After more than 20 races with Ironman and more than 100 triathlons, and after simply not being able to go long any more, I wanted to switch from Ironman Italy to 70.3 or any other 70.3 this year or next year.
Nothing. No accomodation, no nothing, just a bunch of hedge-funds like shit-mails reminding me, of what I already know (I already had to defer once).
Never mind. Challenge is great, local races are great. If Ironman did not have the Hawaii story, I could safely say, that I will never race with this brand again.
I don’t mind the high prices. But I absolutely mind, that this is becoming more and more like a factory and less and less of an athlete focused business.
Dont think hes whining at all. Perhaps somewhat naive but a little leniency or even something related to a human response would be enough, and keep a devoted customer.
If the sentence was simply “I will never race with this brand again”, it might not have set me off.
You don’t think complaining about IRONMAN’s practices (which ironically have improved a lot with Flex90) while enabling them with your money is whining? Especially after the OP already got a deferral?
I mean I occasionally enable this behavior as well! I raced an IM 70.3 relay last year. But I don’t rub it in people’s faces
To be fair Ironman is pretty upfront with their rules. If they made exceptions for everyone who got cold feet about how hard the race is they’d have a huge mess.
One option you may think about is getting pregnant. I think they’ll give you a deferral or something.
I had the exact same issue with Challange. So it’s not an Ironman issue. They just want to cover their costs and reduce risk. It’s shitty but understandable.
I don’t mind the high prices. But I absolutely mind, that this is becoming more and more like a factory and less and less of an athlete focused business.
Making returning customers angry is a stupid business strategy. Triathlon is not the latest craze any more, there is hyrox, crossfit, paddle-tennis, golf, cycling, climbing and many more.
And even among triathletes, amateur long distance athletes are geting fewer, while the shorter distances still grow. Like in marathon running.
So they make someone, who was a returning and loyal customer and demanded nothing more, than to race at a 70.3 at the same f**** weekend and venue angry. Someone who did 20+ long distance races over the years many ironman branded and a couple of 70.3s and is now switching to middle distances.
I did 2 70.3 races last year, one with challenge, one with ironman. Guess who will get my business in the future?
It looks like the race you wanted to move your registration to (the 70.3 on the same weekend/venue) is closed for registration (IE- SOLD OUT). Having been around endurance sports for almost 2 decades now, that’s sorta SOP for many endurance companies to not allow you to change if said race is sold out. Obviously your not going to like that, but that’s pretty SOP across many race brands.
I don’t know every specific IM rule regarding changing races, but it’s certainly improved NOW than it likely has been since you started your journey. Decade ago they wouldn’t even consider allowing you to move registration. They now atleast give customers options.
From a customer experience perspective it would be pretty cool if you could log on and browse other races with registration open and apply your race entry there. Just charge a $25 fee and whatever the difference between what you paid what they are charging on the other race.
My guess is that at every race they have on average about 100 people who don’t show. That’s 50,000-100, 000 in free money, so maybe they policy is a real money maker.
I was thinking about this when I transferred out of my last Ironman race into another later in the year. It would be nice if returning customers got some sort of discount after 10 IM races, like a 5% discount then after 20 IM race they accumulate a 10% discount towards a race, or a free transfer…. Really anything to reward loyalty.
My last experience was good though, I requested a transfer and they told me I missed the deadline so I sent them screenshot of the email I sent BEFORE the deadline and they apologized for missing it and granted the transfer. Pretty athlete friendly I would say.
“ … My guess is that at every race they have on average about 100 people who don’t show. That’s 50,000-100, 000 in free money, so maybe they policy is a real money maker. …”
I am afraid you are right and it serves as a perfect example, what happens, when you put bean counters into c-Letter positions. Unfortunately I cant rant as eloquently as Rory Sutherland, but if they indeed think like this - and I agree they propably do - this would be a perfect example of the limitation of the bean counter departements.
Anyway, case closed for me, too much time spent already rambling, I better use the time for a swim
