Dunno, but if people weren't happy paying $725 USD IM entry fee imagine how they'lll feel paying 4501 Yuan ;)

Day late with this thread.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

The bigger problem would be the aid stations. I don't like Kung Pao Chicken. However, soy sauce has lots of sodium so that could be a benefit.

Genius move.

An hour after finishing, you'll feel like signing up for another one.

^^^Funniest thing ever written on the interweb.

I, for one, welcome our new eastern overlords.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
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+1 for the reference

In general, I don't like the sound of this thread. It has an anti China undertone or at least it comes across that way. I don't think we'd be having this thread if it was a British, Canadian or Aussie company buying WTC. Sorry guys, just because a company is from China does not mean it is a bad thing. It might be totally awesome to have access to deeper capital to invest in growth of our sport. All the complaints about Private Equity might go away too. It could be really good for the sport. We don't know yet, but it is kind of irrelevant the that potential buyer company is from Asia from a pure finance angle. I don't think it changes our user experience on the race course anything differently from another US company buying WTC.

Is it relevant what "you are an Ironman" sounds like in Mandarin? We already had IM races in China and there are plenty of Mandarin speakers at IM Events in Singapore and Malaysia too.

I think it's fair game to be critical of the nationality of the purchasing firm. Analyzing a business is part of what I do for a career and there some issues attendant with Chinese companies which make them different from their western counterparts, both positive and negative attributes. There are very different regulatory requirements for reporting, Chinese companies are very opaque relative to those in the US, Europe, or Pacific Rim, Dev, it's germane to this conversation.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

My bad, sorry.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

I think it would be a lot worse (comments not owners) if it was arab

Although I completely agree with this, I will risk another stereotype by saying that I welcome a tech-savvy owner with deep pockets to help grow the sport. I have nothing against NE Cap Management (or their ilk) and it is hard to argue with their ROI, but it certainly didn't seem like they brought their A game when it came to TV/video coverage (ITU & many Challenge events kicked WTCs butt in that category). It may not be fair but I think a Chinese owner would be better than an oil sheikh.

Too bad it's not an Irish company so we could have Guinness at aid stations
Too bad it's not a Mexican company so we could have siestas halfway through
etc
etc

Good thing it's not an American company or we'd have fat lazy unprepared people entering.... oh wait.

Amen.

Also, this isn't some unknown Chinese company or something. They own AMC Theaters in the US, for instance. Tons of hotels, too. It's a massive, publicly traded company.

I do business with several Chinese companies, so I can understand your angle. In that case, I think you should have opened this thread with the content posted in the post I just quoted from you. The way you started it capitalizes on the general North American animosity/xenophobia towards China, rather than focusing on the financial reporting opaqueness.....but in fairness, Providence Equity and WTC have divulged nothing about their finances to us. WTC had just put their heads down, expanded the sport and by and large delivered a positive user experience that most of you are signing up for. So Chinese financial reporting or Providence financial reporting to me as an athlete is table stakes. As a consumer, I don't really care about financial reporting of parent companies provided the product that I buy is good. It's not like I am a shareholder in most companies from whom I guy products, so I still think this entire slant from you is a somewhat xenophobia laced red herring. Prove to me that your position has an impact on triathlon consumers and I will listen, but for the moment it is more like, "Oh darn, another Chinese company with deep pockets buying out a US company that I care about...". We have the same thing going on in our oil and gas industry here in Canada with big China based buyouts, so I "get" the animosity.

"You'll never see me coming..."

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Proud Representative of Slowtwitch Anti-Atheists Society.

Dev, the title of the thread was meant to be tongue in cheek not xenophobic. Seriously, people need to take a breath.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

+1

Seriously people..it's a big stretch to make this subject line anything other than a clever way to bring up the subject.

Lighten up Frances(s)....there are plenty of social justice wars to fight..don't waste all your good stuff on this one.

What's the Chinese version of the "M" character? I envisioned that there will be more people, other than porno stars, who will be sporting that tattoo on their body parts in the future :)

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My marathon PR is "under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something."

Dude, you must be a party.

Are you also part of the secret group working to get it changed to "You are an IronPerson"?

IronPerchild would be truly gender non-specific.

Pure comedy

Good point. I've never ever read a thread on ST that makes fun of Brits, Canadians or Aussies. That would be new.

To be fair, though, Brits, Canadians and Aussies also make fun of Americans.

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Proud Member of Chris McDonald's 2018 Big Sexy Race Team "That which doesn't kill me, will only make me stronger"
Blog-Twitter-Instagram-Race Reports - 2018 Races: IM Florida 70.3, IM Raleigh 70.3, IM 70.3 World Championships - South Africa, IM North Carolina 70.3

Um, not quite. Dalian Wanda is a mainland property developer with political connections that now wants to be in the entertainment business. Here is link to economist article if you are interested. I would be similarly perplexed and nervous if Simon Group bought Ironman.


http://www.economist.com/news/business/21643123-chinas-biggest-property-tycoon-wants-become-entertainment-colossus-its-wanda-ful-life


I am not sure what Wanda paid relative to EBITDA, but my guess is that it was a very full price and likely have unreasonable expectations for the future of the business. I believe WTC has a debt maturity coming up, as well.