How about one in Vancouver Julian. I think it would be great to have a race in this distance locally in a destination city like Vancouver. You could move over her full time and run this and other races.

I'd sign up for 101 Maui tomorrow! I am hoping on a slot on Saturday for Alcatraz too (good luck) that would rescue my season and give it some shape.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

• 101 has a distance that will likely appeal to all those who have already done Ironman/IMNA/WTC events. I'm not sure I see the logic there because some like short, some like long, and this might be argued as in-between which is often a dangerous place to be in marketing Do not forget the money WTC has thrown at unifying 70.3 a s a viable brand worldwide. And the fact WTC entered into direct competition with IMNA with IMKY 2007 and possinly more North American Ironman (branded) events.
• 101 will appeal to these athletes because of the frustrations they have had with IMNA/WTC/Ironman events. how much frustration is there being as every event sells out, and what frustrations might appear with 101 events? While some might say there is frustration with WTC/IMNA the numbers simply don't support the consumer has made a decision otherwise, the races have sold out at record pace this year, notebly IMWI 2007 in 21 minutes. Non-Ironman branded races still alwasy have spots even on race day (or close to), think GFT or Silverman.
• There has been little or no real competition for IMNA/WTC/Ironman events until 101. There is a "Coke" but no "Pepsi". 101 is the "Pepsi" to WTC/IMNA's "Coke". good analogy... and every year, regardless of what Pepsi does, Coke out-sells them What is crystal clear from the #'s is that most (not just ST's who post) want to do M-Dot or 70.3 M-Dot races and somehow find prestige in this form of brand-marketing. The only real issue to me is how the WTC/IMNA relationship will play out in terms of more/less North American M-Dot races.
• 101 will pioneer media coverage in real time with internet coverage- the new media of choice among the athletes doing the event. Everyone will want to be in the show. pioneer? maybe I misunderstand, but if IMNA/WTC did it first, how did 101 pioneered it? WTC/IMNA both have used great media outlets for their events, OLN/Versus, race day boradcasts by internet. Adding the ability to Podcast will, IMHO, be meaningless in terms of raw entries.
• 101 is coming along when the timing is really right. or too late... the IronMan juggernaut has a pretty full head of steam True timing is everything. But IMNA and WTC have been quite good at picking desitnation races (yes, some might like Miami or Orlando over Panama City) but 1/5-2 hours from SF California might not be the same draw. It must be noted that race organizers plan races not on 15-20 ST posters but the median racer and their demogrpahic, which Irondad pointed out so well.

Personally, I think the 101 owners should draw strength in numbers and partner with IMNA (now NA Sports) to be able to draw upon their vast experience in running large events. I too am exited about the 101 endeveur and wish them the best possible outcome. I think alot will change in the triathlon long distance arena in 2007 and after IMKY (and how well that events goes). It is clear that the North American triathlon consumer was not tapped out with IMKY selling out in 10 days (I think) on the same day as IM Canada. The real issue is how someone, IMNA, WTC, etc. will enter other larger markets like Chicago, LA, San Fran, Atlanta, Seatle, Dallas/Houston, etc. Elasticity of demand is obviously quite loose in this market, for now.
I'm pretty excited about this 101 series... as am I, but only next year will tell

Don't tempt me, Brian. I should get together with Teri Taylor and see if they would get into on road tris to compliment her brilliant XTC series.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

Mike,

Agree with you that location is the key. Hopefully Shannon has found some sites that the other guys missed!

i'm excited too! it's sure to be a smashing success.

I hope they do well so we all have choices, but personally like others have said ... the sites selected leave a lot to be desired and personally I think its a strange distance. We'll all see how the races fair this year realistically .... not just when hyped up by their ST advocates. ST has too many IM naysayers who always jump on the electronic bandwagon but probably won't do a 101 race either.
I still think IMNA(NAS) is the best by FAR but will keep an open mind .... I'm a committed coke drinker. Give me more good coke! ... maybe pepsi in a pinch.
Dave

Wowch. I was able to follow the Coke/Pepsi analogy, but I'm lost on this one! Come someone please translate this one for a guy who just uses a CPU to log into slowtwitch and procrastinate work? ; )

Actually, recent history is full of stories of market dominators who have lost their position. Sometimes it takes a long time (IBM, Xerox), sometimes it happens virtually overnight (iTunes seems to be headed that way). Pepsi came from a very small market share position to become a serious challenger to Coke, particularly in the 80s (hence, Coke's "need" to introduce New Coke). Who's to say that Ironman won't be challenged in the near future, especially given the relative infancy of the triathlon "industry"?

