A few things:

1.) A club can't put on a sprint for $20 and have it be insured as a club activity, have a permit to use the beach, and pay the mandatory police officers the minimum of four hours that is required. There are very few places where you can still do that, unfortunately. And if you decide to go rogue with it without permits...heaven help you.

2.) Same deal for the Olympic. Our half marathon starts at $40 and ranges up to $75. Our fixed costs grow more expensive every year but registration fees don't adequately keep pace, so our net winds up coming down each year since roughly 2015.

3.) In terms of the demographics, I can tell you that ST skews younger and more female than you or anybody else gives us credit for.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I think its a generational thing. Gen-X are the sports nuts and they are getting older. The younger generations are not as sports crazy. You can see it in almost all sports. Viewership, participation, ticket sales, are all down with the younger generation.

Looking around at Steelhead last weekend it felt like there were more millennials in the crowd. Gave me some hope that another generation is finding the sport. Checking results, 30-34 was the largest age group and both the 40s groups were larger than 50-54. I'm sure 1/2s skew a bit younger but it didn't feel like just a bunch of us old guys.

So what's interesting is that both Millenials and Gen Y both really value time spent outdoors and the activities associated with them. Generally speaking, though, Millenials are more likely to value individual activity (like kayaking or hiking) than a competitive one. But Gen Y is right there -- it's in their Top 5 for lifestyle requirements -- just need to capture them.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

As a fellow Gen-Xer I agree with this and most of the other posts as well. Very interesting!

The world is a very different place today compared to when us Gen-Xers were getting into our sports (late 1980s, 1990s). As a young competitive cyclist, I don't remember being worried about global warming, climate change, mass extinctions of animals, global food and water shortages, and other current global problems (just to name a few). With social media today there's much more awareness of how badly things are in the world. It feels like younger people are more conscious and getting more involved in trying to solve many current problems. At least more so than my generation and the baby boomers.

I love the Ironman and I admit that I'm hooked. But let's face it - IM is the most selfish sport on the planet in regards to time and money spent. I do feel torn sometimes. Should I re-allocate my time and resources towards a less selfish cause like helping the homeless, volunteering for a youth group, starting an animal sanctuary, etc? Perhaps more millennials are trying prioritize their lives in a way to do more good in the world? Maybe I'm way off base?

I also agree that cost is another big factor for younger folks.

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

What about sailing, mountaineering, motorsports to name but 3; then there are the parents who work away from their kids by choice (I see that a lot). Ironman isn't the only expensive self-consumed activity out there!

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29 years and counting

I'll admit I know close to nothing about the sports you mentioned. I wonder if any of them have seen a decrease in interest over the years like triathlon (and some people mentioned a decline in golf too).

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

So when I see young people in the university gym where I work out staring at their phones instead of getting their weight session done in half the time, it's because they are reading about how to solve the current global problems? Maybe I shouldn't interrupt to ask if I can work in with him or her on the machine. :) I seriously doubt that fewer millennials are doing triathlon because they are too busy trying to solve the world's problems. I don't believe that social media has led to a more educated and aware populace than we were young. I do agree that they have other interests and tri is more expensive now than it was when I was in my 20s in the '80s. I did tris for more than a decade before I could afford to do my first IM.

We are in big trouble if you are 100% correct :-)

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Death is easy....peaceful. Life is harder.

As others have said, this is a problem across most sports.
I've been involved in orienteering since 2001 and the biggest male age class then was 40-45, now it's often 55-60 or 60-65. This is most obvious at large/major multi day events. Smaller local events are more variable depending on the location, but the middle ground of 25-45 is usually thin on numbers everywhere.

Orienteering isn't an expensive sport when it come to kit but the travel costs are often significant. Many people will need to drive for a couple of hours or more to find an event with a decent amount of competition. Entry fees for a good event will be £15-25, but there is constant complaint that the fees are getting too high.

