Bit of a tangent: kids being turned off by sports by overbearing soccer moms and hockey dads is one problem. The other is that there is hardly any infrastructure for older teens that don't make it into competitive teams, be it high school varsity or equivalent in clubs.


Yes getting a bit off topic here, but yes - it all get's WAY too serious WAY too early - you have 10-year olds with Traveling Teams for the key team sports (Soccer, baseball, Hockey etc), multiple coaches, Strength Coaches, Technique Coaches, team physiotherapists, off season training and leagues etc . . . . . all for 10 year old kids!!

More on this (or against all of this) here - http://changingthegameproject.com/

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

On the cost issue, I keep wondering how much of a cart-and-horse or chicken-and-egg situation this is.

Yes you need a few more things for a triathlon, but you can get all of the extra things relatively inexpensively.

When I'm Race Announcing at the Give-it-a-Tri events that are part of the Multisport Canada Series in Ontario (these are very short races for first timers - s/b/r 400m/10k/2.5k), I see people with bikes they have just grabbed out of the garage - MTB Bikes, Hybrid bikes etc. They may use a wet suit and if they do they rent it. They do the whole race in a pair of tri-shorts or even running shorts, a singlet, and running shoes. How expensive is all that?

At the point of entry - which we REALLY need to be emphasizing, the costs are really not that much!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I thank my parents for the approach they took. I wasn't in a "serious" sport until I was 14, when I started swimming with a club in Ontario. Until then, it was just gym class and extra-curriculars (swim, xc clubs) at school, and during summer break did tennis lessons, swim and sailing camps, and a bunch of other things. While I've stepped away from sports at times as an adult, I always come back.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Sorry I am late to this posting but have been sidelined with shoulder surgery recuperation.

In Ontario things were actually very good for us. Barrelman was up 39% at just over 1,100 registered. A significant reason for the Barrelman increase was our U.S. athlete count going from an annual average of 75 to over 300 participants. We had partnered with Rev3 in the marketing of the race and it was a tremendous help in creating awareness of the race. To quote Fleck, "The Barrelman, may be the largest non-IRONMAN 1/2 IM distance in North America! To the best of my knowledge - No other independent 1/2 IM distance race has grown in numbers over the same time period as the Barrelman has! " In fact, I do think barrelman is now the largest non-Ironman 1/2distance in North America

On the MultiSport Canada (Skechers Triathlon Series) series side we were concerned with the profitability of three of the ten races in 2016. We analyzed our data and could see trends that told us if we dropped certain races there was a very good chance that the athletes, who attended those races on the cusp, would migrate to the others in the series. We took the risk, cancelled three and implemented some marketing plans to retain athletes by enticing them to the remaining seven. The end result, comparing those seven year over year, proved successful. The seven races (not including Barrelman) were up 5% and overall series total profitability up even more, whereas our main competition was up just under 1%.

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John Salt, Founder - MultiSport Canada
Canada's Largest Triathlon Series and Barrelman Niagara Falls
http://www.multisportcanada.com / http://www.niagarafallstriathlon.com
"Discipline Is What You Do When No One Is Watching You"

really? i got started for

an old mtb - $0
an old pair of Nikes - $0
an used wetsuit on CL - $60
a pair of tri shorts - $40ish
an old Timex watch - $0
a race entry+$10 usat day pass - about $130
a municipal pool pass for summer - about $100 or so

So basically $350 or so - what a typical millennial pays for the mobile plan over 2 months.

Definitely not a trivial expense, but is it really something that's not affordable to the masses?

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

I did the same thing when I first started but did not use tri shorts, or a pool pass, or even a wetsuit. Just a race entry.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Well, unfortunately I swam like shit back then, so a bit of practicing before trying a 1.5km ocean swim in the 58 degree water was prolly a good idea. That Rocket Science wetsuit was fantastic, finally replaced it 7 years later last spring after the right sleeve got busted open, what a deal...

But yeah, buying tri shorts for the first race was idiotic.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

You had more brains than me. My first race was a sprint in warm water, but still had not idea what I was getting into. Was in the lake in my backyard. I just about passed out after the swim. Walked up all the hills on the mountain bike. And walked most of the run around the lake. I was hooked to do better.

We both clearly have data showing one can start this sport for very little money, and even do it for ever cheaply. I know it was years before I changed from the free bikes I was riding to a "Decent" bike

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

John, it helps you put on world class level races!

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@rhyspencer

Population demographics haven't changed that much. Don't know about Tri, but 30 years ago there were lots of Juniors in cycling. Basically none now. Most racers are in their 40s and 50s.

I blame it on the fact that far fewer kids ride bikes, or are allowed to do anything unsupervised.

When the parents are not active, why would the kids be?

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Parents of kids and teens are far more athletically active now than they were 30-50 years ago.

