$$$$ dictate strength of field. This race only has $ 50k Total prize purse, $ 6,600 for the winners, I would not expect anything like the Daytona field, and doubt that anyone will be doing anything more than a hard training effort :-)

Think you're undermining how the pros truly and desperately just want to race and feel that burn. Money helps but getting out and pushing yourself to the limit with your competitors is what these pros live for.

As someone who lived a trained in Miami for years this is an ideal race venue/course in terms of mess that is roads BUT clearly they are still having permitting issue with the 70.3 bike as the course is listed as TBD. They need to get this sorted if there is any hope of having this be a sustainable event. The Pro multi-lap bike course on the race track won't scale for a major age group event and the event itself won't survive if they can't do a major age group event. They have also missed the boat on not having a gravel triathlon/duathlon because the venue is absolutely prime for that.

There is a massive market in the area but nothing with a decent bike leg. Miami Man is great on the run and swim but the bike leg is far from ideal. Miami 70.3 was a nightmare for a number of reasons but the bike was the major sticking point. Escape to Miami and the Mack Cycle Trilogy Events have a draw but realistically the bike remains a problem and you could not do a longer distance course on those events. The obvious road bike course in my mind for Challenge a loop to Black Point Marina which you would do twice.

i actually enjoyed the miami 70.3 bike course.

=sum(Travel expense, travel insurance, possible quarantine requirements on return to home training base, risk of Covid)>(average(race position at last few races) *(prize money) +(wanting to feel the burn)) =FALSE

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I think there will be a huge North American presence. Athletes just want to race and there might not be too many races on the calendar until late summer.

I am surprised Annie Haug has committed. She will face 2 weeks of quarantine to get back into Europe. Maybe she intends to stay and get some races in US?

Fkin Jan Frodeno is racing... Which flips me from being disappointed I'm still on the "waitlist", to devastated. Awesome regardless.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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fixed it for ya.

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

Jan has spoken

I guess I'll be pissed off for you. Challenge and PTO seem to only care about feeding the top professional triathletes and effectively starving out the pros on the bottom. Why should I give them any credit?

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

He said it. Not me...

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the man, but it's hard to imagine they're not paying him an appearance fee. Money that could go to, I don't know, allowing more pros to race to expanding the depth of payouts. It's been a frustrating experience for sure, but at the same time, I haven't received a hard no yet so here I am, leaving a tab with flights up on my computer, ready to book at any second.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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We have a local low level female pro that announced just today on IG that she's racing Miami. I dont know if she just rolled on, or was always on the start list. Maybe there's still a chance you can roll on.

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

There's a chance, but I'm pretty sure it's the men's race that is "at capacity". I've been told the only reason there's a chance us waitlisters get in is because some foreign athletes are waiting for permission from their countries to travel. Which feels bad, because I know at least 3 guys from the US that have been ready to fully commit for weeks.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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I haven't seen the start list, but this press release is missing some heavy hitters, IMO... I mean, what about Iden? Brownlee? Luis? Am I missing something?

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

I would think those guys don't need the travel headache with the buildup to Tokyo / WTS / final olympic spots. Brownlee for all intent purposes is only going to make the olympics if chosen, he's not going to "earn" his spot. IE- very likely AB or Yee will get left out of GB team.

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

Also, keep in mind the current purse is $50,000. So a little under 5% of what Daytona was. Probably tougher for some of the better non-Americans to justify traveling during the pandemic to fight over scraps. Leave that for the cannon fodder, ahem, working class pros. ;)

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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I think the quartine actually isn't *that* big of a deal. They'll still be able to bike and run they just likely cant get to a swim facility (unless they have an at home swim etc). But if they get a good paycheck out of it and can still train except for the swim, it's probaly a win win for the big names (winner takes home $6k, not much, but I wouldn't think the big names have to cover expenses, so it's likely worth it). I mean they likely will bike trainer, but is the police going to sit outside their door and check to make sure they don't go run around their neighborhood? Keep it off social media and you have likely a paycheck in pocket with very min training affected.

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

bingo.

it's a hit out to see how training is going, and it's a chance to do what they love. i suspect a lot of people would show up for free, these days.

that, plus, in this climate i think sponsors will appreciate seeing their athletes get out even if they don't win. daytona got a lot of coverage and i thinking that a lot of sponsors were pleased about that.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

He's among the pros who the fans want to see most. Makes sense to do what they can to get him to come. When names like Jan, Lionel, Sebi, AB, etc race head to head, viewership is likely to be far greater than when it's just lower level pros.

PTO isnt a charity. They need some level of promotion which means investing in top guns. Whether they are striking the right balance is another question. But they'd fizzle out without some focus on the pointy end.

There’s a local pro that is on the start list. And this pro doesn’t race a lot of pro races and is nowhere near the top. Take that for what it’s worth.

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blog

PTO is a registered non-profit. It claims to represent athletes. But it is an event promoter masquerading as an athlete's association.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Non-profits need to spend money to get money

Pro field signup was first come, first served with a few A-list exceptions (Jan, Lucy), no?

I know a couple folks making their pro debut @ Miami.

once the pro race filled, they stopped accepting new entrants, i don't see the problem. If they bumped existing entrants to add the others, that might feel different to me.

Correct. Which I have no problem with. That's pretty much the only way to do it. My issue is them holding spots for athletes who can't fully commit to racing. Except for Daytona, this is the first Challenge race in the US with a purse for a few years I think. I could be wrong about that. Holding slots for foreign athletes who may not even be allowed to travel during a pandemic when there are US athletes fully able to commit is a bummer.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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