“Please now you can come home.”
My favorite part of the off season is the planning. The sitting back and wondering what the next race will be, what will matter, what will the goals be, what at the end of the next year will I want to be able to say I did.
There are also practical considerations. This year for example I needed to lock down my pro card for two more years. It was a goal I didn’t pick but was put on me by USAT (rumor is about 1/2 of pros didn’t make it). There are also other factors to take into account too, mostly money and glory involving since this is kinda a job and all.
The little universe of pros got rocked recently. USAT is forming a pro-organization. Its, very close to being illegal as a violation of labor law in my legal opinion since employers can formed unions because its a conflict on interest. But whatever. More interestingly the WTC is doing the same. They are also charging 750 bucks to join and you still have to pay for some races (clearwater and kona). There is also a bigger change for me. They are only paying out prize money if you finish in a spot with prize money AND are within 8% of the winning time. The practical effect is that spots 6-10 won’t get paid and the WTC will pocket the money. I get the motive there, the WTC is profit driven (greedy). Here is the last of the 3 changes that I don’t fully get. They cut the number of spots for Clearwater and Kona by more then half for pros. Also you have to be within 5% of the winning time. Normally only the top 2-3 are within 5%.
So here is the thing. I did ironman brand races because, I win money, I want to qualify for world championships and they were free. The WTC’s rules change means they are not longer free (750 bucks), winning money just got a lot harder, and going to kona/clearwater is almost impossible.
Interestingly Rev3 (www.rev3tri.com) just made there first ironman distance race. They promised to pay all of the prize money, which is over double that of most WTC races ( and non of that 8% b.s.), and entry is free. Plus they are helping pros with a little money which cover other costs (travel ect…) Rev3 also puts on a SICK show. Their half was considered as good or better then any other race. It is run by a pro Heather Golnick and owned by a great guy, Charlie. Its the opposite of the “evil empire” feel of the WTC. With a half in June and a full in Sept it sets up nicely for the backbone of a season.
Here the conflict: I wanted to race two ironmans next year. I am not really good a halfs and the WTC has so many races that you can do a ton of halfs and full ironmans (all for one time cost of 750 bucks). ALSO everyone I know is going to Ironman Lake Placid. I really wanted to do IMLP. I love the race, it had a softer field last This would also allow for a second later peak for one of the later ironmans like FL, AZ or Cozumel. Also, WTC owns Ironman, and that still has value. People notice a top 10 at a WTC ironman. While rev3 has no shortage of effort in getting their race press, its not YET as big. Though if the WTC keeps screwing around with pros (and age-groupers) it won’t take long for rev3 to become a huge deal.
There is good here. For one the creation of a uniform fee means no more dealing with individual race directors and with the WTC for free entry. This year it was this annoying process of seeing if you could get into races free. I didn’t know if I was into ironman Louisville until mid july. Its very hard to plan a year that way. Also they are doing doping controls for pros, which is needed. So for 750 bucks thats a lot of peice of mind in terms of planning out a calander and knowing some of the doping might be curbed. Also I can now race free internationally. Prior to this move race directors in the EU use to want me to pay entry fees which was one of my big reasons for not going to some races. There are a few awesome events that I might try now like IM Lazarote, Nice, and UK.
Its also awesome that Rev3 is coming into the game in a big way. Having the choice between two good series is amazing. Ironman keeps mess things up, and allowing for other races to compete. Their constant penny wise pound foolish approach allowed them to go from the only race series on the block to one that is under attack globally with Quelle Challenge in the EU, Rev3 here and a new series headed by Faris.
So its not a bad time to be a pro despite the WTC trying to grab money from us and excluding most of us from there two big events.
In my head as I break out the two choices, one seems to be all (or a lot) of WTC events. After all, if I am gonna pay the 750 I am gonna get my money’s worth. The other is all NON WTC races. This is Rev3,Wild Flower, American Zoflinger (maybe) and a few others. Honestly, I am not sure at this point what I am going to do and thats a little weird.
(Christine aka holisticguru on a hike before I did some mindful over eating of pie on Thanksgiving.)
Great picture. mbs
Interesting moves from WTC and USAT. Any clue why they put the 8% rule into action? Just trying to pinch pennies, or encouraging the top 10 to be even more competitive?
I’m not sure if they’d even bat an eye if they had a few less pros turn out to every race, but if a bunch of pros banded together and publicly stated their intent to be non-ironman focused (even if it was just the 2010 season) it could be interesting. There are probably enough quality non-WTC half/full ironman events out there, especially with Rev3 taking ‘em on, to have a successful season completely without them.
Would be cool to see what happens if some others join the bandwagon with you.
MBS: thanks, was getting in touch with my inner Marcia.
I think the top 6-10 wont try to go faster just because they might miss out of the money, I think everyone is pretty much maxed out in terms of effort. I think its a WTC money grab. If they wanted to make it more competitive they would redistribute the money to those that won money.
I also think the WTC is in danger of not having enough pros at ironman. IMLOU had 4-5 female pros a few times. IMLP only has 10-15 I think for the men this year. Also USAT is cutting the number of pros this year by what is rumored to be about 1/2 with the “requalifing rule” which it seems many wont be able to meet since its set very high.
I think that a Union for pros would be great. But I also think its not all or nothing. I think Rev3 has gotten a ton of pros and will continue to make ground against the WTC. Combined with an awesaome “athlete-first” attitude it reminds me of the old days when NAS ran the show.
Don’t forget June 27th, the Damtri. Free entry to all CREW athletes/coaches
YES. that is THE BIGGEST RACE OF THE YEAR!
Tell that girl with the pooch to be careful off all them branches out there! (They’ll get ya every time)