i’m 25 now, but started racing when i was 15 in the “president’s choice” series in ontario. in those days it was the largest tri series in the world and was run by graham fraser. he’s obviously moved on to bigger things, but i still know lots of ontario racers who have strong opinions about the guy based on those memories.
so: i’m wondering what you think of graham fraser, and how you like what he’s done with/for the ironman ‘industry’ in north america.
-mike
I think he is a stand up guy. I have a lot of respect for him. I too got my start during the President’s Choice Tri scene. It is amazing how well he remembers people - even the MOP’ers. I found he always tried to do what was best for the sport.
Hero!
Was the first in Ontario and then Canada to take triathlon race direction and managment seriously
Has really defined what a quality triathlon event is at some many levels
Was the first to make it a business - some to this day don’t like this, but if you want to grow anything and make it big and make it successfull and sustainable, then you need to treat it professionally and in a business like way.
Genuinley listens to what people say and cares about what people think of his product and service.
Has been brilliant at being at the right time and right place for growth and expansion of the sport. It has not all been smooth sailing, but like many things in life, timing can be everything.
Fleck
P.S. Just to put some context on this, I competed in and won the first triathlon race that Graham Fraser ever organised back in 1986.
that’s a very interesting question, and one i think about. a lot of things going on there are the same time:
i see no problem with the IM “industry” in north america. graham’s filling an obvious void. supply and demand. it’s not porn, it’s not tobacco. there’s nothing wrong with IM, nothing unhealhy, quite the opposite, and if people want to enter them, why not?
such races build up an entire multisport infrastructure in an area. when IM moved into provo, there was a whole lot of nothing going on there, as regards multisport. within a year, there was a race infractructure that had never been there before (at least to that extent).
at the same time, there has been a spate of really bad luck, or bad planning, or questionable decisions. the water tragedy in lake utah, perry rendina in IM california, the too-narrow bike course the first year of ralphs half in oceanside, this year’s scary crash in oceanside, the “phantom loop” in AZ. how often should bad luck strike?
offsetting that, you have a LOT of opportunity for bad things to happen, because you are just servicing so many people. maybe it’s just the odds. and, i know that graham does not like to call up a family and tell them that somebody just died doing a race that he produced. he’s had to do that twice that i know of. you do what you can to make sure you NEVER have to make that phone call.
then there are other market issues, such as the “closed” expo. we could debate this one. is it a good or bad thing that landis and tri sports are closed out of IM AZ, and that placid planet and high peaks are closed out of IM USA, and that machinery row and several other fine madison shops are closed out of IM WI? otoh these shops do much better biz than they would’ve if the IM had not come to their towns, and i completely understand IMNA’s desire to have one-stop shopping for their expo, esp with cid cardoso and inside out so expertly executing such a very hard task.
so, on balance, graham fraser is certainly no zero, and to many he is deservedly a hero. but all heroes are on pedestals because we don’t know their foibles. in the case of graham, we know the results of everything he does, favorable and unfavorable, because it’s all so public.
An anecdote: at IMAZ part of the bike course became the last mile of the run course. That meant re-setting the cones about 30 minutes before the first runners came by. A guy on a mountain bike with an IMNA shirt was slowly riding down the road moving each of the cones away from the curb. It was Graham Fraser doing some of the grunt work (I raced in the Royal Lepage series in Ontario in the 1980s; they were run by Graham Fraser and were great races).
I haven’t seen anyone vote for Zero yet. Before you do, make sure you can first beat Graham in a race. He is about my age and can kick my butt every time, not that being able to beat me is any private club. Not a zero.
Graham might have been the first “Canadian” to make triathlon his business, but in the states there were a number of RD’s who started triathlon production companies in the early 80’s. Dave McGivery, Jim Curl and Carl Thomas, Tom Cooney, Jan Callie’ and Valerie Silk (The original owner if Ironman).
