I agree it was a great race, but they created their own demise IMO when they discontinued the 1/2 IM. To my knowledge the athletes you mentioned and many other pros did the 1/2. There's no way I'd travel that far for a race that short.

Yeah they need some marijuana edibles included in the free post race food.

Here in Madison, WI the short races seem to do very well, and are going strong. Race Day Events does a series of 7 races from June until Sept in the area and does quite well with options for both sprint and only at some venues. The entire series costs less than $300, so is a real bargain. Many of the local pros even join in and there is usually beer and a good feed afterwards. That said, I think we are the exception but are lucky to have a very large and active tri scene.

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Gary Geiger
http://www.geigerphoto.com Professional photographer

TEAM KiWAMi NORTH AMERICA http://www.kiwamitri.com, Rudy Project http://www.rudyprojectusa.com, GU https://guenergy.com/shop/ ; Salming World Ambassador; https://www.shopsalming.com

Most the tri's you mentioned are nearing the $200 barrier. The courses not set up for bike racing but rather swim,bike, jog your... So quality of competition diminished. Except for super seal and the UCSD tri

It's hard to find a 5K run for just $30 these days. Some of the low-end productions charge that amount, but the larger ones with more SWAG cost up to $50. But I completely agree that $125 is too much for a sprint.

Meanwhile, the sprint triathlon scene in Tampa Bay is alive and well. I registered for the Crystal River sprint triathlon three-race series for $180 on a Black Friday special. $60 a race is more than reasonable for a sprint tri.

Challenge baja sprint was only $102 to reg including the $5 Mexico tri fee and the online charge. The sprint is closer to OLY distance with a 44k bike ride. The koz events are still about a $100 for the sprint and you can reg by mail to avoid the active fee. Agree with you that a middle age male with later wave start is gonna have a lot of bike traffic at those events. Tritonman is the best AG men start right behind the collegiate women......need I say more. You reg for that the week of the event without any penalty so u know the weather and your fitness to race without dropping money way in advance

We have quite a few in the Louisville area.

Entry level bikes are $2500 now. That's a lot to just even try a triathlon.

I live in CT and we've got enough sprint's within 2 hours drive that people could race nearly every week or so. There arent as many olympic's and we lost a local 70.3 a few years ago, but can definitely say that if you want to race, they're often enough.

they arent always cheap though, its going to cost about $100 for a sprint and many of them are even 2 loops on the bike.

My 1'st new car had a sticker price 18k and my last new car was 51k.

My 1'st house was $400k, sold it 4 years later for 600k.

My 1'st semester of tuition was $625. Some friends are spending $30k a semester for their kids

Things get more expensive.....

And you all wonder why people under 30 are not rushing into the sport....

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I wrote this, you should read it:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...n_Swimming_6700.html

Thing is, most of those things you mentioned can't happen for safety reasons. Groups on open road courses? Nope. Music? It's more and more allowed on the run, but a definite no on the bike. Also as a one of those 20 somethings, who knows a lot of other 20 something triathletes, i think you have no idea what will attract people to races

Well why don't you enlighten us?

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Having just turned 30 this year, I think I can speak to some of the aging 20-something crowd. At least those in and around Central Indiana. I recently moved to Denver, so I can't speak to this market.

When I look at the events that my peers are paying to participate in, I notice some key differences. Mostly these are Tough Mudder/Spartan races and running-specific events:
- Competing/completing in a group is totally acceptable
- Group training is not only feasible, but preferred, and can be organized with fewer logistical concerns
- Themed events (Turkey Trot, Reindeer Relay, Strength in our Streets, etc.) are not only popular, they are the norm
- BEER and LIVE MUSIC at the event - before, during and after. This seems to be a factor that could easily be remedied, yet remains suspiciously absent.

And, although this is less common, speaks to my sensibilities as a millennial: Subscription-based pricing. If I were to offer a plan where for $50/month all year ($600), or a $400 one-time fee, you would get a guaranteed entry into all races a race company puts on, I would bet there would be success. Even if you limit it to a specific race category (i.e., all triathlons [could be further broken up by distance], all running events [again, broken up by distance if necessary], all cycling events [you get the idea]), you overcome the issue of under-capitalization, and you don't tie your budget to an imaginary or projected number of participants. Day-of participants and standard signups remain possible, but you're less reliant on that income.

Not everyone who signs up will race all the events they're able, but those who do are (in my mind) also more likely to bring a friend along on the day-of. If I know I can walk up on the morning of a race and have a guaranteed entry, I'll drag my buddy along and get him to join in. Perhaps this is an oversimplification, but I tend to consume by subscription more and more. Why should racing be any different?

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Brenden Macy
Sports & Entertainment Attorney
I am Drive. I am Grit. I am Determination.

EVERYTIME I talk to someone new and they ask what my hobbies are and I reply: Triathlon. The immediate response is, "Oh so you do Ironmans!" and then I proceed to explain I do sprints and oly's and then have to get into the distances and most have never even heard of them. That doesn't help new comers get into triathlon when they do not know what they are but know the "impossible" races and they "would never do them".

Also - bloody expensive for a tri. 7 sprints equal one full Ironman. $100 bucks or so is the norm around here in Florida ($75-$120) but can find some more or less depending.

There is TONS of them in Florida though. They definitely are not going away.

