I am not a communist, but the commercialisation of triathlon is just getting ridiculous.
I should note a few things at the start of this rant just to qualify what I am about to crap on about:
1. About two months ago I broke up with my girlfriend of two years. Thus, I have a lot more time on my hands, and many more thoughts in my head.
2. I am sponsored athlete who races pro (but never wins). My main sponsors are: Trek, Bontrager, and Nike – 3 of the bigger (and in one case the biggest) names in sport. I also get free servicing for my bikes when I go to my local Trek dealer. This makes me a hypocrite – and I am prepared to wear this accusation because it is true. After all, I am, by using these products, promoting them.
3. I should also note that the following rant doesn’t apply to all people in the commercial side of this sport – there are many, many legitimate and honourable manufacturers, retailers, and race organisers out there who do a great deal out of a sense of altruism and general desire to do right by their target audience. Some also just want to build a better mousetrap.
4. Further to that, none of the following will be news to anyone, but I can’t sit here any longer. It’s all such bullshit. So here we go.
I looked at my tri bike today and there are over 70 examples of brand labelling on it. Over 70! When I race an IM, I worked out that the only clearly unbranded things I use are salt tabs (which came in a branded tube) and sandwiches (which I pack in resealable plastic bags – which of course have a brand). Everything else, from wetsuit to socks to race belt to gel product, has an obvious brand. Everything!
The simple idea of this sport – go for a swim, a ride, and a run, and the strongest wins, seems to be disappearing under a wave of commercialisation and profiteering. When I swim in my wetsuit, I can see the model and brand on my wrist with every stroke in front of me. When I run I can look at my sneakers and see their label. It doesn’t matter where in nature I am, I am reminded of the commercial side of the sport.
Ironman began as an event of such challenge that it captured the public’s attention (not hindered at all by some clever marketing and a sweeping soundtrack). It has changed many lives, for better or worse, over the last nearly 30 years. It has been marketed as an ideal – a heroic event that encapsulates all that you are as a person because the nature of the event demands all things – the physical, the mental, and if you are into it, the spiritual. The winner is celebrated, but so is every finisher – it’s like some ultimate egalitarian event where every child gets a prize. It’s so attractive that most races in the States sell out (if you pardon the pun) in a day or so after entries open.
However, the word Ironman is now a brand, owned by a corporation. I should, apparently, use an asterisk next to it every time I use it. You can buy everything from bottled water to a bike with their distinctive logo on it. Some people are so into the ideal that they have tattooed the logo onto their skin.
The same thing is happening with Xterra racing. Do the race, buy the wetsuit, or the car, or whatever.
Why? To make money of course, for either the company owners, or if it is publicly listed, the shareholders. But this is what sucks so much. Can’t we just do this sport without being screwed?
With every race I do I am bombarded by the names of sponsors. The Subaru Ironman Canada. The Ford Ironman World Championship (World Championship my ass, but that’s another story altogether). I was once clipped while riding by a Ford Festina. Gee, now there’s a tangible connection to the sport.
People say that this kind of sponsorship brings money into the sport, and the sport needs it to survive. I say bullshit. The sport doesn’t look unhealthy to me. And if they are coughing up so much dough, why does it cost so much to enter a race? Why do hoteliers and local government have to pay Ironman substantial amounts of cash to keep a race in their town? Why? Why? Why?
They didn’t have sponsors for the first Ironman race, and they didn’t race for money. I’d like to see more of that! It was just about the event itself.
My point, in a round about way is that this sport is becoming less and less like I think it should be. I have a friend who makes wheels for a living. Over 20 years he has been developing his hubs and wheels to the point now where he has given his regular job away and is now making wheels and selling them for a living. He has many debts as a result. So what happens when his product hits the marketplace? First, he is threatened with legal action by no less that three major wheel manufacturers for apparently infringing their patent. When he calls their bluff and says sue me, he is given a very attractive set of offers by the same manufacturers to buy his business and patents. He hasn’t sold out yet.
But to me, this illustrates what is so wrong with this sport. We are all about dollars and cents to these companies, not performances. A company remakes a frame in an alternative aerospace material and everyone goes bananas. It’s great marketing. It’s gotta make me faster! See, there’s the ad, and the sponsored riders go quick don’t they? And the bike is like a half pound lighter! (as is your wallet, but not your guts). I fail to see how most top end bikes will make any difference to the overall result of an average IM athlete (12 hours?). Wind tunnel tests? Internal cabling? Top of the line components? Dimples on wheel surfaces? Gimme a break! Just ride the bastard!
So to finish this rant, I would like to say, yes I am a hypocrite. I use things with brands, and race for money in races that have sponsors who have no legitimate connection with anything that I think adds value to society or the sport. But I just wish that this sport wasn’t run for profit first and foremost. I just wish I could go for a swim, a ride, and a run without seeing a company name in my face all day. After all, no landscape was ever improved by a billboard.