Some of these RD’s are still in putting on races and others have moved on, but Graham has always been one of the best RD’s in the world. Most people do not remember that his company produced a World Championship ITU race in the early 90’s.
One important aspect of his company is his staff. As Huddle mentioned in his awards ceremony speach in Arizona almost everyone on the IMNA staff “IS or HAS BEEN” a race director. Lyle Harris, Chirs Gdanski, Pee Wee Bramblet, Shelly Bramblet, Roch and Paul.
And he does not mind getting his hands dirty and moving some cones, barricades or signs during the race. Z
this really is interesting - i posted this expecting a fair deal more antagonism toward the guy.
i train with folks who downright hate him; the complaints that i hear are usually based on the extent to which Fraser’s ‘corporatized’ the sport. the “President’s Choice” races were always quite hollywood, with big crowds and etc, but also much more expensive, less friendly and lower-value than hometown events. towards the end, racers would be coughing up big money to get a t-shirt, a race, some pop and a bagel. i’ve actually organized (admittedly small) races of my own, and know what goes into it, and frankly i don’t envy anyone doing that every weekend all summer. and definitely graham has to get some credit for folks like lisa bentley, lori bowden, and simon whitfield, who were all racing in a very healthy ontario tri scene in the 90’s. on the other hand, he has to get some of the ‘credit’ for the phenomena (like proliferating ironman tattoos, deodorant, sunglasses and cannondales, high entry fees, and etc) that bother many athletes.
either way i think he’s a very hardworking guy who, as slowman has noted, is in a tough spot insofar as his mistakes are right out in the public for everyone to see.
-mike
p.s - it’s true that he often pops into races that he’s put on, and is quick.
I don’t think Graham had anything to do with the licensing of the IM logo into the Cannondales, deodorant, etc. That’s all controlled by WTC, NOT by IMNA. He’s a pretty solid hero in my book…
Another anecdote: At 5:00 a.m. the morning of IMLP in 2003 my girlfriend and I were walking from our hotel into town to do the race. Our hotel was 2km from the oval. Before we had walked 100m, Graham drove by, stopped his truck and asked if we wanted a ride into town, which we gratefully accepted.
“Hero” in my book.
good points.
I also think that some of the tri related companies: manufacturers and service providers owe a small debt to Graham. Arguably without the number of races there would not be the number of participants and hence the number of consumers.
Maybe someone else would have taken on the challenge to produce these events and maybe do so better than IM NA but as the old saying goes: action speaks louder than words. He has grasped the opportunity, one could argue he helped create the opportunity which he now benefits. Power to him.
To the original poster: the zero to hero thing is a bit extreme. A better question might be: Is the product offered by IM NA worth the asking price? Or put it another way: are you getting value for your money? Having participated in 4 IMNA events - I would answer in the affirmative.
Mike,
There have always been people who have not liked what Graham has done or is doing. However, when you take the lead and set the trend thats always the case. You don’t have to go fare to find people who don’t think to highly of Les MacDonald either, but for better or for worse, Les has also done great things for the sport of triathlon. Step outside the sport and it’s the same - you don’t have to go far to find people who will speak negativly about Bill Gates( Microsoft), or Phil Knight( Nike), or Donald Trump or Mark Burnett( EcoChallenge, Survivor etc) . etc . … Whenever, you take something that is somewhat mundane, turn it into a business and then become either reasonably or phenomenonly successful, there will always be those who think differently or are grumpy about the success.
Fleck
Well, both Placid Planet and High Peaks are open 24/7 during Ironman week, and I doubt its so they can stay up to watch Conan O’Brien. It may be different in bigger cities like Madison or Phoenix, but I bet even in those places there’s plenty to go around when the Ironman comes to town.
I think the guy is great as a person. He has done huge things to grow the sport in Ontario and North America. But like every successful business (Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Mercedes, Nike), I don’t neccessarily with all the business practices, but if we don’t like it, we can vote with our dollars and be critical in the trade press to keep the “business honest”.
