Gross as in his gross salary or the overall costs of the employee? The hidden employer costs in France that the employer pays to the state esp on good earners are insane and huge reason why we lack in competitivenss.
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Yes. France is easily the best country in the world to be a triathlete. Germany is also very, very good. I’ve lived and triathloned for 20 years in France and 10 years in Germany. What’s great? Local racing scenes, volume of events every weekend, club leagues and club culture, pools, lakes, roads. I race 12+ times a season. Since 1989. That’s probably over 300 triathlons. Never done a branded event. Almost certainly never will.
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Ya, all that. Makes no difference to us who we pay it to, and he in particular can live and work in either place.
Ok, if they ran the event with just a different name and everything else the same and they lost money, what changed? I would have to assume it’s the profit taken by the US events company.
Increasing price would backfire because of competition. There are parts of Europe where you can travel to hundreds of events within a couple hours by car or train on any given weekend (and sometimes weekdays) from April to October. That’s just not the case in North America where travel distances are huge, often requiring air travel.
I’m not looking at their books. I just know they bought a company that had existed for 20 years. Ran it with mostly the same people (less executive staff) and lost their shirt in year one and cut out nearly all the events in the next year and are just barely building it back up on the grass roots the last couple years.
I can say from my own business experience, pallet shipping in the EU is way more expensive than the US. I assume the trucking costs are much higher for a big event like Ironman. But it’s really an aside from this topic. Clearly the EU is kicking the USA in terms of event registration. And I don’t think an extra 25 bucks is going to turn enough people off to mean anything other than $1million in IM’s pocket that just arrives a couple months slower.
The flip side of what I’m wondering is how much more could they play with it to reduce slow selling events in the US and elsewhere.
I can see why they don’t want to go that route, as the perceived tactic seems wrong. Airlines play with pricing all the time. There are a lot of choices there. Not the same business, and people get grumpy with price sensitivity discussions. Just curious that clearly the market is snapping up a product quickly in the EU. Which mean it’s priced exactly right at a minimum or too low most likely.
For what, so they can buy a McMansion and fill it with consumer goods?
My wealthy Euro friends all live modestly and spend their disposable income on vacations, exercising more, spending time with family, etc.
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Doesn’t pass the smell test. SOMETHING changed.
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I am in the USA and have looked at lots of race vacations but have never seriously considered any over seas triathlon. I have 6 weeks of paid vacation so it is a cost thing for me, not time. I drive to all my races, if I can, to save cost. I volunteer for race discounts if I can too. Flying over seas in NOT the same cost as driving to Ruidoso, NM for me. I could drive 12 hours to Ruidoso for a fraction of the cost of flying to Europe to race.
I did four Triathlons in 2025. Three of them allowed me to volunteer in exchange for race discounts (and the other one was the only in-state USAT sanctioned Triathlon in 2025 so I paid full price to support the local race and growth of the sport in my area).
If Ironman lowered the race cost for races in the US and raised the cost for races in Europe that would be fine with me. I might actually do another Ironman branded races if the cost weren’t 2-5 times as much and doing a comparable non-branded race. The non-branded 70.3 I did last year was in its 26th annual race. It was on the exact same course as an Ironman Branded races that has only been around for 11 years. The early bird price for the non-branded race was $180 with incremental price increases up to the $230 full price. With my $80 volunteer discount I only paid $100. The IM Branded race on the same course is just over $500. for the general entry . There is no way I could do a comparable race in Europe for the same price as my $100 race that I did volunteer work for four hours from my home.
If money were not an issue I would do races in Europe ever year. I have already drove to 46 of the contiguous states so traveling to a domestic races doesn’t have the same appeal to me as it might have 20 years ago when I hadn’t see all the country yet. I can do the local races now and save my money for other vacations where I don’t have to haul around a bike.
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Ya, they made tons of money and decided to cancel events for a couple years out of spite I guess. They did tell me they lost a million dollars, and it seems to match up with not having events, but oh well.
San Diego to Ruidoso is 800mi. 1600mi of driving is about $0.70 mile when you factor in depreciation, etc. (IRS rates). Thats $1120 between gas and wear and tear. You can dispute that if you like, but I’ll suggest the IRS bean counters have you beat and they want that number to look at low as possible, not inflated.
Time to drive is 2 days worth of driving. Assuming you have 6 weeks worth of vacation, I’m going to guess you’re making at least 100k a year. Lets round down and say every day of vacation is worth $250 to you. That’s another $500.
A flight to Nice, to race a crazy hard, fun race, and have a week in a low cost, fun Mediterranean city will cost you $1000.
I really don’t see a huge difference in cost unless we are going to use uber car sharing math that assume cars just exist in nature and their drivers can make money off an asset without replacing it.
This is exactly what happened with Challenge Penticton. Took over from Ironman and literally the only difference was the name. Same town,same course,same date,same race director,same bloody everything….Bloody steeple couldn’t deal with a non-M-Dot race.
This goes too much off topic but my short answer would be if its about will to reform: so that our children get to enjoy the same benefits we enjoy.
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Only seen once a guy with it quoting Challenge Israman. I was super confused why he got that. Also had an IM tattoo.
JFK to Nice is an 8 hour flight. On a random weekend in July the cost of a seat you would want to sit in is $3,794. That’s if you want to compare the comfort of the seat to the truck you own and would drive to the U.S. based race. Even the main cabin is $1,600 and that is a terrible way to spend 16 hours (round trip)
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As a sidenote, hope there will be an European event series for Age Groupers across (Western) Europe one day. Just few races that you sign up for and make a seasonish long focus, eg 1 race each in France, Spain, Germany and Britain. So much enthusiam for the sport. French Federation has set up a National League system which is also quite fun and incentives to race more local races.
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French races are still affordable and well-organised. I recommend them everytime people complain about Ironman prices.
I earn very decent wages, but I wouldn’t be able to afford such a series with all the travel involved.
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He needs help