Maybe it's OK to hit a horse during the ride?

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Find 2 brothers that can dominate a sport and have them take up triathlon.

Then have the older brother carry the younger brother across the finish line at a major race after winning 2 Olympic Golds, a Silver and a Bronze between them in consecutive Olympics.

There was a kids triathlon held near me last weekend for 8-14 year olds. I’d forgotten it was on but saw it as it was being held next to the playground I was taking my 2 year old to. There were hundreds of kids doing it!

I suppose at an early age it’s pretty cheap to participate. Most kids have swimming lessons and nearly all have a bike. It was good to see them enjoying themselves.

Whether they will keep it going is up to them I suppose but it was far larger than I expected.

And put above mentioned brothers on TV adverts etc :-)

IMUK doesn't sell out as quick as it did, but still does (just about) AND there is now more choice of middle / long course events.

I suspected that overall it may be growing but didn't know if that's because my social circle found triathlon and then you just notice it more - kind of like getting a new car and then noticing that everyone else choose the same model / colour combination lol

WD :-)

If only there was a good saying or gif to go here

Perhaps the ease of getting into local races makes for better growth too?

The UK I would hazard a guess has a local Tri club in every remotely major town and in some cases multiple clubs. If you then have them running local short distance beginner friendly events you get a lot of people into the sport.

My club runs 1 single Tri a year. it doesn't sell out but does get maybe 150 entrants including a healthy junior entry. The competitors are probably 80% new to sport completely or comes from a single sport background. You get lots of MTB's and hybrid type bikes used.

Then if you add locations like Dorney lake(olympic rowing venue) and nottingham waterspouts centre(also a rowing lake) they lend themselves to completely off road triathlons perfect for anyone who wants to do one but doesn't like the idea of riding on the roads.

plus end to end the UK is ~900miles. Thats tiny in comparison so the sheer logistics of getting to an event as so simple! overnight stay in a local cheap hotel and you can compete anywhere in the country for next to no cost. No flights, no multi day trips etc. simple.

Not only in the UK, also in the netherlands, germany, belgium, poland, etc numbers are rising in races and participants.

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

Is there a overflow from pro cycling popularity in UK since wiggins, Cavendish and Froome sky etc?

Just a different market, but I think it is saturated. IM Ireland for 2019 quickly jumped to tier 3 registration, but others are lagging. I am heading to IM Norway right now and the inaugural edition appears to have ~635 registered. They added the 70 3 back but it looks to be about ~135. It is a licenced event but hard to see it surviving. Time of year and difficulty of getting there hurts. They just had IM France and next week is IM Austria plus IM Norway plus Challenge Roth. The week after is IM Germany. That is 5 full distance races in 14 days.

Edit. Numbers I saw at packet pick up today:
FULL - 657
HALF - 509

Anecdotally I think yes. Lots more people doing road cycling now, and if you've already got the bike then it's not a big leap to renting a wetsuit and doing the occasional tri.

I'm not sure there are simple comparisons to be made. Very different climate, view of cycling and sport in general. Jo Bloggs in both countries might not care much for tri but it's not based on a "can do" attitude like the US, but a healthy eccentric streak that the UK is fond of. What they do share is a sense of fun and camaraderie. Certain other countries take it all too seriously.

The UK has a long and very established tri scene. The top tier will ebb and flow but there will always be a healthy core to sustain it. In the 80s it was the running community that embraced triathlon, the London marathon was huge and there were a lot of fast runners looking for a new challenge, while in the 90s the early tri scene was established. Thames Turbo was one of the key hubs in SW London. Their pool based sprint series is still going strong and this was the start for many (racing alongside Smith, Don, Hayes and a whole host of lesser pros). The London tri became very successful at attracting the charity racer and has also thrived over the years due to TV and celebrities. Now the scene is on it's third or fourth wave in which the Oly racers are house hold names and there are tons of middle distances races to choose from. Proximity makes logistics easy and tri clubs are very open and friendly. Plus there has been a huge increase in open water swimming events and long distance sportives. You can cycle pretty much year round in the South of England (with warm rainproof kit) and while there are many hate fuelled drivers, it's not as risky as the US or Australia.

