http://www.sportstats.ca or

https://track.rtrt.me/...o-route_1/FINISH-PTO

Now that both races are over. Looking at this from a broadcast product perspective, I know some things, but not everything as I work in a ball sport.

Commentators will always either turn people on or turn people off. The thing with commentary is you need to be able to present a cohesive dialogue to the novice who just discovers through flipping on the Peacock app, keep them engaged, but then also not dumb it down so much for the hard core. Early on the Professional Broadcasters kept it dumbed down and same with the Color/Expert commentators. It was kind of annoying. For the three pros, this was probably the first triathlon race they've ever covered. The main guy who does NASCAR. For me I didn't think the "Experts" knew enough about the field to provide adequate color commentary, especially for the women's race. The Professional Play by Play guys actually did a lot of research as they were able to tell stories but that's not where they fit in the broadcast, that was for the Color/Athlete commentators to do.

I will say, the women's race really didn't lend to the pros being able to present their best, but the cool thing for them is they had a second race almost immediately. They showed their stuff after being waterboarded with a morning triathlon session. I thought the commentary for the men's race was really really good. I think what helped the professional sports broadcasters was that there was actually a RACE going on. Man that was really exciting.

From a camera perspective, I don't think much extra was brought to the table here. So I only remember one cut to the onboard camera and that was 30 seconds from Rachel McBride, was that the only bike wired up in the women's race? Distinctly don't remember any cuts during the men's race, that needed to be employed a lot more.

The best thing about this race was the graphical presentation, it reminded me of watching a NASCAR race. The live splits really changed how the product feels. And I know graphics are expensive, but relying on the NASCAR team to produce this turned out a visual experience that was pretty excellent overall. In the end for a director, there isn't much difference between a stock car race around an oval vs a triathlon around an oval. The graphical presentation for me is the standard bearer, this is what needs to happen going forward whomever the event promoter is.

The difference for the next race is you don't get such an experienced production team on an open course 70.3 or 140.6 distance.

I'm really happy for Paula Findlay, great to see her healthy and put it all together. The Men's race was just an amazing show, and I honestly think it's extremely important for this race to have been won by a young guy, then add all of the other young guns that showed out. Halvard is probably pleased, and to the vegan who told Gustav's last ride didn't look like a taper on Strava? Time to eat some crow!

Also, only one ITU guy beat Lionel. And that run by Matt Hanson to take second!

There's a video on insta of Luis in the penalty tent. I can't make out what he says but he wasn't happy. Also seemed to be pretty upset when he crossed the finish line

That was an amazing race.

-Great video coverage.
-Need more engaging commentators. I nominate Tyler Butterfield - there’d be no silent pauses!
-Should Luis been DQ’d for being within 20m for over 2min? That was just ridiculous. no excuse. that said, he’s got the goods to do it all and his drafting didn’t help him.
-this was a balanced event and it’s right up the Norwegians’ alley.
-Hanson was spectacular.
-Appleton, Rudy and Sam really raced tough. (go 51 Speedshop athletes!)
-Sanders is a beast
-Findlay put on a clinic.
-PTO is on the map. most exciting and dramatic race I can think of.

I agree, was sensational! Very very impressive. I kind of feel bad for selecting the $0 donation option now, would have been worth paying for...but not the minimum they had offered, that was silly.

Also seemed to be pretty upset when he crossed the finish line


Hypothetical - no 2 min. penalty and he finishes in 2nd place only 10sec down Iden!

Ugghh...why can't LS get faster in the swim! :(

a 600 m penalty lop would be better rather than being allowed to stand.
.

I disagree, in my view, the coverage and commentators were quite mediocre. Just because someone has done it for a few years, it does not mean they are any good. Compare one of the guy's doing the TDF for flobikes(not Gerrans, but the clueless one) this year vs Ligget and Sherwen, for example. It just did not flow for me. For coverage they could have done some sort of camera splitting to see a bit more other than one camera. There was zero coverage other than the front of the race. It would have been good to see Long and Sanders chasing other than a five second clip of Long slingshotting off Sanders.

You also said this was only planned a few days ago? "by failing to prepare you are preparing to fail" and it was evident to many customers.

The men running splits started to drop, not go as deep at about halfway to the run. There wasn't much coverage of Iden, although I would agree that the fight for second was more interesting, they could have split the screen to show both.

And, I saved the best for last, the signal got dropped for some us. I know you could come up with a million excuses about this but reality is someone should get fired. This is just bad business. As someone had said somewhere, just when we thought it could not get worse than IM, we got this.

I disagree, in my view, the coverage and commentators were quite mediocre. Just because someone has done it for a few years, it does not mean they are any good. Compare one of the guy's doing the TDF for flobikes(not Gerrans, but the clueless one) this year vs Ligget and Sherwen, for example. It just did not flow for me. For coverage they could have done some sort of camera splitting to see a bit more other than one camera. There was zero coverage other than the front of the race. It would have been good to see Long and Sanders chasing other than a five second clip of Long slingshotting off Sanders.

You also said this was only planned a few days ago? "by failing to prepare you are preparing to fail" and it was evident to many customers.

The men running splits started to drop, not go as deep at about halfway to the run. There wasn't much coverage of Iden, although I would agree that the fight for second was more interesting, they could have split the screen to show both.

And, I saved the best for last, the signal got dropped for some us. I know you could come up with a million excuses about this but reality is someone should get fired. This is just bad business. As someone had said somewhere, just when we thought it could not get worse than IM, we got this.

Look out, we have a Karen...maybe you should demand to speak to the manager?

I didn’t lose coverage and I didn’t pay. Used PTO app on my iPad. Great races, great coverage. Would have loved to have had Greg Bennett do the commentary. His podcasts are money.

I didn’t lose coverage and I didn’t pay. Used PTO app on my iPad. Great races, great coverage. Would have loved to have had Greg Bennett do the commentary. His podcasts are money.

Folks, that's about as good as it gets.

When we're complaining about the quality of the commentators like we're complaining about the B squad of NFL coverage, the PTO's done something right.

Solid B+ in my book today, only detractions being that you could have had *slightly* better commentators and the f*ck up on the website. Put Kona coverage to shame, which is what I think they were going for.