No they aren't. Why are you making stuff up to try and talk down the sport? Every IM branded even sells out. And why do you even need to travel, there is a IM/Challange event in every state expect SA and NT...?

You are aware Oz is a big place, so Penrith for example is still a long way from places in NSW.

Are events selling, out, I am getting emails every month trying to convince me to part with my cash.

Oceania Open 2022 (ironman.com)

Port Mac 70.3 sold out

If people chose to live hundreds of miles away that is not a triathlon specific problem, it's a geography problem. What, should Ironman subsidise travel costs for people who live greater than 300kms from the CBD... Crazy..

And yes events are selling out, how long since you did one? Or do you think because you are getting adverts for events 6-12 months out they aren't??

Edit... Penrith is only 58 mins out of Sydney..... ..???

Which drives cost for people who don't live in the city the event is in.

Not everyone lives in Sydney.

Thus it becomes more costly.

Iron Man NZ is not 6 to 12 months out and neither is IM OZ.

Triathlon is very expensive compared to other sports, I and others choose not to do it. Other people choose to do it.

So you are another one of those people who no longer participate but feel the urge to come on here whinging, righto. Guess that makes sense.

Really... Its like someone living in Alice Springs complaining surfing is too expensive because they have to travel 1,000kms to the nearest beach...

Just move on, enjoy your memories and leave others to enjoy and embrace the sport.

I'm saying some place along the way we made the sport less attractive, less accessible. It was easier and cheaper to jump into the sport and give it a go.

No one is saying RD should be putting on events in every town, but when we ran the local RD out of town compared to what we were able to do 20 years ago (club, local) we ended up with fewer IM branded in the main events, which inevitably drove costs up, especially for those who have to travel.

The sold out status has been marketed well since 2010, sold out or sold out. If you are doing IM OZ or NZ and have not entered and secured a place to stay by now chances are not to many people will be saying in February, heck I'll do Ironman.

How old are you and how long have you been doing the sport? Genuinely curious, so I can understand you perspective, maybe the sport is fine and people like myself are seeing problems that are not really problems, more so a wistful wish for something we had that maybe wasn't that good to begin with.

Why was it cheaper years ago-because bikes were more basic? Well basic cheap bikes are still readily available, and there are 10 year old carbon 'super bikes' for under $1k so really this isn't a significant barrier. I have already shown that for most people a road bike is only marginally slower than a TT bike, so there isn't even a need for a TT bike.

Brand new wetsuits can be bought from Wiggle for $140, let alone what's available second hand.

Travel-well travel to events would have always been an issue. If anything though airfares have never been more affordable (excluding the recent fuel/covid hikes..) so again not a valid point?

If you are talking a local tri event well looks like plenty on to me Triathlon Calendar Australia (runningcalendar.com.au) but again I'm not sure where you are coming from. Perhaps in the past there was a lot more weekly/monthly events at a local level?

Times change though, perhaps people just don't have the 'time' to do more regular events so save up for one or two 'big' events like a 70.3 or full. I know that's my situation. Id love to do the 2XU series but its to much of an impact on family time. My 'leave pass' is the one or two IM events per year.

I don't know, everyone always has rose colored glasses on when looking back and perhaps in 20 years time I'll be on here complaining about how bikes cost $50K and entry fees are $5k..?

But what I do know is people talking down something is not a way to encourage participation. What's going to be better for a newby-listening to a heap of old timers moan about how much better it was in their day, or someone still excited and pumped to encourage someone to give it a crack, to ignore the crap about it being too expensive..?

My old mate is the man in charge at The Event Crew and they run most of these race series in Qld where you never NEED to buy a wetsuit and can ride a cheap ass, standard road bike or an old beater bike like you see in the video.All of his races are easy travel from Brissie or the Gold Coast and no M-Dot Tattoos required. The sport CAN BE affordable for everyone.
Our Events Archive - The Event Crew

I don't disagree in general, but when it came time to review an "entry level bike", and that was before supplements, magic brain illuminators and everything, he did exactly what Triathlon Magazine Canada did now - voted with his sponsorship contract.

The "entry level" bike "reviewed" by Taren was a $3500 Ventum, and he didn't even mention the possibility that this was nothing like an entry level price.


