NYT article posted today - Triathlons Fight Decline and Seek Ways to Attract the Young

Triathlon Forum
1

Slowman is quoted. Nothing in the article that hasn’t been discussed ad naseum on this forum -https://www.nytimes.com/...&pgtype=Homepage

I was racing in '01 when there were 21K USAT members. There were enough challenging and fun multisport events for me to do then, including multiple IM events in the continental U.S. I know the cost for road permits, park rentals, police protection, etc. have gone up, but would triathlon be totally unlike it was in '01 if USAT annual membership returned to 25K?

2

Slowman is quoted. Nothing in the article that hasn’t been discussed ad naseum on this forum -https://www.nytimes.com/...&pgtype=Homepage

I was racing in '01 when there were 21K USAT members. Plenty of challenging and fun multisport events for me to do then, including multiple IM events in the continental U.S. I know the cost for road permits, park rentals, police protection, etc. have gone up, but would triathlon be totally unlike it was in '01 if USAT annual membership returned to 25K annual members?

Juxtapose this against another headline about Fortnite World Cup and the 30 million prize purse. And personally I don’t necessarily agree with Slowman’s quote. I think that helps keep the current endurance people interested but how do you draw NEW people. Since I went professional in late 2011 and raced in Kona in 2013 there has been one, one new american male pro to race Kona. That was Matt Hanson. Seriously where is all the new blood? And don’t say Kanute, because Kanute has been racing since he practically came of the womb. It is the same guys still crushing it, Potts, TO, Starky, The Hoff, Rappstar, Tollakson.

As to how to excite this new crowd, well I am too far removed from the normal 9-5 to know what really gets people excited, but triathlon has a huge barrier of entry with the costs and equipment. I think part of this solution is to simplify things in that regards. I seriously think we might need to ban triathlon bikes, aerobars, aero helmets, and aero wheels altogether. Maybe a City Bike type format or least a division. Maybe for the big triathlon venues that could include shutting down the streets for practice on a regular basis to make people feel comfortable riding their bikes and raising awareness. Two is actually to put on races and let people race. Can you imagine, if the Fortnite World Cup wasn’t allowed to happen because it was too hot out or there was a power outage. Huge buzzkill.

Lastly, and a lot of this come down to sales, but work on market development and get creative!!! Figure out a way to further gamify triathlon and pitch it to corporations out there as an incentive for employees. Pair it with some sort of health insurance advantage. Partner with Ironman to get more celebrities/pro athletes to do more races.

Seriously the last one seems like a no-brainer. How many big name athletes struggle with purpose after sport and probably don’t even know about triathlon. Go pitch SHAQ. Sell him on how it is going to be his next big purpose. Have Apollo, Hines, Ramsey talk to these athlete and tell them how life-changing it can be. Ironman/USAT should be pursuing every retiring player and pitching triathlon as a way to further carry their brand torch and help them transition at least from one sport to another while continuing to work with their sponsors.

3

Just did one of out local tri’s this weekend. In 2014 it had 467 finishers, today where was 165. There are 4 long standing races within a 45 minute drive from me…and of course the WTC race (Coeur d Alene, ID). Here are what the finisher numbers have looked like the past 5 years

Troika (has been some combination of Sprint, Olympic, Half, Duathlon, Aquathon each year)
2014 - 214
2015 - 331
2016 - 422
2017 - 293
2018 - 276
2019 - 212

Hayden Tri (Sprint)
2014 - 293
2015 - 304
2016 - 304
2017 - 255
2018 - 206
2019 - (race director decided to no longer put on the race)

Race the River Tri (Sprint)
2014 - 457
2015 - 464
2016 - 399
2017 - 345
2018 - 216
2019 - 165

Coeur d Alene Tri (Sprint, Olympic, Duathlon…numbers also include teams)
2014 - 521
2015 - 428
2016 - 426
2017 - 349
2018 - 412
2019 - ???

Raw numbers are still ok…much better than my home state of Montana which has several races now in the double digits and teetering on ceasing to exist. But this is not a good trend, the sport seems to be on an unsustainable path.