No way from what I have seen! So many could not even run a mile.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

When I was a kid basically no one >40, was doing anything athletic. There are way more middle age and older people active now than there used to be. Kids did not get into cycling because their parents were, that's for sure.

blame the millennials. getting to soft on goals in the snowflake mentality,... i see many races breaking down to multiple events of duathlon/aquabike which dilutes the field, just so people can it have easier for them and they get a finisher medal, no care for time goals or OVERALL podium placement.

it is the group that must be reached out too the most, they have the strongest social media/ bar life marketing presence.

but i see the millennials participating in grass roots sports, such as OCR , crossfit, but you should also see the November project movement that has exploded - a free group.

it is one thing for sure, the snobbishness of some does kill the sport - the income divide with people on $10k bikes, etc. make it more equal, i guess uci road bikes only allowed that must be above certain weight

I got to not tri when I was unemployed and needed something to do that was cheaper than golf. I used a bike that was a freebie I had a pool and running is free. So it costs next to nothing to start BUT then you get serious and 20k later you have all the good stuff.

And that is the key point. You can do this sport for cheap. It is a person's choice if they want to spend big, like ANY hobby!

I put up a christmas display at my home for the first time in 30 years. I did it cheap. Now if I want to go nuts, well, there is no end to how much money I could spend. I am trying so hard to not go there!!

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

Exactly. The previous generations didn’t have as many options to try sport as a hobby. Most adults were working full time and raising a family. Only the wealthy had plentiful time and money to engage in things that didn’t benefit the family.

Retiring/being fired in your early 50’s and training like a full time athlete is a modern invention.

Here's the counter to your post from what I see....I don't blame the least represented group in our sport, that's far too easy to poke at. Because to blame them is not solving the problem. Triathlon is a static sport....you swim, you bike, you run. You don't get to mix and match, etc., it's either full in or full out (read your response to events that add other multisport components). There is nothing really fresh about the sport, and partly because well it's swimming, biking, and running. (But that's why this new S/R format is suddenly becoming popular) There is only so much you can do.

But back to blaming millennials.....can you blame them? You mean to tell me you need spend ~$3k on a "entry" level triathlon bike (yes I know you can do tri on a 28 year old mtb and your dad K Swiss shoes.....we get that)? Or it costs $100 to do a sprint distance race? Or if I do race, I only get a handful of 30 and younger people in my race, and the issue is millennials. That's sorta misguided if you think about it.

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

if anything this demographic i speak of used to have a large share.... now having the biggest drop. perhaps it is the pressure that they get from others that eventually you must do an ironman... the love for olympic and short course is lost

As someone in the demographic you're talking about, the biggest hurdle to racing for me is entry fees. I saved up and bought an old P2c on Craigslist, bought various bits and pieces of equipment over the years from money I saved working during the summer. I do agree that it's a bummer there aren't many people in my age group, but anymore I usually race for the overall win in races so it's not that big of a deal.

However, the biggest hurdle to sport of people in my generation as a whole is that they think it's just too far. Finishing a 5k is considered a huge accomplishment. There is a serious lack of competitive drive in sport. Just my n+1 opinion from talking to people and being told that I'm crazy. People know there are sprint distance races and such. They just don't want to even bother with one of the legs, let alone all three.

One funny note. In addition to U-25 aged athletes I work with, I've worked with juniors as well. Back in 2011-2013 the biggest thing I would hear from juniors is "when can I build up to do 70.3's and an IM". It was weird, that was the #1 thing I would hear when I would talk to the local top 15/16/17/18 year old athletes. Now the top juniors are like "why do I want to do an IM".

But the problem with athletes U-18 is that they are basically in the sport because they are being bankrolled by mom and dad. Once they leave for college, they are sorta own their own and/or have to atleast "budget" better. And the hell if your going to get people consistently in the sport when they have college loans, and they'll be the "odd" man with their mtb and board shorts. I also would argue the U-30 category has never been big in the sport. It really won't ever be because the finances of triathlon.

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

I think this is a big issue. No different 20yrs age when I started triathlon. Always a huge drop in the early 20’s as people started their adult life. The 40-50 bracket had some of the fastest people as they had already established some balance in life, and had cash, and could dedicate time to training if they wanted.

I agree that ‘blaming’ millennials or any other generation is probably a huge oversimplification.

Group training is the key to success for that demographic. I've seen it first hand in my "squad". I've got a daily training group that consists of 3 U-23 athletes, 3 under 27 athletes and 2 30ish aged athletes, and they have told me, the group training was one of the benefits they saw (these are 90% FOP athletes, 10% loving it for the "team" aspect).

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

I wouldn't be surprised if <30 year olds were the largest AGs in tris in the '80s. 1957 had the record for highest no. of births in the U.S. until 2007. Does anyone have full results from any of the early Bud Light Triathlon Series events to confirm that? When I did my first tri in '83 as a recent college grad with little money, I was mainly racing with guys like me, not wealthy middle-aged married men with super bikes and coaches.