I see these "reviews" by Taren and other media outlets, but then when I am Announcing at the Multisport Canada Triathlon Events, for the Give-It-Tri race - an event geared totally to first timers with a 300m swim/ 10km bike/ 2.5km run, that I will Announce at 4 - 5 times a year - I'll see 200+ people starting the race with all manner of bikes racked in transition - beat up old mtn bikes, city commuting bikes, fixies, cheap road bikes etc . . . these are the heart and soul of entry level triathlon . . but no one ever asks me for my opinion from what is the REALITY of what really goes on out there at races/events! :-)

ANY kind of bike will get you going in Triathlon!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

At the sprint I did last month, my 2008 QR with 10s 105 was one of the highest tech bikes there. There probably wasn't more than 15 "real" tri bikes in the entire race. But lots of older/less expensive road bikes, and plenty of mountain bikes.

Shortly after transition opened up, only 2 tri bikes so far:



In the last decade, I've only done sprints, and this is what I typically see. Few tri bikes, mostly road bikes, and quite often the mountain bikes outnumber the tri bikes...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

At the sprint I did last month, my 2008 QR with 10s 105 was one of the highest tech bikes there. There probably wasn't more than 15 "real" tri bikes in the entire race. But lots of older/less expensive road bikes, and plenty of mountain bikes.


So why don't we actually hear "you can ANY bike to get going with training for and doing your first triathlon" from the influencers out there like Taren, and the Triathlon media?

This project never got off the ground, but about 10 years ago Simon Whitfield brought together a bunch of keep people in Triathlon and just generally in Sport in Canada for a one day brainstorming session to come up with a program that would be low cost, and get as many kids into swim/bike/run as we could. I was honored to be asked by Simon to participate in this. We concluded that we needed to find a bike sponsor to supply simple, easily adjustable, possibly single speed bikes that first timers could use. These events would be done at Rec Centers with pools. Swim a few laps. Run out to the Parking lot. Jump on the bike - ride a few laps around the Rec Center, then, run around an adjacent sports field and the parking lot to the Finish! It would be all over in 10 minutes or less! This is how you expose HUGE numbers of kids and others to triathlon!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

This is likely because you did a sprint, which tends to attract the newbies.

Here in Norcal, if you're in the M45-50 or M50-60 categories, even in small local Oly races, it's like a friggin' arms race in transition, everyone's got so much aero stuff.

In two 'smaller' races I did, I'm pretty sure next to everyone in my M45-50 rack had a TT bike, and my decked out Cervelo P2c was easily the oldest and least aero bike there. Everyone had race wheels and I was in the minority with mech shifting.

I still do think in the sprints, you'll see some mountain bikes, cruisers, etc. as they are more beginner-friendly.

For the same reason you have people on this site and in this thread complaining incorrectly that you need an expensive bike-people have been brainwashed by marketing. And even when I show them that the difference between a road bike and a TT bike is only matter of minutes for a newby they still don't listen, they are their own worst enemy.

The message should be loud and clear-any bike is fine, and its only if you want to be competitive that the type of bike matters.

And if someone in their 50ies or 60ies after working hard all their life wants to splurge on a nice bike so what? All that matters is the difference between their fancy gear and your mechanical P2 is probably only seconds if anything at all in an Oly anyway..?

Its like people drinking a cheap whisky complaining about people drinking expensive whisky, they still both get you drunk...

Heh I'm not complaning - I actually joint the ranks, upgraded everything to aero - and promptly dropped 6+ minutes in an Oly in the same race 2 years later. It wasn't all the frame obviously, but all the aero stuff combined all of which was better than the prior aero stuff. I only added 20 watts in power, so not a huge power gain.

I learned the hard way - equipment matters - a LOT. (I used to be the guy who also thought the aero upgardes = seconds in a Oly. Have since changed my tune dramatically!)

Equipment matters, and I have no problems with the older guys who decide this is where they want to spend their money, to buy all the upgrades they can get! But I still totally get that it doesn't help attract newbies to the sport if they start thinking that you NEED this kind of stuff to have a good time because everyone in these age groups is using it.

I'm not really an influencer by any reasonable metric, but I take a pretty no-bullshit approach. I'll continue to keep raising the flag that it really just doesn't matter that much to most people.

I also am wildly anti-gatekeeping. If someone just wants a kickass bike, then hell yeah. They earned their money and their finances are their business, and they're welcome to spend it how they please. The difference between a midrange bike and a super bike is similar to the difference between a Camry and a Lexus IS, and no one cares when someone buys a Lexus instead. If it makes you happy, I'm not going to judge.

What I'd love to see is the 'missing bottom' of triathlon bikes. Something like the 2012 Felt S32. I'd love to see that bike mass produced like crazy. Mechanical, 105, standard stem, standard brakes. It's basically a road bike with a FWD seat post and an aero setup instead of clips ons. It's a great bike for the vast majority of people.

