qngo01 wrote:
I prob am a bit jaded but it seems like Team USA is such a money grab.
A buddy and I "qualified" to race Zofingen Long Course Duathlon. We had to pay $75 to race for Team USA, mandatory purchase a Team USA parade kit, mandatory purchase the Team USA race kit. Prob some other fees coming. I'm trying to understand what the benefit is racing for Team USA, esp after realizing I can just register for the race on my own without the hoopla.
Are there any benefits to racing for Team USA for these types of events?
I raced in several consecutive ITU Worlds from Chicago through Laussane... it's a good experience but some of the luster has worn off for me now. When I got into the sport it was a huge goal for me... qualify for Nats and then qualify for Worlds.
Initially it was $50 for that admin fee back in the day and that covered you for an entire event... now that is $75 and for EACH individual event you do. Back in the day if I did the Sprint and Oly.. $50. Now they've split that race into two separate sites as of late but I won't run too far down that rabbit hole.
They say the parade kit is mandatory but it's not really. I have so much TeamUSA stuff already and as of late it looks terrible. Plus after having done a few parade of nations, I prefer prerace to only do what I have to and save my legs. If you do it all you might wear yourself out or that's my experience. If you did several events at Multisport Worlds it would be $75 x 'whatever number of events you qualified for'...
In general they charge the admin fee up front... $75, then you get to buy the kit and then pay the race entry fee. The most expensive Oly/Sprint I've signed up for have been ITU Worlds by far... like double or triple. There also appears to be some kick back on kit pricing with vendors... those Zone3 entry level kits for $300?
At this point I'm satisfied with doing Nationals and passing on my slot... I can sign up for races all over the world and wear what I want to on my own. I've checked my TeamUSA box.
If this is something you'd like to do, I say go for it... but I summarized my first year on TeamUSA as the $1K club(admin fee/kit/race entry) for that honor. Then you've got the usual bike transport, travel, etc. In my first Worlds at Chicago the Parade Kit was also included with the race entry and it was relatively nice... khaki shorts and white shirt. I saw the parade kit in person at Nationals this past year and the long sleeved top was dark Navy and Burgundy... terrible. I digress things appear to going downhill, Zone3 was terrible and the parade kits.
Is it a grab... maybe the admin fee to some extent although its quite small and the kick back on the kit if that's really going on.