Looks like total prize purse for 2015 is $5M and they are concentrating it in less events and the other events will be age grouper only. I guess this was in the works for several months based on the quotes in the interview. I agree about creating more meaningful head to head competition which as a fan makes things more interesting to follow.
I think its a great idea. I just posted about the new age group start and was about to post about this as well. As there is there are too many races with watered down fields. I posted earlier about the Steelhead pro field and it’s very thin on the male side.
it is LAUGHABLE that Triathlete can publish a fairly lengthy article and not reference, at all, the efforts of TRS, Dark Mark, and Pay10Deep.
According to the quote from Messick his was in the works for over 6 months. And I believe it. The reason being is that the qualification season for next year’s 70.3 WC’s and KQ are starting this month and next month so they needed to announce this as the qual period starts. The timing of realstarky and this in theory is a coincidence. For example, IMTexas is listed as North America championship with $150K of prize money. That does not magically materialize over a week.
The decision by Ironman seems rational in relation to the number of events. I definitely feel Ironman may have been influenced by TRS, Dark Mark, and Pay10deep. I’m pleased with the decision for now.
Also, I’m sure it has been mentioned before, but I would love to see sponsors contribute to the prize purses as well (ex. "The Zoot Prize Purse of Ironman ____________). If done in a proper manner, I think the sponsors should get a lot out of it.
Also found this wording in the triathlete.com interview interesting as it addresses a lot of the banter in recent threads on ST.
With other race organizers like Life Time and Challenge offering increasingly lucrative prize purses, Messick acknowledges that “if you put on a race with an enormous prize purse, you’re going to get a spectacular field,” citing the recent pro fields at Hy-vee. “We expect that will have a fantastic pro field. The trick is not to do it, the trick is to keep on doing it. We’re relatively conservative about what we feel in the long term is sustainable for a business. Building a triathlon business requires vibrant age-group racing. Spending a lot of money on professional triathletes—for that being able to work in the long term—you’ve gotta be able to connect the pro race with vibrant age-group racing and that has not been consistently achieved over the years.” Ultimately, Messick thinks that significantly bigger prize purses will help elevate the stature of the sport: “I believe that our top tier professional triathletes should be more famous than they are, should make more money that they do and they should have a higher profile among the media, among host cities and age-group athletes. They should be more relevant. How we do that is something that collectively we’ve yet to figure out. But we would like it to happen.”
i am aware that the talks regarding this have been on-going long before #IMLP7th. i am not suggesting that there is any causation. perhaps they sped up their timeline with the announcement a bit, but that’s mostly irrelevant.
however, that they “challenged” WTC is quite news worthy, if only a side-bar. and yet all of the triathlon publications have not made even the slightest reference to it, with the exception of the ST main page (and that article then getting re-written/re-published/stolen by XTri). mostly calling them on shitty journalism.
$5M is the salaries they are paying pros. That’s like paying a 50 person squad $100k each or a 100 person squad $50k each, or a 20 person squad (equivalent to a Protour team) $250K each.
Another angle is how much do Cervelo, Specialized, Scott and others bike brands make off Ironman racing and are they each putting $5M into the jean of the pros? Is their top line revenue from the Ironman market similar to or greater than WTC’s?
What did the midwest do to piss off the WTC? Looks like I fly over country got hosed. Racine is a beating to anyone and their bike. I hope this rotates after a few years as I like to race with pro’s, but I am not going to fly around the country to get a chance.
Good to see them making some changes. What I thought was interesting was that the Pros won’t be able to validate for Kona at any of those races which won’t have Pro purses now. It definitely limits the options for when/where they are going to validate.
Good to see them making some changes. What I thought was interesting was that the Pros won’t be able to validate for Kona at any of those races which won’t have Pro purses now. It definitely limits the options for when/where they are going to validate.
IMAZ is going to be a barn burner, that’s for sure!