I personally think you're wrong about the 35 and under crowd not being interested in triathlon. There's an entire national championship geared towards the collegiate population..and it's a big deal in the collegiate tri world. A lot of those athletes go on to continue competing in triathlon, and some of them at the higher levels of competition. Heck, Taylor Spivey won the DL race at collegiate nats back in 2014 and Ben Kanute won both the DL and the Oly in 2013..they're both still competing. Not to mention there's the whole youth/junior elite series. The interest in triathlon is there, and those younger athletes are likely the future of the sport. However, they're mostly focused on short course Sprint/Oly racing, with the occasional half IM thrown in for fun. Can you blame them? If you want to pull out the whole "millennials have shorter attention spans, they want instant gratification and they want it now" argument, it makes sense. Long course has no allure to them, they don't want to be on the bike for 112 miles and then have to run a marathon afterwards, they want to be able to get their racing done before noon so they have the rest of their day to enjoy.

I certainly think there are plenty of young people concerned about those issues. I just don't think that focus is having an effect on their desire/ability to do a tri or two each summer. Triathlon is certainly a sport that celebrates the beauty of our world and the need to keep it healthy.

I think this thread is starting to over-think this issue. This is not a class warfare issue. And it's not because there are more problems in the world today than there were in the past. (That's just not true. Remember no nukes? The impending ice age? The farm crisis? World hunger?)

The issue is very simple. Two components:

First, habits and priorities change from one generation to the next. It's about priorities. The Millennial generation spends less on participation sports than the previous generations, but they spend exponentially more on their pets and on vacation travel. That's not a class warfare issue. It's just a change in priorities. Millennials, like Xers and Boomers, do what they want to do. And right now, their 2.7 dogs per household (and thousands in annual spending per dog) get higher priority than triathlon. Most Boomers couldn't conceive of spending thousands for surgery for a dog. Twenty years ago, dogs were more "disposable." But most Millennials can't conceive of NOT spending thousands if that's what it takes to keep shelter dog #5 alive and healthy. Today, triathlon isn't competing with tennis. It's competing with house pets. It's about priorities. (And . . . let's be honest . . . for Boomers, obesity held a stigma. We might have been obese, but we were ashamed of it. For Millennials, for better or worse, obesity has lost its stigma. It's not as important socially to be physically fit anymore. It's a bigger stigma if our dog is obese!)

Second, the cost of triathlon has escalated many times faster than the rate of inflation. (As has the cost of bike racing, gravel racing, marathons, 5k's.) It's not unusual for entriy fees to be 8x to 10x what they were ten years ago. Admittedly, the costs of an event are higher -- which means the prices have to be higher. And when you raise prices, you get less demand. That leaves you with racers who are more committed than the average citizen -- but a lot fewer of them. "Empty nesters" aren't spending on the kids anymore -- and, for the most part, they haven't bought into the wealthy shelter dog idea yet -- so they can afford the higher fees. But for those who are considering the sport for the first time? The higher fees are a serious barrier to entry. The newbie is thinking, "What else could I do with that $200, $600, $800, plus travel expenses?"

   I reckon it is because Ironman got too bloody serious and very few people are cutting loose and having fun.Back in the day we all used to party hard during training and even harder afterwards.It was all kinds of fun.Races were sponsored by beer companies and free booze was on the tables at BOTH the carbo parties as well as the awards.Athletes,both age group and pro sleeping around and causing all kinds of havoc at race after parties,it was awesome!!
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Now you have coaches making you live like bloody Monks,pretending that everyone is elite and that we should all train like it is the fucking Olympics. ( actually have a quote from an Olympian about that ). The Underpant Run is off limits because that 1k jog might ruin your entire years preparation and bugger me I have even seen little cards at a mates party which listed the bloody calories count of each dish served on the buffet.
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In short Ironman athletes tend to take themselves way too seriously and where the hell is the fun in that for young people.The obstacle course races,Crossfit and hell even Park Runs have taken over.