4

Juxtapose this against another headline about Fortnite World Cup and the 30 million prize purse. And personally I don’t necessarily agree with Slowman’s quote. I think that helps keep the current endurance people interested but how do you draw NEW people. Since I went professional in late 2011 and raced in Kona in 2013 there has been one, one new american male pro to race Kona. That was Matt Hanson. Seriously where is all the new blood? And don’t say Kanute, because Kanute has been racing since he practically came of the womb. It is the same guys still crushing it, Potts, TO, Starky, The Hoff, Rappstar, Tollakson.

As to how to excite this new crowd, well I am too far removed from the normal 9-5 to know what really gets people excited, but triathlon has a huge barrier of entry with the costs and equipment. I think part of this solution is to simplify things in that regards. I seriously think we might need to ban triathlon bikes, aerobars, aero helmets, and aero wheels altogether. Maybe a City Bike type format or least a division. Maybe for the big triathlon venues that could include shutting down the streets for practice on a regular basis to make people feel comfortable riding their bikes and raising awareness. Two is actually to put on races and let people race. Can you imagine, if the Fortnite World Cup wasn’t allowed to happen because it was too hot out or there was a power outage. Huge buzzkill.

I agree with the part in bold (despite having invested a huge amount into that stuff personally). Part of it is cost. Part of it is leveling the field. Part of it is just logistics. A girl I dated last year lived in Baldwin Park (you’ll understand this) and did her first triathlon in Clermont in May (about a 30 minute drive for the non-locals reading this). She enjoyed it but commented that getting her bike to the race site was a huge pain. She owns a sedan and is a working professional who swims/bikes/runs but never outside of her neighborhood. She said she wished her bike was there for her race morning. She’s far from the first “first timer” I’ve heard make a comment like that.

A lot of my piers travel around to run 13.1s/26.2s, Spartan races, etc. Pretty easy: pack a bag with some running shoes, hop in your car or grab a cheap flight, and show up. Personally I dread packing my bike when I travel to a race. To me there would be a huge appeal in everyone being on the same bike and having said bike waiting for you and ready to go in transition. I’d probably travel and race a lot more on the weekends.

5

Races should start having Swim/Run divisions. An Olympic distance swim/run race is the perfect travel race. I wish there were more of them but I’m looking forward to celebrating my being 70 years old next year at Key West Triathlon swim/run division.

6

The first issue that’s mentioned in the article is cost … I think this is really spot on. People do feel like they’ve gotta have a fancy bike, wetsuit, etc to be competitive after their first race. How many more people wear trisuits now? You know how much those things cost? This is one thing that has frustrated me forever more - I can afford the more expensive gear but this is a fun hobby for me, I don’t want to spend $$$$$ to be “competitive.” That’s why I prefer running and ocean swimming now - the field is more level regardless of gear. In my opinion, people who can and are willing to spend more will always have an advantage and I wouldn’t be surprised if others feel the same too (mentioned 2x in the article that people think they need to upgrade their gear, even if it’s not true.) Of course there are also entrance fees (Alcatraz is ridiculous), gym fees, etc …

If triathlon would like to draw a more diverse crowd - they need to hold more diverse events. Multi sport festivals with running, swim-run, Run-bike, female only events … kids events, etc. Elite Energy in Australia does a great job in holding diverse events … I don’t know if triathlon has declined in Oz but I’ve found that doing Tris or endurance events in America has a less … inclusive feel… if you want to increase participation then there needs to be more inclusion and less bravado (“I’m doing Tris cuz I’m alpha and hardcore”).

This topic does feel like it’s been talked to death. But anyway that’s just my 2 cents …

7

Juxtapose this against another headline about Fortnite World Cup and the 30 million prize purse. And personally I don’t necessarily agree with Slowman’s quote. I think that helps keep the current endurance people interested but how do you draw NEW people. Since I went professional in late 2011 and raced in Kona in 2013 there has been one, one new american male pro to race Kona. That was Matt Hanson. Seriously where is all the new blood? And don’t say Kanute, because Kanute has been racing since he practically came of the womb. It is the same guys still crushing it, Potts, TO, Starky, The Hoff, Rappstar, Tollakson.

