I am taking over the race director duties for our local triathlon in Eastern Ontario. The Cornwall Triathlon is entering its 7th year after a few years of minimal growth. We have implemented many changes to hopefully entice many more people to come to the race. Some of the changes this year including moving our transition to a much larger and favourable location, adding a duathlon to the list of events and anticipating the introduction of some prize money for the du, sprint tri and olympic tri. Our fees are cheap compared to American races of equal distance. Current fees for the Olympic race in August are $55 CAD or about $47 USD. Plans are in the works to have an incentive plan for some Elite/Pros from the region to attend.
Question to the ST faithful is what amenities/extras do you want to see in a race. Please consider the race fee budget we have to work with. I would love to have a full course Timberman feast after the race but frankly the fees cannot cover it.
If we had $2000 in prize money for a race to be split equally between the men’s race and women’s race would you pay 3 deep or 5 deep?
we offer this breakdown for top 3 men and women for an oly race in the Midwest and have been able to attract some great talent over the past 3 years.
1st - $1,000
2nd-$500
3rd - $250
for a total prize purse of $3,500.
It’s been popular enough that a couple of other local races are also now offering similar prize purses.
there was a thread on here a couple of weeks ago called “What do you want to see/get at a race?” that had pretty some good suggestions - you might try searching under that. One thing that came up a couple of times in that thread was having a DJ and creating a “party” atmosphere. I’m a big fan of that and don’t hesitate to spend up to $500 or so for music/PA system.
Since 99% of your participants will NOT win any prize money, I’d consider spending the money elsewhere.
What if every participant had a chance to win some really nice prizes?
Even cash prizes?
I helped start up a local triathlon, which is now going on 14 years. From the beginning we sought donations of any kind to help offset costs. From that, we we’re able to have lots of nice door prizes, which helped grow the triathlon, and make it a success today.
Ways we saved money :
Used local YMCA and college swim team, and boat club for swim.
Used local bike club, tri club, running club for volunteers.
Begged, borrowed, pled, whatever…from local merchants…anything from door prizes, traffic cones, tables, cell phones, food, printing services, etc.
You may be surprised, (even in this “sucky” economy), what you can get from local businesses.
Finally, we tied the triathlon into a community festival, and the city provided traffic control, fire and safety, for free!
Thanks fof the link to the other thread, there is a lot of good suggestions in there. Music is definitely a priority as I always liked it in races I attended.
R10C, Dan’s guide is my bible in more ways than one. Thankfully many of our obstacles have been cleared in years past and we have great support from the city which reduces our costs big time.
no good, I hear ya about the prize money etc. but we do have a generous sponsorship community on top of that which provides over 100 giveaway items for our kids races one day and full tri the next day. Our association with the city is second to none with the help they provide.
Being a former RD at the grass roots level, here is my 2 cents worth:
SPACE IN THE TRANSITION AREA! Yes, I’m shouting & I do know why. Give your participants room to move. They’re not cattle or lemmings packed into shiney metal boxes. Have more than enough bike racks. A well marked course. It’s my experience that triathletes leave their brains on their night stands or dashboards on race day. Make it easy for them to follow the course. Paint the roads. Use signs. Have volunteers at intersections. Use Google Earth for maps. Have someone follow the last runner. This will help that person, you & your timing people. An accurate course. If you say it’s a 1K swim make it a 1K swim & not 600m. I’ve been involved with some marketing research in Oceania with a triathlon series & the survey results showed thise triathletes were in it for hedonic reasons - it’s all about me. Prize $$$$: Ask yourself is it worth it in terms of added media exposure and/or publicity. How could the money be spent in other areas? Would offering $$$ to age groupers generate more buzz? What is the value to the event by offering prize $$$? Will your elites do PR for you (clinics, charity)? Immediate results at race site & a quick post on the website. Nothing ruins an event more than late results/incorrect results. Don’t skimp on the timing! Will adding the du grow or canablize your numbers?
I clicked on your website, looks like some great races.
I live in Midwest USA, and used to do Peterborough, but never got farther East. Now I have to watch my tri spend, so I do mostly local events.
I continue to do IM Canada, which is the weekend after your races. I do, however, long to get back to your neck of the woods, “God’s country”. Ontario is beautiful, and if I dare drive the 401 again, then someday I hope to come to Cornwall.
P.S. Domtar Paper used to have a plant in Cornwall, is it still there? (maybe changed names?)
Funny, I think Penticton would be God’s country more than this area… I guess it is what you don’t know. I intend to get out there someday but this year I am heading over to Germany to participate in Roth.
Yes it was Domtar in Cornwall. The plant downsized a few times since the late 90’s to finally close completely in 2006. It was shock to those employed but will eventually be a boon to the city to be rid of the pulp&paper smell the city was renowned for.