UK is certainly a lot more reasonable. You have to pay annual membership to British Triathlon which this year was £55. Then a £12 fee to register to qualify for European/World Champs. Once qualified, the race entry fee included a fee for British triathlon support at the event (manager, mechanic etc).

Plus mandatory race kit, but that’s standard.

IM's ethos and federation membership ethos likely are a conflict of interest in that federations have requirements to adhere to from the IOC and each sport's governing body. So IM claiming their race is *the* world championship (90% of the world acknowledges this within LC triathlon for sure) wouldn't fly in that they would also still be required to fund participation in all the other disciplines- IE pro development would still be required to go under itu Olympic pathway, etc. The beaucracy they would have to follow would likely drive a private firm crazy.

Hell I'm just waiting for IM to tell USAT to shove it with any race sanctioning, but I think it's done more so as a good will / good neighbor type of relationship than any real "value" from the actual relationship.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I have no specific information in this case, but in general European sports federations get significant money from governments. Since school sports is virtually non-existent in Europe compared to the USA, most European nations have funded these NGO entities instead. So your immigrant neighbor that may not even know how to swim is likely paying a small share of taxes into various federations to benefit "the greater good". USAT meanwhile is mostly funded entirely by triathletes. That's my guess! I would also assume and hope these NGO federations in Europe don't have such high pay packages. I really can't imagine any triathlon federation president in Europe puling a 400k salary. (But I wouldn't be surprised if the perks of travel were pretty high, supplied car, etc, but still no where near approaching USAT bloat levels)

Unsure about Europe generally, but I believe British Triathlon funding comes mainly from the National Lottery (plus some corporate sponsors). So we are subsidised through gambling!

I don't understand why IM doesn't create their own "USAT" offering and add the income to their bottom line. Then USAT can be dissolved...or restructured to actually offer benefits for smaller RDs

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http://www.sfuelsgolonger.com

Hah! So USAT is funded by a mix of sedentary Americans who dream of getting in shape and exercise addicts alike compared to British Triathlon, funded by day laborers dreaming of a better life!

The odd thing is in 10 years we may only have IM branded events to do anyways....half joking but half serious in a not so good way. The sport is truly in a very tough spot, I don't know that there really is an easy answer right now.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Not a completely ridiculous take, but it would be difficult. One of the biggest things USAT does is insurance coverage for races, but MDot is probably big enough to absorb that cost.

The other big hurdle is having the races count towards Olympic and World Triathlon standings. Those two groups somewhat monopolize national level sanctioning to the governance group they have selected. Without USAT's allowance the IOC/World Triathlon could discard results of US Ironman events. Not that this really matters too much, MDot would lose ~500 pro race entries in the US and keep the 100,000 AG entries (that pay for races too).

There's no rule that says you're not allowed to hold a triathlon without the say-so of USAT. I don't see MDot and USAT having a break up tho, unless Mdot calculates higher revenues without USAT than it gets with them.

British Triathlon is just like USAT. Member Fees, Sponsorship, Olympic Money. The national lottery funding is specific to the athletes who enter the lottery.

People are complaining about USAT going over budget. I think this is a bad move overall. But USAT generally makes a profit or breaks even. It has a significant war chest that allows it to absorb losses.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Discard results of US Ironman events? In what way? I don't think Olympic and WT standings are in any way related to Ironman results.

Because they would be unsanctioned events. To my knowledge international sport bodies don't generally recognize results at unsanctioned events, even if they follow all the other rules.

Surely athletes today can use results from Ironman events for consideration to Olympic and WT events.

Not in US. To the bigger WT events in the US you only qualify for WT worlds through national championships ( top XX + roll down to Y).

Other lesser attended events you can qualify just based on ranking + invited based on that.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Hmm, I'm still confused. Ironman race results have absolutely zero influence on Olympic selection, at least for most countries.

Perhaps they are part of the selection process for World Triathlon long course events, but the vast majority of pro triathletes entering US Ironman races don't have World Triathlon long course races on their radar.

My guess is that Ironman would lose almost no pro entries if they weren't USAT sanctioned.

Well damn, learned something new. If USAT isn't using IM results in their considerations for teams then IM really could form their own splinter org. Could be like back when the UFC had to compete with 9 other MMA promoters.

f USAT isn't using IM results in their considerations for teams then IM really could form their own splinter org. //

I believe that has been bantered around in the past, usually when there has been friction between the two. But over the years the USAT insurance has really been its biggest asset, and really should be the #1 focus as an organization. Giving RD's the ability to put on races with so little insurance money, well it is what grows the sport from the ground up. Not that WTC cannot get insurance, but having the #'s of USAT is a big thing when rates are being set. Of course they could lose that, and I think if they did they would be toast.


They have focused on so many different things in the past couple decades, they are being diluted and an organization that just looks to protect itself. They really need an overhauling from the ground up, which means new management. And the board too, just too much rooted policies that have gone beyond their tax exempt status...

So USAT uses it's own national championships to set most of the WT championship rosters. Technically for LC that could potentially be an IM event if said IM event wanted to bid on it. I believe the only USAT internal national championships is the olympic distance and the sprint/DL specific races (2 separate races + venues). The current LC national championships are independent 70.3 or 140.6 distances that basically double as "USAT Nationals" (it's a way for the independent races to get an uptick in registration numbers by being a WT qualifier, etc) I doubt said IM events have any reason to bid/want to pay USAT to be part of the national champion picture, when said event would then qualify athletes for an non-IM branded world title (World Triathlon championship race).

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Ironman kinda sorta does their own "National Championships" in the "North American Championship". Technically a regional championship but I doubt anyone is too hung up on the distinction. Completely agreed that there's little reason for IM to bid on USAT championship races. They don't need the boost and it would undermine their own championships.