As to how to excite this new crowd, well I am too far removed from the normal 9-5 to know what really gets people excited, but triathlon has a huge barrier of entry with the costs and equipment. I think part of this solution is to simplify things in that regards. I seriously think we might need to ban triathlon bikes, aerobars, aero helmets, and aero wheels altogether. Maybe a City Bike type format or least a division. Maybe for the big triathlon venues that could include shutting down the streets for practice on a regular basis to make people feel comfortable riding their bikes and raising awareness. Two is actually to put on races and let people race. Can you imagine, if the Fortnite World Cup wasn’t allowed to happen because it was too hot out or there was a power outage. Huge buzzkill.

I agree with the part in bold (despite having invested a huge amount into that stuff personally). Part of it is cost. Part of it is leveling the field. Part of it is just logistics. A girl I dated last year lived in Baldwin Park (you’ll understand this) and did her first triathlon in Clermont in May (about a 30 minute drive for the non-locals reading this). She enjoyed it but commented that getting her bike to the race site was a huge pain. She owns a sedan and is a working professional who swims/bikes/runs but never outside of her neighborhood. She said she wished her bike was there for her race morning. She’s far from the first “first timer” I’ve heard make a comment like that.

A lot of my piers travel around to run 13.1s/26.2s, Spartan races, etc. Pretty easy: pack a bag with some running shoes, hop in your car or grab a cheap flight, and show up. Personally I dread packing my bike when I travel to a race. To me there would be a huge appeal in everyone being on the same bike and having said bike waiting for you and ready to go in transition. I’d probably travel and race a lot more on the weekends.

I agree that the logistics are a HUGE turn off.

My last 70.3 involved travelling up the day before and spending the whole day racking my bike and sorting out the split transition, including miles and miles of walking. Then the morning was a drive to the finish and a long bus ride to the start and just loads and loads of hassle. By the time the race started i had already had enough of the whole IM thing for that weekend.

Compare that with a run race, or a swim race or my local bike race where you can ride there, race and ride home and for a fraction of the price. I’ve had no intention of doing Tri for the past 2 years as I just really can’t be arsed with the whole thing anymore.

8

I don’t think you can “attract the young” to this sport. It is essentially for people who are older. You have to have a decent income, and the maturity (and time) to train at a fairly high level. Younger people tend to be lacking in both areas. I did my first tri when I was 45, and my participation only increased after that. As far as the decline, personally I have not seen that in the last three races I’ve done. If anything I’m always astounded by how many people show up for races, with all the bikes and gear, etc. I find myself asking “Where do they all come from??” My last 3 races were an Ironman 70.3 (practically sold out), a local 70.3 (sells out every year) and a local sprint (record attendance this year). I do get the published stats though. Personally, I’m not worried. My guess is participation will level off at some point, but I think the sport is here to stay.

9

I’ve seen a decline in participation in my area, as well. But, local 5k’s are still going strong.

When I talk to runners, most of them don’t think they can do a tri; not even a Sprint.

In my non-scientific polling while trying to get runners to try local Tris, the main problem I see is people are so scared of the swim they can’t see anything else. And swim training is the most inconvenient form of training.

10

To build upon your post the young kids are more interested in the DL pathway if they are serious about tri, collegiate club racing, partying after said collegiate race and not so much long course tri.

I’ve interviewed for the head coaching position of a few uni tri teams and the breakdown between those that raced on a high/competitive national level to those that did it for fun was 1 to 10 in those 2 programs

11

Races should start having Swim/Run divisions. An Olympic distance swim/run race is the perfect travel race. I wish there were more of them but I’m looking forward to celebrating my being 70 years old next year at Key West Triathlon swim/run division.

I agree with this as well.

12

I’m definitely a youngster in the world of tri in my observations from going to 10 races in my short career (1.5 years thus far). After winning my first Olympic yesterday overall, but being more in love with IM distances, here’s my 0.02

This sport takes someone to introduce you to it to get involved. I met John Joseph from the Cro-Mags at a show who got me hip to triathlon (IM) and a healthy eating lifestyle (I’m not vegan, but minimally processed diet). He gave me all the information I needed to get started. I told my parents about my aspirations, and they said if I could ride a regular aluminum road bike for 1000 miles, they would buy me a tri-bike. I did that, and now have a P2 that I love that was purchased as an extremely supportive LBS.