We’re relatively conservative about what we feel in the long term is sustainable for a business. Building a triathlon business requires vibrant age-group racing. Spending a lot of money on professional triathletes—for that being able to work in the long term—you’ve gotta be able to connect the pro race with vibrant age-group racing and that has not been consistently achieved over the years.”
I think this speaks to the other post going on that speaks to the number of ironmans. I counted 39 and previously I could name them all and now…not a chance (how is that conservative). I also think the link to age-group to pros in the same race is a draw for many. I think it is cool regardless of how i finish that i race on the same course at the same time under the same conditions as the pros…not many sports offer that.
First. 5 million in 2015 what was 2014 is the same over more races or less $ over more races.
why do we need two races? One of most memorial moments in triathlon was starting right next to Peter Reid. I think the pros have more VALUE when they are in the age group Ironman race not on the same day a the Ironman age group race. Pro/ elite licenses are different for every country but everyone is still just a racer on that day. Age grouper should get a chance to steal money from the pros if they can.
Prize money to just a few races
Interesting it’s just in North America? I don’t think this is a solution. I think long term it knocks people out of the pro ranks before they can excel. ( 60-70 pros show up for 10 money spots ( Arizona) is worse then 3 other races with a $75 prize purse that pays 8 deep and 20 show up to race ( lake placid, Canada, cdl). As long as they ask the same people for their opinion ( subjective opinions for their success) we will get the same problems. ST community just complained about so few pros in the races. Although there are more races then previous there are also many more racers, and high end age-groups who don’t see the jump to the pro level as profitable. People that say only 7-10 pros show up, so what. Look at the splits of top age-grouper over the last 10 years they are doing the same splits as a lot of the pros were but weren’t registered in the pro category.
Basically there is no perfect solution for everyone or anyone, but this favors the top tier ( that’s ok, Ironman wants them in the races) and makes a lot of races much less interesting to attend and watch.
Ironman spectators are
people watching family and friends people that live at the event and can’t go anywhere that daypeople that are inspired and are finding out more about the sport
these people will always be there no matter what, the biggest problem Ironman has is attracting other viewers.
I blame TRS, DM and P10D for some of these changes.
In effect, they pointed out to the masses what was going on.
I know it’s been in the works for a bit but now it looks like TRS, DM, P10D caused a bit of a shift in how WTC operates & that WTC is being reactive.
Hopefully they won’t pay the M & F winner 50% of the total prize money at each race. If they do that I see this failing. Effectively you’d be splitting $75K between 18 people which means 7-10 are going to be making <$1000 based on their current pay models.
Personally I don’t care if there are pros at my local 10K or my local Mdot event. I do care for championship caliber races that there is a pro field.
When I did IM Whistler, I could care less which pros were there. I would have done it anyway. However, after the fact the fact, I checked up Marino’s bike split to see if I finished within 1 hour of him (just did ). It was a nice benefit that there were pros, but not a requirement for my participation. If i go to Whistler or LP, I don’t care which pros (if any) are there. In 2007 we did not have a Men’s pro field at IMLP, only women’s and the race still sold out anyway.
We don’t have a pro field at every local 10k or regional marathon and those races do fine. i don’t see why WTC races need to be that much different. We’re a participation fueled sport like running.
So of the American races it looks like…Coeur d’Alene, Chattanooga, Texas, Arizona have $ next year.
That leaves Wisconsin, Lake Placid, Tahoe, Louisville, Maryland, Florida, Boulder as age-group only. Will be interesting I guess to see what effect that has on, well…everything
So of the American races it looks like…Coeur d’Alene, Chattanooga, Texas, Arizona have $ next year.
That leaves Wisconsin, Lake Placid, Tahoe, Louisville, Maryland, Florida, Boulder as age-group only. Will be interesting I guess to see what effect that has on, well…everything
Also it sounds like Tremblant and Whistler will have money in Canada, but Muskoka will not.
). It was a nice benefit that there were pros, but not a requirement for my participation. If i go to Whistler or LP, I don’t care which pros (if any) are there. In 2007 we did not have a Men’s pro field at IMLP, only women’s and the race still sold out anyway.