https://forum.slowtwitch.com/forum/Slowtwitch_Forums_C1/Triathlon_Forum_F1/2023_PTO_Race_Schedule_P7882969-7/

Kind of bummed, but not at all surprised.

Any ideas as to what the 'circumstances outside our control' are?

I called it.

I was pretty sure the river swim would not be a valid option.

Park closed for extensive repairs and they were unable to secure an alternate venue.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

I thought the same and hoped they had a back up plan.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

Hawrelak Park, the venue, is closed for massive renovations and renewal.

There is no other valid option in Edmonton for a course.

Triathlon Magazine article cites that the biggest concern was funding from the city, although I'm sure the park closure/river swim was also a critical piece.

Sounds like it was mainly a funding issue (no city $$), but they sound committed to next year and a river swim.

Hawrelak is closed for at least 2/3 years, so a river swim is really the only option. There are lots of good entrance/exit options, so we'll see what they come up with.

I'm going to guess the reason the city may not have wanted to provide funding is the organizers couldn't solidify a course.
All comes down to the course...

I went and watched last year. I'll never forget the group of old ladies walking their dogs saying "oh look at these fellas running a 5K" as like likes of Brownlee, Kienle, Kristian etc ran by. No one cares about it there and the only people really watching were those who raced that morning.

What other niche female sport can you make 100K for under 3 hours of work? These athletes don't know how lucky they are.

The effort and money and sweat and time that goes into those 3 hours is amazing. And very assumptive that they don't know how lucky they are. Triathletes are finally being paid decent money in regards to the efforts of the sport, and the pros I know are EXTREMELY grateful for the opportunities that they finally have.

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

I think you're debating a troll comment. Phelps has won $640k in prize money in all his Olympics for a combined "work time" of less than an hour.

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

So Winnipeg wasn't available as an alternate venue?

i would've opted for regina. it has the same striking beauty and charm of edmonton and winnipeg, but . . . it's the city that rhymes with 'fun.'

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I attended the Regina marathon one year. It's HUGE! People love it.

It's too bad that Wascana Lake, even after the "big dig" many years ago, is still too nasty for swimming. A triathlon around Wascana park would be flat AF, but quite nice.

Well, the race barely had anyone sign up. Like 300 people. So the city government didn't get any economic impact vs its expenses.

That's going to be a major hurdle for Moritz and Co, their brand has no awareness.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

So no PTO Canada and PTO USA has no separate AG race?

So only Asia and possibly Europe have AG races? I really wonder how they survive TBH, would be interesting to have a quick peep at their accounts. They have no real revenue recognition till August, cash burn might be quite high at this point

I once entered a contest and first prize was an all expenses paid trip to Winnipeg for a weekend. Second prize was an all expenses paid trip to Winnipeg for a week.

Their value, IMO, is not in age-group race production at all.

It's creating wholly-owned media content to be consumed across a distribution network.

Them partnering with existing "big" events for producing their moneymaking content (which, to be clear, they still have some work to do on that front to match the production that CLASH has) is a much smarter approach, IMO, than it is trying to create everything from scratch.

The problem they'll have is finding willing partners to give up their own media rights in order to be able to do so. Probably means they won't ever be aligned with IRONMAN. USAT AG Nationals was a smart one -- USAT keeps the AG media rights, gets to put its name up there with the PTO, PTO owns all its own content. Who and where else they can manage to get that kind of thing together will be the critical component. I think Canada is one and done unless they link up with something larger to happen in either Edmonton or another city.

And the Collins Cup still needs a format change in order to make the broadcast easier to follow.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

To be honest these two American PTO events must have been hosted at the worst locations possible, given the zero spectating response.
The same could be said for the Collins Cup. Luckily this will change this year. Let's see if more fans will show up.

It was shocking to see big and important races with no race atmosphere.
I appreciate that pros get the opportunity to do races with big purse.

Let's hope they'll find venues where the event is more appreciated by the people living there.

Streaming races can't be really the thing if you wanna develop the sports of triathlon.

The tried and tested model for triathlon has always been

- Entry fees (participation at scale)
- Merchandize (create a following and it's an easy sell)
- Sponsorship
- Broadcast advertising dollars

IM has executed flawlessly in the first three but not the last one. The challenge is that I doubt triathlon will get the mass following that PTO aspires it to get and broadcasters paying millions for its content or advertizing dollars. I bet that IM has tried to enhance this model but 3-4 hour races are not very consumable in general to attract a large viewing audience

PTO really has zero revenue recognition from Sept 22 to probably Aug 23. Imagine, having a business model built around that

Just a datapoint on the merchandise (item 2 above). At an ironman race the merch tent is a huge covered store with a plethora of gear choices. I’m almost certain that at all races participants are forced through it to enter the village and pickup your packet.

At PTO Dallas the merch tent was a tiny booth that was maybe 10x10 (ft) with a t shirt and a few hoodies and jackets (which at Dallas was insane because it was 100 deg). It was kind of near packet pickup but easily missed by most people there as just another sponsor tent.

I actually think the race streaming will always have to be the way the go. Take the Olympics for example, EVERY event that is "contained" in an gym / arena / field of play you have to PAY to watch. Triathlon being over 5-10km of roads, even if you required to pay for finish line, you would lose out on tons of people who just line the course. Triathlon will never really be able to capitalize with "paying customers". It will almost have to be a broadcast product. I mean yes places like SL that's done in a 2 block radius coud likely have some "on site" pay to watch, but even events like ITU you have paid VIP and then 50 feet away people are watching for free.

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