Slowman pointed out a number of itmes that could improve. With respect to the tradegies, when you have that many athletes, with that many volunteers, some things are bound to go wrong. I myself had fairly questionable treatment at the medical tent in one IMNA event due to misdiagnosis by a doc under pressure, but I neither fault the doc nor IMNA/Graham. I should have raced under control and never entered the med tent in the first place :-(.
In any event, he has given many athletes to realize a life long dream to complete an Ironman under very good quality conditions, which are upheld (rightly or wrongly) as the gold standard for event management/expectations. All in all, he has been huge for the sport.
Dev
I started racing Graham’s Royal LePage series in Ontario back in 1990. He had an excellently run series then that has evolved into the Subaru series which is run by his brother Mitch. I’ve had the pleasure of racing two IMNA events and found both to be very well done. Graham is an athlete and race director who understands what makes a race run well and obviously has done a really good job of tapping into the IM market. People always post about shunning the IMNA events and supporting smaller iron-distance races but Graham and the IMNA team have put together a product that is first rate and his races fill up first. People can complain about the business side of IMNA all they want but that is a necessary component to ensuring that the events stay profitable and keep going.
“People always post about shunning the IMNA events and supporting smaller iron-distance races”
see, i find that a very unimaginative alternative. i rather like the ex-nice distance, and i don’t see why RDs paint themselves into a marketing corner by making half, double, quadruple, quarter, 1/3pi X IM distance. just FORGET the IM distance, or any multiple or fraction thereof, and start working on making another distance standard. like, something HEALTHY!
nothing wrong with IM, but nowadays you have to do TWO, or THREE, in a year, if you’re good enough to aspire to kona. how 'bout a nice 6 or 7 hr race, instead of a 10 or 12 hr race? then you’d give IM NA, and every other IM licensee, a reason to consider charging a COMPETITIVE price. but, all you yahoo lemming followers have an IM morphine tube stuck in your arms, and you’re sucking up the killer juice.
“all you yahoo lemming followers have an IM morphine tube stuck in your arms, and you’re sucking up the killer juice”
Now there is a quote 
I especially like the, “all you yahoo lemming followers”, doesn’t that really cover most people. 
I agree with you on that Slowman. In 2002, the Canadian Long Course Championships were held a little ways outside of Ottawa at a really cool location where they do white water rafting. The distances were 4k-120k-30k. It is much easier to recover from this distance and it is easier to “race” the whole way. I would like to see more races of this distance around and make this the standard for ITU Long Course championships. It is probably the public demand for iron distances that is stopping this though, since if you’re a race director planning to set up 4-120-30 it is probably not much extra effort to lengthen it a bit and have the “iron masses” want to enter your race.
Slowman and Allan, I like this distance better:
3 K swim, 180K bike, 21.1 K run
If you want to “race this distance” I have a training event planned on June 9th at Lake Placid New York. I usually get 30-40 people out to train/race. Entry fee is FREE. You do it for bragging rights and the best part is that you are recovered within a few days depending on how hard you take it out (the shorter run makes the recovery quick). I hold this “Epicman” event every year in Lake Placid for the local guys gearing up for Ironman LP.
You can read about the 2003 story here:
http://www.xtri.com/article.asp?id=985
…but yes, I do like the idea of the Nice distance much more than Ironman.
I have done a pile of Graham’s races including his very first race in Grimsby (Steve Fleck - is it really almost 20 years since we froze in Lake Ontario during that race?). Graham always put on a solid, well-organized event. Unlike many other races I have done, I didn’t had to worry about poor course directions, no aid stations, etc. with his races.
Graham is also in my age group and he would often work furiously in the early am and then jump into the race and Graham was no slouch at any distance including sub 10 IMs. He also beat me at the first IMH I did and hasn’t let me forget it ever since.
I don’t begrudge Graham for any of his success as he saw an opportunity and worked harded to develop it. Sure you can quibble about some aspects of the IMNA races but, overall, they are high quality events.