hold lance to a standard we aren't willing to meet, only because he's faster than us?

if you look at jordan's award ceremony speech - for texas, just posted on the site, on the front page, or for last year's canada, also on the site - you'll see the flip side: someone who not only sticks around for the awards, but also crafts his speech with care. however, jordan is not like ANY other pro athlete i've ever seen in triathlon, or in any other sport. he's the bar against which pros are measured. however, i don't think it's appropriate to measure lance against a bar which almost none of us can clear.

now, one more thing: you obviously don't read what's written on this site. lance paid for his jet. your $1 bracelet went specifically and only for anti-cancer purposes. if you want to throw a tantrum, fine, but, it should be a fact-based tantrum.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

So does that mean his prize money gets redistributed to the other winning pros? Cuz that would be pretty cool for them, especially since Lance doesn't need he money. But something makes me think that the money went back into WTC coffers...

I gotta say, I didn't watch the race and while that is great that he won..I don't really care what Lance does to be honest. If he needed to get back to Texas to see his kids or whatever, that is his business.

not sure if serious...

Because he seems aloof?

I would have bailed too if staying would mean having to socialize with whiners.

It's not just about someone not showing up at the awards ceremony, it's about the overall winner not showing up. How often does that happen? How would it look if none showed up to receive their award?

not serious.

Lance could take a life lesson from Wellington in terms of how she apparently shows people so much good will (only based on what I've heard, never seen her in person), but I could give two shits if he races to inspire or to kick ass.

fact is, I'm not a Lance fan by any stretch of the imagination, but he's kicking ass and really doing it despite having to learn a few hard lessons in the last couple of races. He can do whatever he wants as far as I care.

Convinced he's an ass but still mad respect.

"It's not just about someone not showing up at the awards ceremony, it's about the overall winner not showing up."

i think it depends on the overall winner, the event we're talking about, and the time that intervenes between the event and the ceremony.

but what mostly bothers me about the OP's tantrum is that we just seem so obsessed by the behavior of others. what we are owed. rather than concentrating on your own behavior. the typical awards ceremony contains an audience of only a fraction of the folks who did the race. so, if you feel you can be righteously indignant toward someone who doesn't show for the awards, fine. but then let's have some indignation toward the entrants who do not feel they need to honor the winners by attending the ceremony. sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

if some folks stuck around for the awards because they thought they'd get to see a celebrity, but these folks would probably have left if maxim had won the race - it's not lance's fault that they're disappointed. just do your own race. be glad, if you want, that lance, or paul mccartney, or pam anderson, is doing the same race you are. but, he entered the race, he trained for the race, he did the race, he left the race. just like you.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I'm not a Lance homer. I think he's good for the sport and he's having fun. That's what this is all about. As for awards, last year at a very small off road tri in Phoenix, not only did he jump in the slip n slide at the end, he went to the awards and claimed his "FRST" license plate.

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

Holy mackerel. Did you contact the authorities?

You might want to consider adding some other activities to you life if this registers on your personal richter scale.