Slowman wrote:
i often hear the argument from an age group contestant that he doesn't care if there's a pro purse or not. what that contestant doesn't understand is that he wouldn't have a race or a sport at all had everybody looked at the sport that way.
Not necessarily that he doesn't understand it. Perhaps that he simply doesn't believe it. It's one thing to have been there and tell people how the sport developed. It's another to say you know how things would have developed if factors had been different.
Regardless of how triathlon might have developed back in the day, I don't think that history should be a shackle to how it develops now. It is a worldwide established sport. The doomsday scenarios about it withering on the vine if we don't all "support our pros" are absurd. Existing pros get old and slow down/retire. Others will always be there to take their place