Can somebody pleeeeeazeee tell me? I started to see more and more these “elite” teams around. Team members chosen by the coaches, they get sponsorship discounts but they still pay some sort of “dues”. is it the new name of Tri Club to the snob aholes? Some are even slower than me! I mean I am SLOW! I was in Denver area recently met a group (no names!) of athletes from an “elite” team. Here is the structure… they had 2 almost pro level athletes with 4:15-4:20 HIM results. Rest was mediacore arond 4:30-4:40 but the majority of the team was not even in the top age grouper status yet they were snob as they have won a race. I mean the dude is 34, he can swim but boy that sub 25-30 min swim is worthless if you bike 2:30 and run 1:45
Me starts to think it is a nice system. Create an “Elite” team… pick 2-3 athletes who can show your name on the results and supply gear and training to them. get additional athletes and offer the similar training to them with a fee… Everybody wins! Coach makes money and supports his athletes and rich-once-a-college-athletes brag about their elite status
BTW Colorado is a very cool place but please… It is f$%* cold for a triathlete!!! Anyway be back in the rockies next week.
I cannot quote triathlon, but for cycling, in the USA, we have TEAMS and CLUBS
no “in between” status
a TEAM is a UCI registered professional outfit, continental team
a CLUB is everything else
in many cases, TEAM and CLUB racers race together in P1/2 races
many clubs have “teams” but in reality, they are sponsored squads of a club (e.g. my “team” is simply a squad on my club that gets free stuff, etc, to wear the colors on race day)
Perhaps that’s the answer, Gary…here in the US…“teams” must be registered with USAT…meeting all the prerequisites. All else would be clubs.
Anyway…its a fine point by Swimfan…that there seems to be no particular standard for determining the level of competition a particular “team” brings to the table.
Even weekender softball has a lettered tier system for assessing “teams”.
You really think 4:30 to 4:40 for an age grouper is mediocre?
jaretj
Yes if they think they are elite.
When somebody says they are an elite athlete (Not an elitist a-hole…) I would think top 3 of an age group. Yes in a race when top age groupers are 4:10-4:15 yes it is if you try classify yourself above the rest.
I just remember the jack ass who was asking elite running/training groups in NYC couple of months ago. He thought he was elite too somebody pulled his results and it was pretty funny.
Our local club is a club, participants at every level. I am member of the club but I am also a member of a local team where I had to apply, interview, etc.
So, ya, there are clear differences. The woman who got 3rd OA at IM Wisconsin is on our team. There are 3 girls and about 7 guys. One of the guys was a 5 time All American at Arkansas and is a machine and is doing tris now… he’s a 2:28 marathoner and a 1:08 half marathoner…he’ll hit elite on the tris soon. My goal is to get there… so, maybe our time is elite and potentials… who knows… other than being registered and such as a “Team” instead, I guess you decide what kind of athlete you want on the team.
I was thinking the same thing … maybe on a Florida course! 4:30 is pretty fast for an AGer on a “regular” course.
Look at the results on Muncie, Steelhead etc. Age groupers are getting fast. it is no suprise to see a few age grouper finish ahead of pros once and then in some races.
Hey Bitter Swim Fan, who gives a shit. There are pros out there doing 13 hour IM’s and 2:15 Olympic Distance Tris…good for them. All the more reason to train harder and kick their ass. BTW, very few age-groupers do 4:10 and you can’t count Clearwater. If they do 4:10, they usually do go pro very soon after. Doing 4:30 in one of the hardest AG’s 35-39 will almost always get you top 10…and yes, that is Elite. However, in running alone, I would consider under 31 minute 10k being Elite for males.
I don’t agree. The 4:10 to 4:15 crowd is elite but not common among all age groups.
For instance, at Muncie, (a bigger race but not huge) the winner of the Men’s 40 to 44 age group went near 4:30. The 35 to 39 winner went near 4:15 while the second place was near 4:30. Steelhead was a duathlon this year so everyone’s times were 15 to 25 minutes faster than normal.
To have an elite team among all age groups you can’t expect to have everyone at 4:15 or lower. There aren’t that many people around to create many teams like that.
Now if you define an elite team as just 5 or so people then you could get that quality of athletes. With a team that small, why would anyone sponser them for just a few races a year.
The sponsers may feel that having a bigger and broader team among age groups with get their products noticed. Why would I care what a 30 year old race winner is using since they could use anything and go fast.
Now if you use a guy that regularly runs a 4:25 in the masters age group, people might say, “That guy is fast but not unreachable, I wonder what bike or nutrition he is using.”
That is the reason I think you are not* seeing all super-fast people on an elite team.
The real issue is not what they call their team (elite), but how they act. We should all just be nice and have a good time. Acting any other way is bad for the sport and does none of us any good. It seems to me one should be part of a team or club if it helps them and they enjoy it, but don’t talk down or act like an @ss to those who are not part of your group. Life’s to short, just have fun and push yourself.
