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Life Time's Record Purse
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From Inside Triathlon...

"It will be the biggest payday in the history of triathlon. Life Time Fitness CEO Bahram Akradi announced Tuesday that the second Life Time Fitness non-drafting sprint triathlon would earn the winner a cool quarter-million.

At a Minneapolis press conference attended by the mayor and Minnesota's Governor, as well as elite triathletes Craig Walton and Becky Gibbs, Akradi promised that the winner of the gender-handicapped, battle-of-the-sexes format sprint triathlon - to be broadcast the race "as live" on NBC on August 2, 2003 - would win a check for $250,000 - and the entire field would be competing for a total of $500,000.

Second through fifth place overall in the gender handicap division would be allocated as follows: Second place would receive $50,000, third $35,000, fourth $25,000 and fifth $20,000. The remaining $120,000 of the prize purse would be allocated to the remaining top finishers in separate men's and women's categories."

Thoughts? Curious about how other race directors view the move.

Matt
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Re: Life Time's Record Purse [mts] [ In reply to ]
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Bottom Line: How does this benefit the sport? The common triathlete like you and I? To me, it is a bit of a non-issue although I do acknowledge its significance bringing the sport into the general spotlight.

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com
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Re: Life Time's Record Purse [mts] [ In reply to ]
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I was actually at the press conf. so I made some quotes. I'm not sure exactly how other RDs will take it, but IMHO I think the event will be good for our sport:
  1. Making professional triathlon an actual profession. Though professional triathletes have existed for years, very few have been able to actually make a living at it. Having LTF "raise the prize purse bar" prompts other events to do the same (or lose outstanding athletes opting to race for larger purses). At the conference Walton said, "If I win, excuse me, 'when' I win this event I'll be able to relax a bit. I'm not saying I'm going to stop racing, but I'll have some room to breathe." Additionally, when Bahram Akradi was asked, "What will you do if/when World Triathlon Corporation (i.e., Ironman) raises their purse above yours?" He replied, "That's simple, we'll just raise our purse above theirs; we are fully committed to this event and the sport of triathlon."
  2. Like Tom said, live TV coverage on NBC puts the sport of triathlon in the homes of millions. People everywhere will discover there is more than one distance (i.e., Ironman) in triathlon.


That's my $0.02.

-giancarlo
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Re: Life Time's Record Purse [mts] [ In reply to ]
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Maybe this will wake up wtc..........graham fraser and all to actually offer the pro's some money instead of pocketing huge amounts and expecting triathlon's pro's to live off nothing!!! What a joke! Now I see they are lowering the amount of people getting money at some races to top 5..............................? About time to put some more money back into our sport.....................even the age groupers are getting less and less from ironman races...............yet paying more?
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Re: Life Time's Record Purse [mts] [ In reply to ]
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"Battle of the Sexes" sounds so much better than "Battle of the Genders" it's not funny.

Too bad the word "sex" has been neutered...

People didn't use to have "genders"; only nouns did.


American's are definately infekting the world with there English grammer.
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Re: Life Time's Record Purse [Triathlete] [ In reply to ]
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As a resident of Minneapolis I'm really excited for the race since it will bring so many great people to town for the race. As a member of LifeTimeFitness, I just hope they don't raise my monthly dues - but I'm also really happy to see the company support athletes by sponsoring races like this one.

I've been really happy with how Lifetime works, and the people I know who work for the company are all active and involved people who truly enjoy sport and healthy living. I really hope that the race gets good weather, good TV coverage, and that the people that race have a quality experience here in MN. There are a many tris in MN, and many triathletes in the area - so the chance to meet/watch the pros in their element without having to travel should be well received.

Josh
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