I would think that the current situation with Ironman races (sell-outs a year ahead of tiem, ever higher entry fees, some increasingly displeased participants) is volatile, at best. ITU vacating the LD championship only opens the door more for a third party to come in and capitalize. Something will have to happen, even if it takes some years to reach some sort of stable solution.

Tom D.

Are you still going to do IMNA (M-Dot) Wisconsin next year?

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Lar Dog

The first couple of years will make or break the series. I am pretty certain that I will do the Halifax event next year, but I don't know whether I would travel anywhere to do it.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

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the price tag is a problem. 300 bux ?? !!! ??

m-dot can get away with their price, as their events can and do gravytrain with each other on the allure of " IM " which is a draw bigger than the event itself - that draw rises to the level of cultural phenomenon. 3 bills for "just another triathlon", no matter how nicely run or what is in the swag-bag, is going to scare away much of the potential market IMHO.

I don't see the price tag as much of a problem. These aren't like a local race series that need to have a lower price. They are hoping to get people travelling to them, and if you only do one or 2 a year, big whoop. A better price would be $200, but considering how long roads will need to be closed (not much less than a full IM, maybe 14 hours??) I think that the price tag isn't bad.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

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2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I think that $300 entry fee is pretty much what the market will bare.

You know yourself from being on this forum as long as you have that there are a lot of posts that are critical of IMNA/WTC/Ironman events. I think a lot of the criticism is unfair but it may be a significant enough catalyst to give another long distance race series a foot hold.

With very few exceptions every brand has a life span. I am not, in any way, infering that Ironman has run its course. I am a big supporter of IMNA/WTC and Ironman events. I've done Hawaii, Canada twice and New Zealand as well as the Ford Ironman 70.3 Whirlpool Steelhead. Absolutely top notch, showcase events. I truthfully found nothing to critisize.

I will say people are looking for an alternative. I see it frequently on the forums and hear it in our store. I also like the alternative distance that is 101.

This dog will hunt.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

"However, if I am baby boomer (I am not) and I have money to spend, I am taking my family to a desitnation race - in CA, in FL - somewhere warm where my spouse can shop and enjoy herself. Woodlands, TX?..."

This will be no problem....There is a place called Market Street right there where while you are pedaling/running away, spouses can shop for anything, sit at Starbuck's, have lunch at Tommy Bahamas, see a movie, etc. Very nice. Then, across the road is your traditional indoor mall, with a new outdoor area (that is on the waterway referred to) where there is PF Chang's, Cheesecake Factory, etc. Border/Barnes Noble, etc.

With kids there is plenty to do as well and if you want to drive a little you can hit NASA, a Texans game, the Galleria, etc. Another good thing, only about 30 minutes or so from the airport...a real airport with big jets and direct flights from many places in the world.

No, don't work for The Woodlands and understand the comment about a venue choice, but I think it will do very well and participants will be very pleased.

I agree with you on all points.

If I were the 101 series, I would be looking to hire away some of the race organization staff from IMNA/WTC to make sure that these events go off without a hitch. Do you think IMNA was savvy enough to have its key personnel sign non-competes?

My only issue with the series is the location of the west coast event. Seemed like they could have done better with a socal event (since I'm in San Diego, I tend to think SoCal is the center of the universe) :-) In all seriousness, clearlake is close to nothing and that may make it tough for it to get a foothold...As an example, Wildflower has a great reputation, is incredibly well-run and still doesn't sell out until months after registration opens.

I really like the distance too.

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__________________
JP

my twitter feed

I'd agree with you, but there are (2) major flaws -

Scaleability.
Prize Money.

If you have a moment, say more about each. I'm interested.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I agree and disagree with the locations, atleast Bradenton. I live about 15 miles from the Bradenton race site, in Sarasota. I hate going to Bradenton, we call it Bradentuckey, but it is actually a great town on the Gulf Coast. This area of Florida, the Suncoast, has hundreds of thousands of people visiting every year from other parts of the country. Mostly during the Winter and Spring. During the Summer the area is overflowing with Germans and other Europeans.

The race site is also about 20 minutes from where St. Anthony's is put on. Not sure on the number but I think S.A. gets 2500 participants every year(granted a long running Olympic distance race). There is a lot to offer with beachs and great weather in Bradentucky just dont look for a lot of night life.

