kny wrote:
Suppose WTC's growth puts out of business events like John Salt's, SavageMan, Tupper Lake, Mooseman, and many others like it. Is WTC still great for your sport? Yes, WTC giveth, but they also taketh away, and I'm not just talking about cash from your wallet.^^ This. It is not just that WTC puts on good races that determines if they are good for the sport. It is how they affect the sport that determines that.
Dev brought up the Road to Kona program "To all the guys hating on Messick, this is also the same guy that offered the road to Kona to 12x finishers who are not 'fast enough'. We don't need to like everything he does, but that was one of the first things he did at the helm."
Call me cynical , but this is not about being nice to loyal customers (although it might have a side benefit for some), this is about quashing competition. This is their way of convincing the people who have no chance of qualifying for Kona to still keep doing IM races instead of Challenge, Rev3, Beach2Battleship, Mooseman etc. If there is no chance of people getting into Kona, there is no reason to solely do WTC events. Messick has also stated that there is room at Kona for more athletes, but the issue is how many of the same speed come out of the water at the same time and ride at the same time. So they can fill in slower times of the race and convince people to not race their competition's races for essentially no additional cost. If memory serves me correct, it was also timed roughly along with Rev3's big money entrance into the race scene with big large scale events
I see this as similar to the Pro points system which really emphasizes that the pros race almost exclusively at WTC events. They might not want (or feel the need/economic incentive) to pay the pros more, but they apparently need them at Kona and want them focusing on Kona and WTC events to keep their self proclaimed 'World Championship" relevant and keep it as their draw for all the bucket listers.
If I was an investor, I'd love them for this, but that hardly is the same as "being good for the sport"
Also, saying that what WTC has done in the past has been good for the sport (it certainly would not be where it is without IM and Kona) does not mean that what they are doing now is still good for the sport.
"Some folks plan for the optimum race, others like to get upset when others out plan them. "