But... 2 things, as I see it:
1) Profit margins. The more expensive the bike, the more room for margins, and we all understand that.
2) People like me. The problem is, people search YouTube or Google for "Felt S32 reviews," and then people say, "Wellllll 105 isn't as good as Ultegra. This isn't as good as that. Better better better." And then people feel compelled to move up market. Because if anyone googles "Best tri bike," well: Ultegra is 'better' than 105, undoubtedly. But is it better? This problem is far from unique to triathlon, and I'd love someone more knowledgable to do some deep research into how reviews and comparison shape consumer behavior in the last 5/10/20 years.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

Speaking as a runner first and triathlete second who started recently enough to remember "barriers to entry," there is swimming, and there is open water swimming. I am a decent swimmer, though perhaps not by ST standards. I did swim team for a few years as a kid, and there's never been a time when I couldn't go to the pool and swim 1600 yards with relative comfort. However, where I live, the triathlon with the shortest swim is 400 yards in open water. If you've never done it before, that seems like a long way. I live in the PNW, and that open water is also cold. So first I had to get used to the idea of swimming in open water, and second I had to either purchase a wetsuit, or swim in cold open water. I am a skinny person and do not particularly like swimming in cold water.

I would probably have tried tri years sooner if one of the following had been possible:
1.) A triathlon with a pool swim
2.) A triathlon with a 200 yard swim
3.) A triathlon with a swim in which one could touch the ground

A friend of mine in Houston did lots of tris with pool swims and 200 yard swims when she first started. I don't know why these options aren't available where I live.

Many local tris have kids' events with shorter swims in shallower water. I think a lot of people would be more inclined to "try a tri" if they weren't worried about drowning.

In the end, I finally did a triathlon after doing two duathlons. Without the duathlons, I probably would have just given the idea. The dual barrier to entry of open-water swimming AND buying a road bike would have been too much for me. (I had a 40+ pound ancient Schwinn with not-really-working brakes which I replaced with an entry-level road bike.) But I got the road bike and enjoyed the duathlons, and the tackled then second barrier to entry of buying a wetsuit and getting comfortable swimming 400 yards in open water.

My local tri club having open water swim practice open to all was tremendously helpful in that regard. Without those practice sessions, I'm not sure I would have done that first tri.

The problem is, these bikes don't sell. 5 years ago we had an aluminum frame/105/Profile bike that retailed for $1599, we couldn't give it away. They sat in our warehouse for a few years, and during the pandemic we parted them out since dealers were desperate for any parts they could get...

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

Well, that was the point: these races get a lot of new people to show up who don't have a $10,000 bike. For some, it's probably their bucket list "one and done" race, some others may have just been testing the waters and may or may not do another. Others may be hooked. Of those, some will want to be competitive, and will have to upgrade their gear. Others (and I know plenty who have gone this path) just enjoy getting out there and are just there to complete, rather than compete, and will continue to use whatever bike they already have. Several people in my tri club do not have tri bikes, and just use mid-level road bikes.

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"I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 10, and I don't know why!"

I would add to it that all articles about athletes are about the few pros, super fast AGs. Why is it that in a race with 2000+ athletes the focus is only on the few pros? Front page articles on ST is only pros as is the result list. If I would start the sport now I would think that the sport of Tri is about few very rich pros.
Interviews with average athletes, those who work full time, finish IM in 15 hrs or so and providing links to AG results would be very beneficial to the sport.

Seriously?? How many media articles for football, tennis, golf etc are on 'average athletes'....?

People want to read about the new Ferraris, not the 20 year old second hand family sedan

What they want to read and what you need to do to grow or attract people to certain activity might be different.

Like I said, how many articles for football, tennis golf etc are on average athletes? They don't appear to be having trouble with growth?

Who wants to read about a 15hr IM finisher?? That's no inspirational,exciting or even somewhat interesting.

We are not talking football, tennis or golf. Those sports are doing just fine. Reading occasionally about average people shows that triathlon is accessible to all. It shows that you don't need a super high end bike to participate. If you want to attract people you need to show that there are average people (as well as super fast) with average equipment. I don't say exclude pros. I am saying include average people, too.

Agree the message re not needing high end bike to participate but OMG IM already have a plethora of mind numbingly boring stuff on 'average' people participating. Every world champ coverage has montages of average Joe doing it for his/her family, overcoming adversity, ex addict, overweight, disabled etc... Its no new recipe.

But for my mind it's a double edge sword. Most want to do the race because it is hard, because its an accomplishment. The more you focus on everyone can do it the more it diminishes the attraction IMHO..

Well it depends on the story, some of them are, for example, folks in their late 70's and early 80's is often a good read.