And, after the 30 minutes it took to write this, I am still single. And available.
I should note a few things at the start of this rant just to qualify what I am about to crap on about:
1. About two months ago I broke up with my girlfriend of two years. Thus, I have a lot more time on my hands, and many more thoughts in my head.
2. I am sponsored athlete who races pro (but never wins). My main sponsors are: Trek, Bontrager, and Nike – 3 of the bigger (and in one case the biggest) names in sport. I also get free servicing for my bikes when I go to my local Trek dealer. This makes me a hypocrite – and I am prepared to wear this accusation because it is true. After all, I am, by using these products, promoting them.
3. I should also note that the following rant doesn’t apply to all people in the commercial side of this sport – there are many, many legitimate and honourable manufacturers, retailers, and race organisers out there who do a great deal out of a sense of altruism and general desire to do right by their target audience. Some also just want to build a better mousetrap.
4. Further to that, none of the following will be news to anyone, but I can’t sit here any longer. It’s all such bullshit. So here we go.
I looked at my tri bike today and there are over 70 examples of brand labelling on it. Over 70! When I race an IM, I worked out that the only clearly unbranded things I use are salt tabs (which came in a branded tube) and sandwiches (which I pack in resealable plastic bags – which of course have a brand). Everything else, from wetsuit to socks to race belt to gel product, has an obvious brand. Everything!
The simple idea of this sport – go for a swim, a ride, and a run, and the strongest wins, seems to be disappearing under a wave of commercialisation and profiteering. When I swim in my wetsuit, I can see the model and brand on my wrist with every stroke in front of me. When I run I can look at my sneakers and see their label. It doesn’t matter where in nature I am, I am reminded of the commercial side of the sport.
Ironman began as an event of such challenge that it captured the public’s attention (not hindered at all by some clever marketing and a sweeping soundtrack). It has changed many lives, for better or worse, over the last nearly 30 years. It has been marketed as an ideal – a heroic event that encapsulates all that you are as a person because the nature of the event demands all things – the physical, the mental, and if you are into it, the spiritual. The winner is celebrated, but so is every finisher – it’s like some ultimate egalitarian event where every child gets a prize. It’s so attractive that most races in the States sell out (if you pardon the pun) in a day or so after entries open.
However, the word Ironman is now a brand, owned by a corporation. I should, apparently, use an asterisk next to it every time I use it. You can buy everything from bottled water to a bike with their distinctive logo on it. Some people are so into the ideal that they have tattooed the logo onto their skin.
The same thing is happening with Xterra racing. Do the race, buy the wetsuit, or the car, or whatever.
Why? To make money of course, for either the company owners, or if it is publicly listed, the shareholders. But this is what sucks so much. Can’t we just do this sport without being screwed?
With every race I do I am bombarded by the names of sponsors. The Subaru Ironman Canada. The Ford Ironman World Championship (World Championship my ass, but that’s another story altogether). I was once clipped while riding by a Ford Festina. Gee, now there’s a tangible connection to the sport.
People say that this kind of sponsorship brings money into the sport, and the sport needs it to survive. I say bullshit. The sport doesn’t look unhealthy to me. And if they are coughing up so much dough, why does it cost so much to enter a race? Why do hoteliers and local government have to pay Ironman substantial amounts of cash to keep a race in their town? Why? Why? Why?
They didn’t have sponsors for the first Ironman race, and they didn’t race for money. I’d like to see more of that! It was just about the event itself.
My point, in a round about way is that this sport is becoming less and less like I think it should be. I have a friend who makes wheels for a living. Over 20 years he has been developing his hubs and wheels to the point now where he has given his regular job away and is now making wheels and selling them for a living. He has many debts as a result. So what happens when his product hits the marketplace? First, he is threatened with legal action by no less that three major wheel manufacturers for apparently infringing their patent. When he calls their bluff and says sue me, he is given a very attractive set of offers by the same manufacturers to buy his business and patents. He hasn’t sold out yet.
But to me, this illustrates what is so wrong with this sport. We are all about dollars and cents to these companies, not performances. A company remakes a frame in an alternative aerospace material and everyone goes bananas. It’s great marketing. It’s gotta make me faster! See, there’s the ad, and the sponsored riders go quick don’t they? And the bike is like a half pound lighter! (as is your wallet, but not your guts). I fail to see how most top end bikes will make any difference to the overall result of an average IM athlete (12 hours?). Wind tunnel tests? Internal cabling? Top of the line components? Dimples on wheel surfaces? Gimme a break! Just ride the bastard!
So to finish this rant, I would like to say, yes I am a hypocrite. I use things with brands, and race for money in races that have sponsors who have no legitimate connection with anything that I think adds value to society or the sport. But I just wish that this sport wasn’t run for profit first and foremost. I just wish I could go for a swim, a ride, and a run without seeing a company name in my face all day. After all, no landscape was ever improved by a billboard.
And, after the 30 minutes it took to write this, I am still single. And available.
