So about 70 non-USA Pros racing Texas in 10 days will be required to cough up a “Strait of Hormuz” licence fee.
And 2000 athletes racing Kona.
Seems entirely sensible: USAT can’t just absorb this expense. After all, every other nation who hosts triathlons does this.
What is the going rate per competitor per event for insurance? Anyone know?
Do any of the endurance sports have enough of a “pro sport” to have much impact on any participation? I think the biggest draw to sports like marathon running and triathlon is the “anyone” can do it, and less “wowed” by the professional athlete. So for me it’s what about your sport makes anyone want to do it in the first place? I think there is a big takeaway with triathlon on the men’s side is that it’s another sport that can give a pathway of excellence, that I don’t think is viewed the same way from the women’s prospective. Now mind you I’m a male professional coach, so this is only my “viewpoint” being around the sport for near 2 decades, so that’s only my perception. But I think both the AG and pro side of women’s triathlon just lacks “depth of numbers”. I think the top 1% is as strong as the men, I just think it lacks that sorta second level of depth that the men have.
And mind you I’m not trying to create some sexism debate. I’ve coached more women in my lifetime then men, I currently coach a women’s ncaa sport (along with a men’s varsity club team). I’m as much pro woman as they can be, but I also recognize that I triathlon is very much viewed differently among the men and women. I don’t think more pro’s would move the needle much for overall women’s triathlon numbers. I also don’t want to see pro triathlon suddenly become the way of overall participation and skewed more men then women. We are seeing this sorta in youth triathlon at the DL ranks in the U.S. Right now the 16-19 age group is full races with wait lists. For the same races in the 13-15 age group, they aren’t even having half full races. That’s going to erode at some point and cause an numbers problem. So that’s sorta what may happen to the qualification criteria with women if we don’t watch out.
I think in talking to many women on that elite/amateur line, it’s a trickle down effect. If there are less pro women racing, then there are less high level amateur women that think they can get there. If they don’t think they can get there, maybe they lose motivation to stay in the sport and go to running or Hyrox. If less high level amateurs are racing, there could be a trickle down effect where less women hear about/see other women racing at a high level, and decide to not even give it a shot themselves.
I don’t think this will single-handedly break female racing. I just think that we already have a huge problem with male/female involvement in this sport - and this will definitely not help that imbalance.
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I’d use fewer here, but that’s just me
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touché
Interesting perspective - I would think maybe the opposite could be true - if there are fewer pro women starting races (with prize money) then as a top amateur one might think, I have a better chance of getting into the prize money. One thing that I am noticing and I would love to see data on this - is that more young girls are starting out in the sport of triathlon without migrating from a previous discipline like cycling, running or swimming - while I still see lots of guys coming into the sport from other disciplines first.
In the U.S. we have a developmental draft legal series, that’s almost hit 20 years. For the 1st time in over 15 years the 13-15 age group is not selling out races (75 max person gender fields). Max fields are 75 and guys and gals race numbers are in the 3x. Now this is very specific genre, but just in terms of pipelines, and especially important is ncaa triathlon- that is not a good sign.
That is troubling for sure. I also see a lot of “one and done” going on. People that sign up for a 70.3 or IM and then do the training for 8 months - get the medal and move on to other challenges. I think one of the reasons at least here in Canada that might be leading to less people taking up the sport and wanting to progress through the ranks is that there seems to be less clubs out there that have dedicated coaches that are willing to take the risk (and training) to start or maintain a development triathlon club. I see the same thing with running clubs and to a lesser extent with swim clubs. I have watched existing clubs just disappear as the coaches get too old or are forced out with something that blows up, and in that environment, qualified or able people don’t really want to take the risk to take over and keep the development programs going. All thats left is professional coaches that mostly cater to wealth age-groupers. Not sure what the solution is - but I really believe that triathlon is an incredible sport and hopefully we can continue to develop it at the grassroots level.
If you can find anyone who gets into triathlon for the ‘prize money’, you should go work for the FBI. 5th place at Spring Kona (IM Texas) gets a whopping $5,000 - after taxes and travel/accommodations for the race, you might take home $1,000.
I won more from a random Easter weekend 5k with 300 participants than I have in all of my triathlon career thus far.
Wait I’m a bit confused. The article claims that Samatha Skold would have qualified based on the 12% rule at Kona, but she raced a 9:34:59. Solveig’s time was an 8:28:27. To be within 12%, Samantha would have needed to race a 9:29:30ish to qualify based on this new standard, right?
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Yeah for sure - I doubt anyone starts out on a triathlon journey for the paycheck. All the pro triathletes I know that are earning a living from the sport, got into for the same reasons most of us do sport - for the love of competition and camaraderie and being fit etc. If they are lucky enough to be good enough and have a strong work ethic and hustle - they can earn a good living. Good job on your race results - hopefully its enough to keep the fire burning a while longer and pay a few bills as well. As long as its fun I say keep going for it!! Beats a boring “real job” anyday!!