I wouldn’t call them tune up races so much as races where you get paid well even if you walk round 
MM
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Obviously with the pay structure that is going to happen, but I’ll also say the downside to that- you wont be around long in the T100 series after 1 year if your a BOP athlete (whether you are “trying” or just showing up for the pay check). You will be “relegated”; which for her that may not be that big of a deal if she’s winning IM WC’s.
The 70.3 specialists aren’t going to target the IM series but several will still target the world championship indeed. It was interesting to hear Paula Findlay explain in the TTL podcast that several of her contracts are still tied to IM podiums and Eric add that several brands that are not Tri specific haven’t really caught up with the PTO hype yet. She will definitely focus on T-100 but said she would probably do a couple 70.3s and maybe worlds.
Athletes will probably have to run through a lot of scenarios and maths this year depending on their bonus structures and we will most likely see several of the T-100 athletes adjust their calendars halfway through depending on where they stand. In that vein, Fred Funk was also explaining on the Triathlon Hour that - not being a true podium contender at T-100 - he would probably make more trying to be on podiums in other series as it sounds like his contracts are more tied to podiums but he just want to race the best.
I’m sure a lot of athletes are in it for the competition and the allure but at some point if you just constantly get your ass kicked you’re probably going to need some reassurance/validation and try another series. Oddly enough, I also wonder if those that will fell towards the back of the T-100 have a better shot at improving their rankings and/or getting a wildcard for next year by doing a few outside podiums even if the point system is clearly favoring the T-100 circuit.
Will be a super interesting year. I’m mostly interested by those that are going to target both the T-100 and 140.6 World championship. Particularly curious to see Sam Laidlow’s season, I really hope for him he gets his Kona dream but it looks like with 2 IM (Vitoria and Kona) + T-100 he’s really “super charging” his season for someone that has an history of being rather “fragile”.
I’m getting really impatient for this season!
T100 California is going to San Francisco and teaming up with Escape!
Looks like the PTO USA race will be Escape from Alcatraz in San Francisco on June 8. Just ran into some road closure information posted by the PTO in my neighborhood in the Inner Richmond in SFPosted by the Professional Athletes Organization Triathlon . . . mmmm who dey OYL
https://www.escapealcatraztri.com/ (on June 9)This would be the worst bike ever to watch! Thank goodness this guy signed up today to tell us!!!After all that, I am not saying (double negative alert) that having the T100 race there, the day before Alcatraz wouldn’t be viable. The bike loop is 18 miles but 5 laps turning at the Palace of the Legion of Honor would fit nicely, and keep things compact (for both tele-visual and road side spectators) with the run below (with sand and steps: I really hope so). And would also meet several of PTO’s requirements: iconic venue, ‘big city’, race for amateurs, spectators on the course, proven RD and org. Starts might reasonably be 8am and 11am for broadcast and spectator friendliness.
Might we assume Renouf’s oft repeated “southern” was an effort to minimise focus on this Californian possibility. PTO will be announcing the venue shortly: in the ProTriNews interview he said (iirc) that there was one more (?city authority) permission to get. Next week, to maintain the PTO/T100 SM dominance/stream of consciousness.OK, I jumped the gun on my negativity - I hate that haha. It definitely doesn’t mean that’s the exact bike course, for sure. Or…Even the bike course? When I try to map it out on strava, that is only like a mile and a half assuming they aren’t going to do the out and backs on each road. Is there somewhere that they could have the swim at say - China Beach? And then you have the outer part the bike course into the Presidio (I think) that they could loop?https://www.instagram.com/p/C3icVIuroKX/
This is super exciting and in absolute opposition to the (IMO often valid) comments about boring PTO courses. I’m thrilled and hope for athletes like Josh Amberger and Eric Lagerstrom to get wild cards there!
To confirm, is the pro race at Escape now gone in favor of the T100 series race? I’m assuming the bike course will be altered as well? The famous steps on the run course…in or out?
This is their biggest pull as an “iconic” venue. As Jose Skipper mentioned in the. comments, “will they butcher the course” to make it “T100” friendly?
This is super exciting and in absolute opposition to the (IMO often valid) comments about boring PTO courses. I’m thrilled and hope for athletes like Josh Amberger and Eric Lagerstrom to get wild cards there!
It will be interesting how they do the course though. I don’t think they are planning on doing the Escape course - would they do the swim? There’s a lot of possibilities but also unsure as to what they will actually be thinking out there as well for the spectating part of the race.
So Kat Matthews will be doing both the IM Pro Series and the T100 series. There’s no doubt though that Nice and Taupo are her A races. It’s gonna be. Pretty tough schedule including two more IMs, 70.3 Estonia, and the 6 other T100 races. I guess she’ll never say it, but it looks like the T100 races will just be mere tune up races or catered training days.https://www.instagram.com/p/C3iHDGhI8ZS/
Is she the only athlete who’s said they’ll try this?
