"Ironman" is a brand.

"Triathlon" is a sport.

I don't have a problem with relay-specific sports....as Frank mentions, its a great way to grow the sport and have people participate. Even if they suck at swimming, biking or running. (kidding)

My concern isn't over getting beat, my concern is over how a brand image is used in a fashion inconsistent with their message. It would have comparable to Porsche offering a SUV. Cough, cough...I mean a budget hybrid. When I buy a brand, which I often do, I expect that brand to live up to standards and their legacy.

"Committment, determination and pride" are not words I'd attribute to a relay. It's an inconsistent message. When the relay runner passes over the finish, are they really an "Ironman". Not in my book....nor in the message that WTC has written over the past 25 years.

Ironman brand aside, I'd like to see more iron-distance relay triathlons......

Yep, call me a hyprocrit.

Narcissistic interpretation of relays:
There is a reason IMNA races are so popular, it's the iconic connotation of the name. There are plenty of iron distance races, but they don't sell out in 24hrs, why the heck not? Because they lack the M-Dot branding. Superman isn't the same as Superdude, and just because an SUV has the Porsche name on it sure as hell doesn't make the rig cool or fast. With this in mind, a relay team isn't made of Ironpeople and don't deserve the Ironman status, the only thing to take away from a relay is, "hey, I finished a marathon."

Purpose driven interpretation of relays:
I argue that the whole purpose of an iron distance event is to attract people for the purpose of making them scrap the bottom of the barrel for motivation and will. The event is special for that reason and that reason alone. Screw the iconic status of M-Dot, it's the distance that makes the race special, and having people out there that aren't participating in the same grueling event is silly and cheapens the whole aura. I'd hate to be dying on the run and have some fresh faced relay athlete come chugging along looking like, "this is no big deal."

Relays are for sprints, olys, and 1/2s, iron distance is special- gotta keep atleast one thing in this sport pure.

"I'd hate to be dying on the run and have some fresh faced relay athlete come chugging along looking like, "this is no big deal.""

I never even thought about how I will *actually* feel in this situation. But seeing as it's my race to run in the manner I and the gods dictate I guess I will have to deal with this in the same way. People will pass me, and I will pass some people. Sure it's hard to be passed, esp. by someone who's obviously rocking along the run, but hey, what can I control about this situation? Let's focus on what I can control and forget about what I can't....

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

I wish I had saved it so I could accurately cite to it, but my dad clipped a newspaper article for me this summer that discussed the "changing face" of triathlon. It discussed how shorter distances and relays were allowing even couch potatos (potatoes?) to be "triathletes". There was a quote from a guy who had done the run leg of a sprint, and he stated something like "we're going to change the image of the triathlete."

I think a previous poster wrote that the relay thing cheapens the experience, and I'd agree but only when it comes any distance other than sprint. I'm still pretty convinced that just about anyone can complete a sprint, and putting together relay teams for short distances is a great way to get people out and even support a cause. (See this weekend's Malibu Tri that benefits a pediatric AIDS foundation.) Even the relay competitors can/do donate so, somewhat obviously, more people = more donations.

But as far as a relay member claiming "oh, I did a triathlon this weekend"... They're full of it.

Long course relays will open up a big ol' can of worms. This will be interesting to watch

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell

I saw that article, it was in the Wall street journal.

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS

Gracias. I recognized the font, but didn't want to assume. You da (wo)man.

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"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell

I don't understand the point of relays.

If you only want to do one event .... just go do a swim meet, running race, or bike trial. It's that simply.

Isn't the whole point of triathlon ... "One athlete, three events".

Isn't this the equivalent of having 4 or 5 baseball pitchers standing around the mound in the game? One pitcher only throws fastballs, the other curveballs, etc. They just rotate in and out depending on the catcher's calls?

How about heptathlon or decathlon relays. Why not? Oh, I see, by having more than one athlete fulfill the events, it destroys what the event/sport is. My point about "triathlon relays" (<-- isn't that an oxymoron).

Wouldn't a "triathlon relay" be where one triathlete does all three events, then the next member of the team does the three events, then the next athlete, etc.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

With so much talk recently about finish line etiquette and sprint finishes, I bet we see a whole lot of ruined finishes because some dude is running his marathon PR in a relay and sprints to finish in front of someone that has completed the entire event.

And is that Mike Riley dude going to announce that everyone is an "Ironman" when they break the tape, even if all they did was run a marathon as part of a relay.

Andypants,

I agree, they are missing the point

Also, It is about $$ with WTC. It is a business and
this will surely generate more.

do not agree with it though. If they are generating
$$$ for a charity, they should keep it like it is with
the fund raiser they have in place.

Seems the mystic of IRONMAN is slipping away
from the sport. Pretty soon anything and
everything will be good to race.