M33 here, started when I was M28 in the sport, about to drop out of the sport pretty soon...so I feel qualified to comment - these are my top-10 BROAD generalizations as I've seen it

1) Sport is really good for when you're either (1) single or (2) deeply involved in a relationship with established parenting routines. When you're actively dating / starting out / etc. It can be consuming. Hence why maybe 28-35ers are focused on family planning and cannot / will not allocate 8-15+ hours a week to triathlon. If you have an 8 and 12 year old who spends 2 hours a day at soccer, you probably can be efficient an workout alongside them. An 8 month old is still trying to breathe right.
2) The younger AG <25 is focused on getting careers in order, finding new social circles - and probably not willing to spend $1,000 for an IM weekend (I was not)
3) Sunday races suck, and Saturday bike check-in is a joke. Nobody wants to spend the weekend bothering yourself and your family with proper hydration, nutition, etc. and rest when you're potentially visiting a new place. All to get your "nutrition" locked in for a 23rd OA place or something like that. Then its Sunday at 11am and its time to go home, and go to work. We need more Saturday morning races (where you check in saturday). This is why I only do Saturday races with packet pick up the morning of the race.
4) Running is cool again. Its very cool. Trail running is all the rage. And you can run 7 hours a week and get very good. Oh, and you can workout once a day (or maybe just 8-10x a week). Triathlon can't compete with that. Want to stay fit, feel like an athlete and have a life? Run.
5) Working out twice a day every day is really draining and selfish. Younger generations like to socialize a bit more. Balance perhaps? Grind out a 1 hour workout in the morning and have the day free.
6) People are freaking out about biking on public roads. I see it more and more than even 6 years ago. And before you try, the trainer is uber boring and not a substitute to a 6am sunrise bike ride.
7) Younger folks can afford triathlon, but they prefer to travel. Where you've been is the Happy Hour brag vs. what you've done. Most <40s are thinking about the next weekend trip to Europe, not planning their 23 hour training weekend.
8) Drinking is really accessible and "trendy". Wine, micro brews, etc. Not a healthy hobby (or something I advocate), but it creates a lot more distractions (Hey Teddy, wanna go check out "Local Brewery XYZ", vs. "Hey Teddy, how about we smash some FTP intervals for 45 min?") The former happens more.
9) Young people either (1) really get into tris and kick ass or (2) are one and dones. You older folks love to grind out in the sport and be slow as F. I don't see that trend with 30 year olds as they do not appreciate just being there (and hence why old AGs grind it out).
10) Only had 9.

Sport won't die and when you're at the next IM branded race you'll feel like its the center of the world with 2,500 people there. So who cares? Its still fun (if you're into it, and probably old).

I did my first IM at 29, am 33 now. I am not "HEY LOOK IM DOING AN IRONMAN" guy, but some of my co workers know. Those over 50 "wow that is awesome such dedication" ETC, they often ask how my training is going, how far am I up to running ETC. Those that are my age.... "I would never do that" "that has to take up so much time" Again, I don't do this for the approval of others, but there is for sure a difference of what peoples opinions are on the sport.
I also do think that people have got more serious and that has likely taken the fun out of it for many. (I am guilty of this myself) Used to be (like only 10 years ago) you would go to a group ride, and you would smash it, and everyone would come back gassed and drink a coffee or a beer. Now everyone has a power meter and it trying to end a ride with a 72% IF or a TSS of X, or stay in Zone Y. Those things are are fine, but have to balance with the other side as well.

I've always wondered why WTC doesnt have 5Ks, newbie sprints and/or Aquabikes, Otillo type runs all in the same weekend as HIM or fulls. Those signing up for the smaller events would likely be attracted to watching a half or a full IM before the weekend was over. It would expose them to it, right there and then. And hopefully inspire them to do a bigger event next time it comes around. Kid fun runs are great, no doubt, BUT they can't sign up for another 10 to 15 years. Bring back the weekend multisport festival! Party! Party! Party!

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WTC owns two multisport festivals within 30mins drive from my base in Australia.Here is the most famous one and it is an epic weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWOneNE--Hs

Ironman Cairns has a multisport festival as well during Ironman week and the many bars along the run course in town are packed full of spectators and 70.3 finishers all day on race day.