I see Philipp (on her video) has said her A* race is Nice. She has yet to validate her IMWC podium AQ, so that’s an IM before 20 August to add to her load. Same would go for Haug, Ryf (am assuming Knibb will not race Nice but post Olympics concentrate on the T100 and then Taupo; but NB she needs to validate her AQ slot for that before end June). Sodaro will validate for Nice provided she finishes IMNZ.
The IM Series requires 5 scores, with IMs scoring double the 70.3s, the two WCs getting a 20% bonus and only allowed to score 3 x IM in the ‘5 to score’. Matthews could treat Taupo as a “catered training day” or miss it (and the travel) at the end of a long season but that’d leave her with only 4 scores. After Nice she’d know where the other competition sits.
A T100 contract requires the athlete to race 5 times in ‘regular season’ and once in the ‘play off’. But with only 4 to score, for those who can’t (or don’t want to) go all in on every race, an athlete can target key races and afford to drop 2.
Looks like she will just roll with the events ((1) Miami (miss Singapore which gives 7 weeks to) IM Texas, (6 weeks to) (2) SF, and then an ‘easy’ IM between that and (3) London (end July). Tallinn late August, 4 weeks before Nice. Recover (miss either Ibiza depending how rekt, or LV) and then both events in November (Dubai and ME GF) which achieves the 5+1 as contracted.
With an improved swim, Matthews is good enough to place T100 Series top 10 scoring her four best (the requirement for 2025 auto-contract) but controlling (not making) 100% effort every race will be a disciplinary challenge. It also risks undermining her psychological competitive edge when the going gets tough, which it surely will.
To confirm, is the pro race at Escape now gone in favor of the T100 series race? I’m assuming the bike course will be altered as well? The famous steps on the run course…in or out?
This is their biggest pull as an “iconic” venue. As Jose Skipper mentioned in the. comments, “will they butcher the course” to make it “T100” friendly?
Could do a lollipop with loops in in the park, but hopefully they just leave the course alone and forget about the nebulous 100K distance (I doubt that will be the case)
To confirm, is the pro race at Escape now gone in favor of the T100 series race? I’m assuming the bike course will be altered as well? The famous steps on the run course…in or out?
This is their biggest pull as an “iconic” venue. As Jose Skipper mentioned in the. comments, “will they butcher the course” to make it “T100” friendly?
Could do a lollipop with loops in in the park, but hopefully they just leave the course alone and forget about the nebulous 100K distance (I doubt that will be the case)
A flagship event hosted at the famous Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. For sure it will be 100k - I surmise they might make it out towards the outer part of the bike and run course - which seems to be more fun anyways - to keep the Saturday traffic out of anything downtown? Swim at like…China Beach or something? Maybe not - I really wish they would release courses, just like everyone else does lol
Thx for posting that interview. JK’s podcasts are not in my rotation so I would have never listened if not for your post.
I thought it was a good interview. To hear they are going to do an specific anti doping program, I’m very skeptical, but that may be way easier to say they are going to do something than actually doing something (they mention specific in and out of comp testing)….I’m super skeptical on that especially when they are going to do in house and getting other agencies to test….which means testing data sorta gets lost imo.
The Malibu race “issue†against SLT (SuperTri now) is imo the only “black eye†against the PTO (in addition to the long delay in releasing the schedule, 3 months “lateâ€). It certainly created a pto vs SLT dynamic whether they wanted to or not by “financially supporting†the old owner.
I wonder what people mean when they say this. You either contract with the host nation Anti-Doping agency or companies like ITA which are under the WADA code. If you do something else I’m unsure that works. Effectively, you need to go to a WADA certified lab.
I just want an easy to find anti doping testing table that shows when and how often athletes are tested. You can find that on some of the wada sanctioned tests (USADA testing history for example), but I just went to the ITA website to just see how easy to find “testing results”. A search came up with nothing. So I just want an easy to find database, now of course that’s sorta a pain in the ass because you have many of these athletes in federation protocols, tested by other race agencies, etc; but at some point just have an easy to find anti doping test results page, please. Especially if it’s a priority or knotch on your belt that you want kudos for.
I’m just going by what PTN reported that there are 11 wild card slots up for grabs with 3 for the men and 8 for the women. Ash Gentle also mentioned in Jack Kelly’s podcast that she’s skipping Miami. Chelsea Sodaro and Amelia Watkinson are doing IM NZ. Even if you take out those focusing on the Olympics (Duffy, Knibb, Spivey, Van Riel), it’s just weird that the PTO has been hyping the season-long narrative angle the whole time and yet not everyone will be racing in the first race.
It’s a little odd the first race of the season won’t have the big hitters, but I kinda blame the PTO for announcing evening so late. I also think this is being blown out of proportion. My favorite athletes in cycling, NBA, and soccer/football don’t play anywhere near 100% of the games and nobody has any trouble telling a season long narrative.
