THIS. THIS. THIS. And this is why there will always be a prize purse and why it will likely remain at it's current levels or perhaps concentrated at specific races, because there will always be pro's who are effectively freelance workers, willing to show up and take a crack at it.

---

-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

Ok, my donation just made the purse pass the 7000 mark. Let's see if we can at least match the winner's purse.

Yea Lance

.

---

Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

People are willing to spend $700 for an entry fee, pay twice that for a charity slot, volunteer for races just to get a chance to participate the next year, and then spend about as much as the entry fee on IM merchandise... I think it's safe to say we're all getting owned by WTC

And then there's that!

---

-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

So what you are saying is that there are several non-monetary rewards that pros receive when they race at a WTC event. I'm a little disappointed that TRS chose to deliberately leave that part out of his/her charity drive--or maybe he/she is simply unaware.

are you sure?

---

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

no. no. no.

think about it

---

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Truth. If I didn't want to do Kona again I probably wouldn't race another M-Dot branded event. So in my case I'm voluntarily submitting to the butt-rape (I don't blow cash on merch and I'll never pay for a charity slot though) because they unfortunately own the iconic experience of the sport...and my wife wants a trip to Hawaii.

All of those are monetary rewards from sponsors. Why should the sponsors be the only ones paying the pros? WTC benefits from the pro's similar to the sponsors benefitting, why should they not have to pay the same? I think it was left out because that's obvious not so much because he was unaware.

What about the obvious point that there are four Ironman events in the next two weekends, and IMLP has the lowest prize purse of any of them. Thus, if a pro's first priority was prize money, he or she would have several options for a better pay day.

What about the obvious point that there are four Ironman events in the next two weekends, and IMLP has the lowest prize purse of any of them. //

Not if you go by the 7th place payout, looks to me like 7th at Placid is going to get close to $4k !!!!

Addresses it pretty clearly:
Some argue that many pros are idiots for not racing events that pay better and pay deeper. That's a valid point. However, WTC has athletes with championship aspirations held hostage because they must accumulate a certain amount of points to race the 70.3 and 140.6 championships.

Additionally, what I said was the reasons people often give, but I'm not sure I buy the validity of many of them. Many of them think there's more non-monetary benefit to WTC races than there probably actually is. At a minimum, they're too afraid to find out.

---

IG: idking90

Okay, so look at your wording. Obviously that opportunity to race at Kona (the championship you referenced) has a higher value than a simple cash payout for showing up to a race. When athletes compete at WTC events they may get some cash, but they also get Kona Qualifying Points, and those have value. That value is obviously high enough that pros are willing to chase those points instead of going to Challenge Buttfucknowhere and getting $5k just to show up.

If sponsors care more about IM branded events than Challenge it means that placing 7th at IMLP has value beyond what ever Challenge is paying to have pros show up.

If anyone bothers to think about the logical outcome of this little stunt it will be that WTC gets more powerful and Challenge et al. will be fucked. Shaming WTC into paying more and paying deeper means that more pros will choose Ironman over everyone else. The more that happens the more sponsors are going to push athletes towards Ironman and away from Challenge. Once more athletes are racing hard at IM events Kona will gain even more significance as a "world championship."

Was that really what this was supposed to accomplish?

Why not? It's kind of what they do. It's kind of what makes pros you know, pro.



It's not obvious, in fact it's still debateable. Multiple people in this thread have asserted things like "without the pros there is no coverage." But that's obviously bullshit. The US is full of amateur events that get plenty of coverage (aka NCAA). Not that long ago the Olympics were amateurs competing without any promise of a payout. Without pros there is still an elite level race that are finishing pretty close to the pros. WTC is able to pay so little because the pros need them more than WTC needs pros, that's just simple economics. What's obvious from all of thise is that the pros aren't making WTC enough money for the prize purse to be higher. They are not revenue generating, unless of course they are the ones buying all the Finisher gear.

Think about what? It what way does WTC own athletes? Challenge owns Macca, they have some weird contract where he has to show up to events. Does WTC have that arrangement with any other athlete? Are they not free to pick and choose their races?

Please tell me how WTC owns the athletes that race at their events.

That's not my wording. That's directly from the Gofundme website, so TRS/Dark mark did make that clear up front.
Again, the actual validity of that is certainly in question though. It's not an argument that I actually buy, because to an extent I do agree that many pros don't do a good job of race selection. If you're gunning for 7th (pre-massive 7th place purse) at a low points race like IMLP, you are almost certainly not in a position to qualify for Kona as a pro, so continuing to chase KPR points is kind of silly. Arguably, sponsors care more about WTC races through bonus programs and the historical trend toward favoring WTC results when selecting athletes to work with. Those last two, I'm really not convinced of, as the 7th place at IMLP caliber of athlete probably doesn't have much in the way of bonus oriented contracts, and I'm also not sure how useful "7th place at IMLP" is to a sponsor versus "winner, Challenge AC."

---

IG: idking90

Own as they are contractual employees. Are they "held hostage" by the Kona factor? Yes, but that's a different conversation and is still a "professional" choice. It might be the best choice, although it may not be the smartest long term. But it's still a choice, not an obligation.

Rachel is out of the water in 7th!

---

-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

Absurd logic. Unless you compare it to XC or other non rev, low publicity sports. But when you say NCAA people are going to think football, basketball & the multi million per year TV contracts, the big payout bowl games etc.
You've made some good points in your posts but this is far from one of them

---

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Think about what? It what way does WTC own athletes? Challenge owns Macca, they have some weird contract where he has to show up to events. Does WTC have that arrangement with any other athlete? Are they not free to pick and choose their races?

Please tell me how WTC owns the athletes that race at their events. //

Wtc also pays athletes to do their races, just like your example with Macca. They have contracts in place for certain pros to do a multitude of their races in fact. And they are not "weird" contracts, they are standard in the industry. Care to keep arguing about something you know nothing about?

Are there only 7 pro women in the race?

---

---

---

Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

Are there only 7 pro women in the race?//

From the tracker it looks like 11 finished the swim..

any bike updates?

---

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I took a peak over at the live coverage, and a bunch of guys i have never heard of, or barley have heard of them. Same with the women. It looks like to me because of the prize money and lack of qualifying points, the field is really an anonymous one. Some lucky 3rd tier pro is going to be very happy today. I see Pedro Gomes is in the top couple, wonder if he falls apart somewhere on the run if he will go for 7th. Right now only the winner gets more than 7th, and just barley.

Man TRS should be giving barley to the 7th placer to go along with the gluten tolerant wristband.
I think Messick is fighting back if the winner is now getting barley and more money than the 7th placer.