In Australia, number seem to ebb and flow for the sport and certain races. IMWA in December was down this year, but that was because of a swim cancellation last year (sharks). So there can be any number of reasons. The Tough Mudder style races really took off in Australia, but quickly died. I think they're more of a novelty race, do it once off kind of thing. Triathlon will always be there as one of the main go to sports for anyone wanting to challenge themselves from an endurance perspective. I don't really see things like Crossfit challenging Triathlon. It seems big in the US, no idea of it's popularity in Australia, but don't hear any mention of it on Facebook now compared to 2 years ago. I think the future of triathlon is safe and secure, but perhaps better marketing for the sport and certain races would help.



I agree. You don't want the alcohol to be the main focus of the event, but stick on a BBQ and beer tent for afterwards, rather than just have everyone wonder off after the race. Most of us have given up our Friday/sat night to race Sunday, so good to unwind and shoot the shit post race.

I'll agree with this.

There are a ton of people who want to "look like" they're getting into shape for these Savage races/Color Runs/etc.

They want to show up, walk a cross a finish line, and get their medal/t-shirt. None of it requires an ounce of preparation or actual training, and few of them are timed outside of the top 10 finishers.

Now that I'm getting back into racing, I'm noticing this more. Everyone gets a trophy, no one actually races.

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__________________________________________________
Kotter
Getting back into the game...
Slower than you.

I was about to register for Buffalo; it was $97. Then I realized it was on Sunday so I didn't register. Why is it on a Sunday instead of Saturday?

So, you are including the price of a single day USAT license in the cost and it still is not well above $100 as you initially stated. So, what was your goal in lying that the sprint races were much more than $100?

Sunday vs Saturday? No clue, ask the race director.

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Ryan

Unfortunately, you have to take the exercise part out of it. Or at least the training leading up to the event. TBH i think there was such a drive for athletic excellence from a super young age that a lot of people finished high school and/or college and wanted nothing more to do with sports. I saw it a lot with the people i swam with, and later as a coach as well.

I'm 27 and my wife is 26. If our similarly-aged friends happen to do an event, it's a one time thing or once/year thing. It's not a lifestyle, like triathlon, or road cycling. The popular sporting events for our friends involve an easy entry and a low fitness bar to participate, and they're not usually solo activities. Example: Last year my sister had never run before, did a 12 week phone app plan, ran a 2:14 half marathon, and hasn't run since.

Triathlon requires a lot of training and a long open water swim, plus a lot of expensive gear. You race solo. Most of your training is solo.

Road cycling requires a high level of specific fitness in order to not get immediately dropped from your first race. I'd venture a guess that more people get dropped from their first cat 4/5 race and never do a race again then race for a second time.

I'm kind of with you on everything but the beer...immediately following my first Olympic the beer tasted like Urine...and it was one I liked. 4 Peaks Kilt Lifter...now...let's talk about crappy post race food. Not sure if it changed this year as I was injured, but Tempe Lifetime usually has a crappy rated Italian restaurant serve what can best be described as "Army Noodles and Ketchup"...how about a no. Volunteers got Chipotle Burritos...trust me...your racers would rather have Chipotle catering.

A lot of freakin people that do triathlon in Phoenix also race in the two Ragnar relays we have here...the road one is a bad date for me this year because it's the week after the Phoenix Marathon.

Tough Mudder and Spartan race are both at the point where they have professional circuits coupled with their amateur race, so there's really no novelty at this point. These races sell out. Now...I'm kind of over the obstacle course BS after my previous life.

Music on the bike and run...that's definitely not something stopping races or the sport from growing.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Another thing to blame on you damned Millenials...

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__________________________________________________
Kotter
Getting back into the game...
Slower than you.

You do recognize a crit is less than a 1 mile course to set and control and you can run multiple races (collect fees multiple times) in one day. I have never gotten any swag at a crit, they don't give out finishers medals, AG awards and you are lucky if then even provide water. In short, it shouldn't cost more than $30 because they are not providing a whole lot and their costs are usually low (unless they are trying to use a busy downtown area and are paying huge policing costs, which doesn't happen without large sponsorship.

Contrast that with lifeguards, buoys, at least 10-15 miles of course to control, T-shirts, lots of awards, people expect snacks after, chip timing for a sprint tri. It is amazing that anyone can put on a sprint for even $50-60. The $30 sprint tri is kind of a straw man, except for a few almost no frills races more than 10 years ago, $30 is a fairy tale. I would say $50 is about as cheap as you will find any local race.

In my area you used to be able to get $30-35 sprint Tri signups. Key was one or two particular race event entities offered a 50% off Black Friday early signup special. At that time their early registration fees were around $60-75 or so per Sprint or Duathlon race before the 1/2 off deal. One year I ended up signing up for 3 of their events for less than $100 total including processing fees from Active (shortly before they started really gouging people and only charge $5 per transaction iirc). Signed up a for a 4th race that year but it at an early bird fee but that came up to $65 or $70 total including processing fees (race day price on that one was $75 or so + processing fees). 4 races under $200 was a pretty good racing year.

I miss those days. The following year they realized how much $ they were losing operating on a loss a couple of years in a row because more than half was from Black Friday discounted signups. They capped the discount for Black Friday at $10 or 15 off the "race day signup" price. I know this because they specifically stated the reason for the Black Friday discount change in a mass email to any previous participants who've partaken in such a discount before.