Here’s the catch. John is in his 50’s, my parents are in their 50’s, all the people I train with are in their 50’s. Most kids this age either don’t have active and/or supportive parents, or don’t hang with people their parents age in my experience who make up the majority of the sport (whenever I see a 2_ on someone’s calf I’m surprised). My circumstances just happened to put me in my situation, so I’m a rare case I believe.

There needs to be more exposure to the sport for kids to see and get interested in. Kona is on TV once a year, Lionel and Sebi only post every so often (sorry TT, but your videos make me cringe a lot), but Fortnite and the rest of it are on at nauseum. And yes the sport is expensive, but you don’t NEED a TT bike to have fun with it. I could easily ride that old aluminum bike during races and have the same amount of fun.

Let me know if you think my analysis is wrong, I don’t want to see this sport die.

13

My opinion is that triathlon essentially now means Ironman and that hurts new recruitment.

When I started in the late 90s there were relatively few Ironman events and anyone who did them was crazy, insane, ludicrous in my mind. Yes Ironman existed of course, but triathlon was more the local sprint and Olympic tris, of which there were very many.

I was a former collegiate runner who still had competitive urges and didn’t know where to satisfy them. Despite hardly being able to swim and only having $250 to spend on a heavy steel 80s Italian 10 speed racing bike, I gravitated to the local triathlons largely because they ended in a running 5K and I figured I could catch everyone there. That soon upgraded to Total Immersion swim lessons, a “real” bike, Olympic distance triathlons and becoming hooked on it, but for many years I never considered an Ironman and thought those that did were out of their minds.

Now for all intents and purposes Ironman = triathlon and folks like me would never get into the sport.

And, honestly, I much more enjoyed the years racing sprints and tris every weekend or every other weekend to the years after I went to Ironman and the entire year was focused around the one big event you were training for.

14

I’m a duathlete - my swim sucks and I lack the time/motivation to get competitive. So, at every race, I see the nervous folks getting ready for the swim. They ask me - why are you still wearing running shoes and they are shocked - shocked - that the run-bike-run (as the NYT calls it out in the article w/o describing it as duathlon) is an option. And guess what? Many events offer the bike-run (cyclorun) nd/or swim-bike (aquabike). We know this, but potential new participants, I think, don’t. There is considerable potential interest in eliminating the training and equipment costs of one discipline, but I think that those considering triathlon are unaware of these possibilities. How do USAT and race promoters get the word out to those not yet involved in the sport? But, in fairness, consider the cost to race organizers. So much easier to offer a sprint tri (maybe an Olympic, too). One course, easy logistics for timing, etc. And the number of participants per ‘class’ is maximized. Now, if you divide those same participants (or even x% more, due to the attractiveness of a two-discipline event) over two distances of tri and a few other two-sport events - well, more complicated. Nevertheless, I do think that there is something to be gained by promoting two-sport races.

One other strategy, not discussed much, is the promotion of relay teams. In theory, each participant only needs to train/enjoy one sport. And, toward Slowman’s NYT quote, this approach could make it more fun by developing new communities of athletes. But how to put them together? What I see is mostly through work - i.e. co-workers as relay teams. There were a few of these at the Music City Triathlon last weekend. But what an opportunity for tri clubs to help facilitate this with local running, cycling, swimming clubs. I am guessing that tri clubs are suffering with declining membership, mirroring the national trends in participation. Here’s a potential way to reverse that, too.

Why are these strategies not being explored (at least locally for me, perhaps others have some ‘best practices’ to share along these lines)? There is a cachet around being a triathlete and an Ironman. Being a duathlete or participating in an aquabike just does not have the same impact on folks you might want to impress…

EDIT to add…And did you note the high cost of road bikes in the NYT article. My goodness, such advanced machinery is known to cost $500 - or, gasp, many are even more than $1,000. Now, there is no doubt that anyone can race on a $500-$1000 bike. But if the point is to emphasize the high costs, the author is an order of magnitude too small on bike costs, at least near the high end.