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Yes

"I think it would be great to have a race in this distance locally in a destination city like Vancouver."

Indeed, Vancouver with a swim in English Bay, from say Kits or Spanish Banks Beach, and the cycling options of Stanley park and up around UBC and then a run out and back along the English Bay beach trails or the sea wall in Stanley Park offers perhaps one of the most spectacular big city triathlon venues in North America or the world. However, their is a reason for everything, and without getting into too much detail, their were some triathlon event promoters and directors who years ago( early 90's) did not leave a good impression on the city and pretty much put the lid on having any multisport events of any significance in downtown Vancouver for years. City councillers, politicians and the people who issue permits for this sort of thing have long memories. Not sure if the situation has improved. Even if this sort of thing were to get the go-ahead, the traffic headaches would be a nightmare.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Could you please post another thread whining about the swim distance? The swim is the biggest barrier to many athletes in doing a longer event, so although you don't like it, overall it enhances the event in most people's eyes. The swim is about the same ratio as a HIM or IM, so it sounds about right. I am not a swim stud, but agree a longer swim would be more equitable; however the main good argument in favor of longer swims is how it will spread out the field and limit drafting issues. Let's give these guys a chance and see how drafting goes before criticizing their swim distance.

Good luck with the ITU races, I hope you have a lot of frequent flier miles and enjoy racing long course against 40 people.

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"When I first had the opportunity to compete in triathlon, it was the chicks and their skimpy race clothing that drew me in. Everyone was so welcoming and the lifestyle so obviously narcissistic. I fed off of that vain energy. To me it is what the sport is all about."

I don't know about the other venues, but it would be pretty easy to make a challenging bike course in Halifax. Lots of hills around here.

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I spoke with a fella about the course in Texas today also and it sounds like it may be quite a gem. The swim there is likely to be nice too.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I don't think the 101 series will last because:

"Watered Down Ironman" - t will be viewed as a "Watered Down Ironman".

Weak Not Wanting to do a Full Ironman -I don't think this, but many people will have the perception that people chose the 101 distance because they were weak at one of the disciplines. Already, people weak in the swim wanted a shorter swim, and people weak on the run wanted a shorter run. It just gives off the impression that the 101 event is for the "weak" not wanting to do a full Ironman.

Those Who Are Using it to Bridge Up to an Ironman - People who are using it as training or to gain experience before they do an Ironman. It willl not retain them when the move onto the Iron distance.

It would have been better had they just made it the 140.6 Ironman Distance and called it 140.6

I hope I'm wrong.

Scaleability - Long term business plan and outlook. While event management is a repeatable business model, I surprised they didn't start out with more locations to hit a homerun and allow 90% of the population to travel 5 hours or less to the event (just pulling those out of the sky). I would have tried harder to flip current 1/2s to 101, or perhaps added a division. Pigman (Iowa) would be a good example...pretty easy to tack on a longer course. But, it doesn't appear to be a priority at the moment....so this is more of a piggy-back attempt to WTC than competition.

Prize Money - 10K per race winner and 30k "champ" isn't a lot of money for one to re-structure their entire season. If one did win all the races, we are still talking about less money than they would have made at 70.3 or IM (minus the champs). The "wow" entrants to the tri events were able to make a successful slash with lots of cash (LTF and HyVee). It would seem likely the same would apply here.


But...I'm just arm-chair talking. I like the concept of varied tri distances and wish them great success!

I hear you. There is some good reasonaing there. I will suggest the following though:

• A slightly shorter distance renders this event more "do-able", especially for someone wanting to do more than one event per year.
• The fact that you don't view 101 as "watered down Ironman" is indicative of what I believe the taget audiences' view will be: This is the racer's race, the triathletes' race.
• Hmmm, maybe it will be an intermediate between 70.3 and the Ironman 140.6 distance. I see it becoming the defacto distance in and of itself though. This same thing happened in adventure racing where the belief for a long time was "longer and harder is better". This went on until the Raid Gauloises in Vietnam, the longest non-stop adventure race in history, 1000 km non-stop. I did the race and our team failed to finish. We raced seven days non-stop and still didn't finish. Longer isn't always better and it reaches a logistical and administrative point of absurdity or complexity that can compromise the event. Look at the issues of crowding at some of the larger events and the issues with registration filling up too fast for most people's taste. Those amount to opportunities for 101.

Obviously, I'm pretty excited about this series.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com