I'm now living in Sweden which also has an expanding tri scene but it's fanatical and the options for racing are few are far. This is a whole other discussion, but I do miss the fantastic UK tri and TT scene enormously.

Back on topic, I'm going to be provocative here, when I watch US Ironman race summaries I find many of the interviews cringeworthy. This is me as a (somewhat) Anglophile person experiencing the show. The top end is competitive wherever you go, but the motivations and lifestyle of the middle to back end are *very* different. This is really where the differences lie, and I think there is more longer term lifestyle investment from the middle tier in the UK to that of the US. Being fit, participating in a few events and having more holiday is seen as a "good thing" in the UK, companies will allow their employees some leniency where I don't think this is the case stateside.

Finally many UK tri and bike shops have closed, the margins are tight, Planet-X isn't making as much money as everyone would have thought so I don't think as a business it's doing all that well. The Wiggins effect has passed. So it's not all rosy!

SteveMc

I can’t speak for the UK since i am from the netherlands but here that not seem to be of any influence. More new triathletes seem to come from either cycling or running. From the runners we here that they have done the marathon-thing and now want to do a triathlon/ironman. Also a lot of runners that due to an injury started cycling and then the step to doing a tri is a small one.

And also the business team goes booming. Relay teams that are being trained for a limited period and then participate in a race. There are also nation wide a lot of start-to-tri initiatives that atract a lot of new people to the sport.

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Owner at TRIPRO, The Netherlands

I also live in Netherlands... There seemed to be a big rise in participation for mud runs and charity rides/runs which are often group and business team based. From there its a smaller jump to 'what next' too

Marshalled at my tri club's junior race last weekend.
Something in the order of 350 kids from 8 to 15. It was great to watch - other than one wee kid who was a bit freaked out, there were a bunch of super excited and supportive kids racing, and some very quick ones - pool swim, and the quickest were out of the 300m and out the door to transition in under 3:30.

It's pretty big here - I think you've got a situation where the Brownlees, Stanford, Charles etc are all making good publicity and good role models.

3500% growth... Glad it went smooth!

What was the difference? Marketing to schools?

Too bad about IM Norway. I will bet you will have a great time. The Norwegians will come out in crowds and cheer you on for sure. I looked into it and it seemed a bit hard to get to. In 2015 we had the first IM Muskoka and something like 1100 were registered and about 950 finished. I thought that wasn't a bad start but it still got cancelled. Still kind of sad about that.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

In 2015 we had the first IM Muskoka and something like 1100 were registered and about 950 finished. I thought that wasn't a bad start but it still got cancelled. Still kind of sad about that.


This may have been the first time that IM had an over-reach. If you lived in the Toronto area, when during the brief time, of the Full IM in Muskoka, from the front door of your house you had 3 full IM races, within a 5 hour drive of your house, all happening in less than a month. Obviously you are only going to choose one of these to do in a given year!

Lake Placid also pulled BIG time from the large populations of New York City and Boston, and had a bit of history and legacy, and IM Mont Tremblant, was and still is one of the BEST organized full IM's in the world!

If IM Muskoka (full) did not pull in at least 1500 entrants, It was done!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Yes, difficult to get to ... made it to Bergen today. Bus and ferry another 3+ hours tomorrow. It will be special. The 70.3 was on my bucket list but numbers were declining. When they put in the full I jumped on it in case it doesnt last. I am too old to get a black shirt in Norseman, so this is my substitute. And the 2000m net gain plus small field should eliminate the drafters.

Except of course, driving 900 miles in the UK probably takes longer than in any other developed country :-)

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29 years and counting

Very true! Haha