I think this depends on where we live. We all don't live in the USA. Where I live (Ottawa Canada), we have the local bike club putting on a weekly 15km TT that is dirt cheap. If you can put on a 15K TT you can put on a TT sprint tri that is a 500m swim, whatever distance run to the spot on the road where the TT would start and then do a 15K bike. Run the sprint in TT mode. The actual location where the bike TT happens you can have a swim 500m in the Ottawa river, finish, have a short 3km run and do the bike TT. I have a location in mind near where I live where this could be done from a pool swim (also TT mode)...swim--->run to bike -> bike TT. You need a favourable city and where you can do out and back or all right turns.

My friend who is a 12x IM finisher puts on a sprint tri in her community for $60 just outside of Ottawa in Perth Ontario. 1K pool swim, 30K bike, 7 km run. Its been going on for 8 years.

At least in Canada, it is doable. But you need 20 somethings putting on races. I was a race director in my 20's and that's the way the sport will grow. You need young people stepping up and organizing the sport, not just old people.

Pretty well my cohort who have generally beeen the largest age group, is also the same cohort who organized races for the last 3 decades and continues to. If its just us doing the organizing then we cater to our peers. Andrew Messick in is my age group...the list goes on and on.

My wife and I are "millenials," put on races, race a ton (hell I'm pretty sure I'll get a bronze frequent buyer program cap this year), etc. I'm just telling you -- the fixed costs are rising and frequently a result of the permitting process. I'm currently stuck in hell trying to get the state DOT to finish signing off on our half marathon -- we're on our third new person in as many years handling our event permit.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Yep... following the demographic that races these events.
It might shift later down the road as youth participation seems to be on the rise and it is getting close to a NCAA sport for women.

But, I think the rat is going through the IM snake and unfortunately I'm stuck in the middle of it!!!!!

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Ryan
http://www.SetThePaceTriathlon.com
http://www.TriathlonTrainingDaddy.com
I got plans - https://www.trainingpeaks.com/...dotcom#trainingplans

I enjoyed your list, but a bunch of us old guys starting doing tris when we were in our early 20s and nearly everything on your list was also happening in the early '80s. I think one of the main differences between young adults now and 30 or 40 years ago was growing up riding a bicycle for transportation. I think there are a lot less kids who do that now which probably affects the affection for tris. I did my first couple of seasons of tris on the road bike I had as a teenager. I didn't feel weird showing up at a tri with that bike. That is likely different now, as is the fact that there are a lot more cars on the roads than there were in the early days of tris.

But triathlons don't HAVE to be on a road. I think that is the kind of thinking that Paul was implying....but I don't want to speak for him....

Stephen J

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I believe my local reality has been violated.
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Happiness = Results / (Expectations)^2

It's awful what's done to each generation. When I was young, we had nuclear bomb drills and a nuclear clock. The world was going to end due to overpopulation. Gasoline and food was supposed to be long gone by now. Y2K.

Maybe we need to bring back the "The sky is falling" story to kindergartners. Previous generations had world wars and a great depression. Noah needed an Ark. Major cities and nations have been leveled more than once in history.

It's a shame that people are not supposed to enjoy themselves while they are getting closer to death each day and the world is ending. The individuals, artists, musicians and athletes who enjoyed themselves while their worlds were ending are still remembered fondly today.

BTW aren't aliens or zombies going to get us before longer term problems get us?

I've taught elementary - high school. Elected to school board. Scoutmaster. Downtown development board. Coached, helped juvies and the homeless. People are hard to help.

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

I think you touched on an important distinction. Most of the observations on this thread are US-centric.

My wife is Welsh and about 10 years ago I talked my brother in law off the soccer pitch for a Saturday to do a sprint race with me (plus, I needed a ride. Left side driving just feels wrong to my US sensibilities).

When we got back from the race later that day my SIL asked him how it was and he said “like nothing I’ve ever done before” and many IMs later I’m not sure he’s ever gone back on a soccer pitch.

When I’m there I am sad to relate the state of tri here with tales of vanished races but at least in the U.K. it seems to be going from tri strength to strength.

It also helps that Britain has produced a long run of TdF winners and Olympic tri and track cycling champions.

Maybe being something of a celebrity obsessed culture we need another charismatic American TdF champion again to lift us out of the doldrums? No one on the horizon unfortunately but love or hate the person the dynamic engages people.

Purely anecdotal take but that’s the view from my perch.