http://www.usatriathlon.org/Event_Sanctioning/Event_Sanctioning_Latest_News.htm.
Good. That Amino Vital stuff was crap.
RD’s and athletes need to thank Texan’s Mike Greer Brad Davidson and Jack Weiss for their work in bringing Gatorade back to USAT.
Both athletes and RD’s benefited from this program in the past and it was a shame that we lost it last year.
I know that many RD’s are very happy with this decision. Z
Just none of that crappy grape flavored stuff…yick!
Except the terms of the deal (bike course must exceed 30K) automatically exclude over half of all triathlons from even applying for the sponsorship.
Except the terms of the deal (bike course must exceed 30K) automatically exclude over half of all triathlons from even applying for the sponsorship.
Two questions: Why do you think they put in the participant/bike length restrictions? Does this agreement cover duathlons, too?
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I honestly don’t know. Possibilities: (1) Gatorade wants its product on the bike course and believes (reasonably) that courses with short bike courses aren’t likely to have an aid station on the second leg; (2) Gatorade wants to limit its sponsorship outlays and chose this standard as a way to reduce the number of times it has to say “no”; (3) the people negotiating the contract want to encourage longer races; (4) the people negotiating the contract don’t consider shorter triathlons to be fully worthy (a subset of the “ironman-as-triathlon” complex); (5) it was a decision made without really considering the consequences. I vote for the last - but you can be sure my interpretation will be hotly denied by USAT’s national office.
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As I read it, it does - as long, of course, as they have bike courses that exceed 30K.
“(4) the people negotiating the contract don’t consider shorter triathlons to be fully worthy (a subset of the “ironman-as-triathlon” complex”
Lew,
It’s amazing really, the hype that IM get’s. How skewed the view is. I have even heard it hear on this board and elsewhere referred to as it’s own sport - that an IM is somehow different than triathlon. I thought that it involved swimming/cycling/and running!
Fleck
Lew - Back in 1999 when I brought Gatorade and USAT together, we worked on an RD program that would allow every sanctioned race to get product. After the first year, Gatorade and I went over the costs of this program. Gatorade sent coolers, cups, product and banners to each event that applied for the program.
The numbers of races that applied for the program in that first year was around 600 - remember this was back in 2000 when USAT only sanctioned about 800 races. Because of the cost of shipping and suppling these races, Gatorade had to put a limit on the races. They wanted to support races that had average athletes on the course for over 2 hours. So we came up with the criteria for the program - International distance races with over 400 athletes. (The cost of shipping product, coolers, and cups to small events was also considered)
This program was successfully implemented until the USAT Board hired a new sponsorship salesperson and that person sold Amino Vital a sponsorship. I believe you were one of the many RD’s that expressed your displeasure with this new drink and the end of the Gatorade program.
This new program is much better than the old program as it only stipulates that the bike course be a 30K or 18 miles. Many more events will be able to use this new program and RD’s that have a series of events will be able to apply for the program.
USAT wanted as many races as possible to have this program. Gatorade would also like to support all multi-sport events, but the cost of shipping product, coolers, and cups to every sanctioned event was not possible.
Z
That conforms with surmises 1 and 2 in my answer to Ken’s question. But by establishing those arbitrary standards, Gatorade misses out on a number of major races. For example, dense development and significant motor vehicle traffic limits the Ann Arbor Tri to a bike course of 14.3 miles - but it has a mean, tough trail run, fills each year at 700 athletes, and is generally acknowledged as the top event in the entire State, not to mention one of the toughest. Why would USAT/Gatorade design a program that would AUTOMATICALLY eliminate sponsorship of this type of event?
Yeah, FIERCE Grape is really bad but there was, once upon time, a regular ol’ Grape that was great. Also, last year while in Penticton for IMC my wife bought a bottle of a new flavor that I haven’t seen since. It was very dark. Fig, maybe. It was the best flavor yet although the new Lemonade gives it a run for the money.
Frank