I feel like there is a strong disconnect between what a triathlon "team" SAYS they want from an athlete and what they ACTUALLY want from said prospective athlete. I have two cases in point for my argument:
A little about me first: I raced as a BOP pro from 2012-2014. A few top 15s at Rev3 races (hoorayyyy...not) and a few sub 4:10 non wetsuit half ironman races. Lots of local/regional wins, but could never really hack my way into the top 8% in a $5000+ purse race so failed to requalify for my elite card. One could make the argument that I didn't deserve to race pro if I couldn't hit the requal standard, and I'd agree with you. I competed in XTERRA for a couple of years primarily after that, winning top 3 AG awards and qualifying for Maui, where my only distinction was being the fastest M30-34 swimmer in the field in 2016. This year I raced Santa Rosa 70.3, Deuceman Half, and Choo WC 70.3. None of the performances were standout, with the possible exception being 3rd AG at Santa Rosa after getting myself into casually good fitness over the winter.
I am active on ST (obviously), I have a relatively active social media presence, and a blog.
I was rejected from the EMJ team a couple of weeks ago. This time last year I was also rejected from the TriSports Elite team.
Am I butthurt about that? Well, yes and no. I make fun of EMJ guys all the time (not to their faces, but in a good natured way) and TriSports has had the ugliest uniforms known to man (with the exception of the USPRO Tri team's kits...woof), so I'm not sad to have to not make fun of myself for 2018. But it feels like a slight. I am pretty fast when I want to be. I have a social media presence. I'm active on ST (as much as it may annoy some of you). There are people on both of those teams that I could handily beat in sprints/oly's/half and out-social media (whatever the F that means) and yet...they do lots of IM branded events. No XTERRAs, very few local races.
So effectively, these teams are only contributing to the demise of local and regional racing at <70.3 distances because they clearly bias their membership towards Ironman focused athletes.
So my question to EMJ is: what do you actually WANT in your team members? You apparently mostly want people who awkwardly post about your various male products when they don't really post anything else, so it looks funny and out of place. You clearly want people who basically only do Ironman races (which I get, because that gives you the most exposure), but this is to the detriment of each athlete's local community.
Anyway, I should probably have posted this in the cry like a biatch thread. Let's commiserate on our rejection.
A little about me first: I raced as a BOP pro from 2012-2014. A few top 15s at Rev3 races (hoorayyyy...not) and a few sub 4:10 non wetsuit half ironman races. Lots of local/regional wins, but could never really hack my way into the top 8% in a $5000+ purse race so failed to requalify for my elite card. One could make the argument that I didn't deserve to race pro if I couldn't hit the requal standard, and I'd agree with you. I competed in XTERRA for a couple of years primarily after that, winning top 3 AG awards and qualifying for Maui, where my only distinction was being the fastest M30-34 swimmer in the field in 2016. This year I raced Santa Rosa 70.3, Deuceman Half, and Choo WC 70.3. None of the performances were standout, with the possible exception being 3rd AG at Santa Rosa after getting myself into casually good fitness over the winter.
I am active on ST (obviously), I have a relatively active social media presence, and a blog.
I was rejected from the EMJ team a couple of weeks ago. This time last year I was also rejected from the TriSports Elite team.
Am I butthurt about that? Well, yes and no. I make fun of EMJ guys all the time (not to their faces, but in a good natured way) and TriSports has had the ugliest uniforms known to man (with the exception of the USPRO Tri team's kits...woof), so I'm not sad to have to not make fun of myself for 2018. But it feels like a slight. I am pretty fast when I want to be. I have a social media presence. I'm active on ST (as much as it may annoy some of you). There are people on both of those teams that I could handily beat in sprints/oly's/half and out-social media (whatever the F that means) and yet...they do lots of IM branded events. No XTERRAs, very few local races.
So effectively, these teams are only contributing to the demise of local and regional racing at <70.3 distances because they clearly bias their membership towards Ironman focused athletes.
So my question to EMJ is: what do you actually WANT in your team members? You apparently mostly want people who awkwardly post about your various male products when they don't really post anything else, so it looks funny and out of place. You clearly want people who basically only do Ironman races (which I get, because that gives you the most exposure), but this is to the detriment of each athlete's local community.
Anyway, I should probably have posted this in the cry like a biatch thread. Let's commiserate on our rejection.