I’m just going by what PTN reported that there are 11 wild card slots up for grabs with 3 for the men and 8 for the women.//
But I dont think you are. 11 out of 40, unless I just lost all my math skills, is not half, or even near half as you posted here…
And I have some more news for you, there will be no race during their season that has everyone present as you also seem to expect. You use hyperbole wherever you can against this series, do you have some hidden agenda against them? I know there are others here that do, they try to hide it sometimes, but we all know who they are. SO what did they do to get your ire up against the most lucrative pro series ever, in the entire history of the sport?
They have laid out their plans, we know the basics of the contracts of the pros, and there has yet to be one race completed, and you are already disappointed. For me, I’m anxiously awaiting that first race, will be very interested in the wild cards because no doubt those folks will help make the race a little more interesting. And no matter who shows up for their first commitment, there will be a series leader with some narrative going forward to the next stop…
Having 3 US races in the US, for anyone outside of the US puts them at a disadvantage. So whether they skip the Miami race or the SF race, at some point races will be skipped. By default until we get to the later races, the “season standings” will favor the athletes who show up each race and get max points. So by default all the what 11 or so who are “predicted” to skip Miami will be at a “disadvantage” until they reach their max scores later in the season. So the standings will kinda always be evolving and someone like Ajax is going to have to to “T100 math” each week with the +/- or offset points to actually know what the athletes need to do (my brain hurts from doing the GJ/KZ math for the final US ranking spot, so I’ll pass on that math equation, ha; so slightly complicated but not as complicated as the WT standings with 1st year numbers that drop off and then other scores that replace, atleast this is only a half dozen races with the same race weight to figure out).
And I have some more news for you, there will be no race during their season that has everyone present as you also seem to expect. You use hyperbole wherever you can against this series, do you have some hidden agenda against them? I know there are others here that do, they try to hide it sometimes, but we all know who they are. SO what did they do to get your ire up against the most lucrative pro series ever, in the entire history of the sport?
If you just want an echo chamber talk to yourself people can have different views. So far it is only lucrative to 20-40 pro triathletes not sure who else it benefitting lucratively.
I like pto alot personally but I do think it is about to water down our big events every year like you mentioned not everyone always races but we always know which day they plan to be ready for either way.
Now we are seeing some top guys say “ I am using T100 to prep for kona “ that wasn’t what we were sold or what t100 contracted them for ? We were supposed to get the best vs the best every effort but ??? They can’t race that much.
So we may see some half ass efforts to fill the contract rather then go all in everyone in x day like kona 2019 or even 70.3 worlds 2018. Big big lead ups and top talent all ready to go.
Like someone mentioned top pros don’t bring it every game or make every game but they dont miss in the playoffs and finals and now we have gone from 2 playoffs a year Roth and 70.3 worlds with one championship kona too not sure yet???
5-8 regular season games and a weaker 70.3 , championship in kona maybe and Nice should be a championship but some may agree a playoff calibre. T100 final ytbd. They have to stay healthy long enough.
Old day Germany IM , Texas and Oceanside were Xmas day and thanksgiving day game regular season but big hype and matchups
I’m not so sure about this narrative that the PTO has only helped the 20 or so contracted athletes.
They’ve put the top athletes into a new series which leaves more of the money from all of the other races to be shared around the non PTO contracted athletes as there will be fewer top athletes racing IM and 70.3
Added to that there is now the Ironman series bonus.
It’s a win for everyone.
I’m just going by what PTN reported that there are 11 wild card slots up for grabs with 3 for the men and 8 for the women.//
But I dont think you are. 11 out of 40, unless I just lost all my math skills, is not half, or even near half as you posted here…
And I have some more news for you, there will be no race during their season that has everyone present as you also seem to expect. You use hyperbole wherever you can against this series, do you have some hidden agenda against them? I know there are others here that do, they try to hide it sometimes, but we all know who they are. SO what did they do to get your ire up against the most lucrative pro series ever, in the entire history of the sport?
They have laid out their plans, we know the basics of the contracts of the pros, and there has yet to be one race completed, and you are already disappointed. For me, I’m anxiously awaiting that first race, will be very interested in the wild cards because no doubt those folks will help make the race a little more interesting. And no matter who shows up for their first commitment, there will be a series leader with some narrative going forward to the next stop…
Sure forgive me for being far from exact. But 8 of 20 women missing in the first race is for me still a significant number. Obviously, I know that that the athletes are contracted to race a minimum of 5 races plus the grand final so there are bound to be missing athletes in the start lists. But that weakens the appeal of the series if the PTO wants to attract a new audience. If the T100 races are the gold standard events in the sport, why then are contracted athletes skipping some of the events?
In which of my posts have I exhibited a hidden agenda towards the PTO? I’ve watched all their races even the Collins’ Cup. I follow their content on socials and appreciate how they promote the athletes. I want them to succeed and grow the sport. But it doesn’t mean that I can’t criticize how the events are handled. We don’t have to be so polarized on this.
On the narrative, let’s go back to the women’s race. Say Annie Haug wins Miami. The narrative can be that she won because Ash Gentle didn’t race and we’ll have to wait until Singapore to see. So my guess is that won’t stop unless we get to see the highest ranked athletes racing consistently together which the PTO promised.