chrisinma wrote:
I work in the running world and the reason why running is so open is there are very low barriers to entry. Our races attract all paces and types accross all ages. Running is a pure and easy sport that they can embrace. Triathlon keeps many away because you need to be fairly competent in 3 sports and need to spend more money/time to do them.. I don't see triathlon as a closed community, but one that would welcome anyone. I have done that over the last 15 years and exposed plenty of friends to racing. Some stuck with it, others moved on, but first and foremost they had to have some income to get going. All had to become better swimmers and pony up gym fees.
Running is just a pair of shoes and go!
I agree that the barriers to entry (i.e. swimming, expense) are a big deal that limits entry and growth but I also think that retention is negatively affected by the reasons I mentioned. Triathlon takes itself way too seriously and I think that intimidates (or annoys) people who are mainly looking to have fun while doing something healthy. I think growth is good for the sport and that won't happen until we as a community make triathlon more "approachable" to the average joe. For example, anyone who reads Slowtwitch forums would swear that finishing an Ironman in over 14 hours is a total disgrace; so for those people (at least half of most IM finishers) rather than feeling accomplished they feel like this is a community where they don't belong. In the running community that type of perspective is mostly limited to LetsRun.com which represents a much smaller piece of the community pie.
I 100% agree with the OP that we need to remember that for most of us this sport should be about having fun. If that includes being competitive then awesome, but let's not make it miserable for those that are not in it to compete.
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