15

From the numbers, it looks like 2017 things took a dive.

If it means anything, at the Door County, Wisconsin triathlon, the kids triathlon appeared to be a success. My kids participated. Everyone looked to be having fun. This is the new generation. Maybe it takes the parents support and parents are who to blame.

I think the successful events are the events you don’t train for and just do it as a family event. A 5k, let’s face it- you can just do it, or even walk the dog or push a stroller with your baby and chat with your friend as you walk. I think people enjoy being part of something, but the competitiveness isn’t as much of a “thing”, nor is the desire to train for the event. The color run, is a similar scenario.

Maybe we need a fun triathlon division. Get people to be a part of it and hopefully they transition to the real deal. Shorten the swim, they can use a city bike. Don’t have a winner or keep time. Just give them a participation award at sign up, not even at the finish.

16

I don’t think you can “attract the young” to this sport. It is essentially for people who are older. You have to have a decent income, and the maturity (and time) to train at a fairly high level. Younger people tend to be lacking in both areas.

That’s a load of bull.

There are plenty of young people who have decent jobs, talent and drive, the maturity to train at a high level, plus the added bonus of minimal family obligations (no kids etc…) Your early 20’s is an ideal time in your life to get into the sport. It gets substantially harder after having kids, because they suck up time, energy, and money.

I did my first triathlon when I was 16, and so did a lot of people I know, because in our community we were exposed to it all the time, and eventually the older athletes made a point of developing programs that encouraged kids to get into the sport. Tyler Butterfield and Flora came out of those programs, it didn’t make them world class (they did that) but the community gave them the opportunity to discover the sport and want to succeed at it. In North America, not that many kids are actually exposed to the sport on a regular basis so they don’t develop an interest.

17

My opinion is that triathlon essentially now means Ironman and that hurts new recruitment.

When I started in the late 90s there were relatively few Ironman events and anyone who did them was crazy, insane, ludicrous in my mind. Yes Ironman existed of course, but triathlon was more the local sprint and Olympic tris, of which there were very many.

I was a former collegiate runner who still had competitive urges and didn’t know where to satisfy them. Despite hardly being able to swim and only having $250 to spend on a heavy steel 80s Italian 10 speed racing bike, I gravitated to the local triathlons largely because they ended in a running 5K and I figured I could catch everyone there. That soon upgraded to Total Immersion swim lessons, a “real” bike, Olympic distance triathlons and becoming hooked on it, but for many years I never considered an Ironman and thought those that did were out of their minds.

Now for all intents and purposes Ironman = triathlon and folks like me would never get into the sport.

And, honestly, I much more enjoyed the years racing sprints and tris every weekend or every other weekend to the years after I went to Ironman and the entire year was focused around the one big event you were training for.

This ^

18

Maybe we need a fun triathlon division. Get people to be a part of it and hopefully they transition to the real deal. Shorten the swim, they can use a city bike. Don’t have a winner or keep time. Just give them a participation award at sign up, not even at the finish.

3 Disciplines in Michigan calls this the Super Sprint and people do exactly this

19

And, honestly, I much more enjoyed the years racing sprints and tris every weekend or every other weekend to the years after I went to Ironman and the entire year was focused around the one big event you were training for.
Completely agree here. So many benefits to a packed calendar of shorter (local) races. Camaraderie, repetition, familiarity. And it’s racing. I know people train, train, train, blah, blah, blah for 1 big race, all their eggs in that basket - you’ve got one shot! No thanks. When you race 5, 10, 15 times a summer you get good at racing. You learn from experience. You can still set a target race or two, but you learn the trade, so to speak. And for the cost of one IM, you can probably do 10 local races and still fin a big Olympic or Half somewhere if that’s your thing.

20

Our numbers have held steady the last 3-4 years and we are up for this year. Our first event was in June (sprint, olympic, half w/ tri, AB, swim only) and the second is in a few weeks (full, half, olympic w/ tri, ab, du).

WTC put another IM 70.3 in our neighborhood (this makes 2 within about 2 hours of us) so I was curious to see what this year would look like, but again, we are up. The sport seems to be doing well in Michigan… that new IM event sold out in an hour or two I believe.