#75: Triathlon is not a global sport
Presented by Precision Fuel & Hydration
issue #75: Feb. 21, 2024
All-sporters, sorry this is a little later than usual. It was a three-day weekend here, and I’m still a bit behind and catching up.
I also told my husband I was going to write a newsletter that just said: I TOLD YOU SO. And he thought that would go well.
I do feel like I should say this, though: While this newsletter is mostly analysis and commentary (or the trend that needs to die, “takeaways”), I come from a journalism background and I still spend half my life in a real newsroom. Certainly I make mistakes—definitely misread start lists and one time I typo’d “billions” instead of “millions”—but when I write something here as a fact it’s because it’s backed by reporting and talking to people and reading documents. So when I say I think the PTO race is going to be at Alcatraz or supertri has more U.S. announcements coming or the only woman in the top 17 who isn’t on the T100 athlete roster wasn’t offered a contract, it’s because those things are true. Or, in short: I told you so.
Now, of course, today’s newsletter is actually mostly my opinion 😂
But first, I did put together this past weekend for paying subscribers (and am now opening it up for everyone): A Detailed Accounting of How Much It Really Costs to Do An Ironman
- Kelly
Triathlon is actually deeply regional
This is something I was thinking about last week when I heard the New York Triathlon wasn’t going to be able to go off this summer because of New York details and New York date availability and New York logistics (more on that in a second). It was something I was thinking about as the PTO waited for San Francisco to approve the changes to the Alcatraz permit, and as everyone tried to understand what the heck happened in Malibu.
The reality is: Triathlon isn’t a global sport; it’s actually a very very local sport. It actually depends deeply on the specifics of local city officials and local conditions and local infrastructure and clubs and connections.
How many times has a big race organizer (yes, sure, often Ironman) bought a local race and then misunderstood the specifics of that location? And then they move the swim to the side of the lake that always has algae and mud issues, or they move the event to a date when everyone could tell you the odds of severe weather are high. How often do you sign up for a race because you hear about it from a local friend or club or you see it on your local news or in the local newspaper? Almost always.
I think sometimes we forget this. I think sometimes, because the people who make these decisions often operate at a sort of global elite level, because they have more in common with each other than with a specific place or community or neighborhood, they forget how much quirky specificity matters. It’s easy to wipe away all the friction inherent in the local-ness of our sport and turn it into an efficient cookie cutter beige — and maybe that’ll make the sport as a product more digestible everywhere, I don’t know — but we forget that sometimes the friction is actually the point. The friction is where life happens. And if triathlon becomes frictionless then it really is just an exercising competition. And that’s not fun.
I studied economics in college, not psychology, but I’d venture to guess that part of the reason trail running and gravel riding are growing (and Swimrun probably) is because they’re reintroducing some of that friction back into lives that are otherwise frictionless. If you’ve been following a kind of bubbling up sentiment on the edges, there’s starting to be more and more pushback against how efficient and the same we’ve made everything from Airbnbs to websites to coffee shops to branding to food delivery. Sometimes the whole point is actually for it to be different and complicated and messy and local and specific.
Which brings us to the news this week.
As someone who used to write a lot of strategy memos, I’m not sure that people care as much about corporate rebranding as the corporate rebranders think they do, but it’s still often useful to understand where those companies think things are going. With the Super League rebrand to supertri this week, on the heels of the PTO rebrand to T100, I think there’s a lot you can read into the glossy packaged future that’s being envisioned as the rich guys swap assets around.
I actually quite like Super League/supertri. I think they have the best shot at succeeding in the current marketplace, because they offer something truly different that fills a hole and they have a business model with multiple revenue streams with a shorter runway to profitability. They’ve struggled to understand some of the messy specifics of building a mass participation business in the U.S. but I think there are more announcements coming and they may sort things out as we come out of an Olympic year. Or, at least, they better.
I’m racing a 50K this weekend, and have been testing out whether I’m going to rely mostly on Precision’s chews or gels — which are just the right consistency for easy getting down while running (which I’m quite picky about) — or if I’ll go wild and put a Flow Gel in a flask. I’ve also been medium working on training my gut, with the help of the PF&H team, because I am not amazing at it — so I guess we’ll see how that goes! Get your own consult here and 15% off your first order here.
Races & results
Challenge Wanaka: Kyle Smith led an all New Zealand podium, and Els Visser topped Bec Clarke and Laura Siddall. And now, like half of them are getting ready for Ironman New Zealand next weekend.
Upcoming races
WTCS Abu Dhabi: Start lists are officially out/finalized — I definitely made the mistake last week of looking at the old list (new list: men & women). And, interestingly, Gwen Jorgensen is on the list and Katie Zaferes is not, which only super matters in the rankings as we move towards the final Olympics auto-qualifier for the U.S. later this spring.
This weekend is also the Winter Triathlon World Championships (if you wanted to know) and the first World Cup of the year in New Zealand.
New York Triathlon: Yes, it got canceled for this summer. My understanding (which was also what Triathlete reported) is that the city offered Super League one date in July, what with tides and other events. That date (as opposed to the September date) is both super problematic for extreme heat — NY hasn’t had a full race go off without weather issues in years — and it’s the same weekend Super League now has the Legacy Tri in Long Beach. No, I don’t know if the event will change hands before next year or if it’ll move or come back.
PTO T100 San Francisco: Yes, it’s officially attached to Alcatraz. No, there won’t be another pro race. And no, the pros won’t actually do the full Alcatraz course — they’ll do loops of some kind. And, despite the confusing dates listed, the T100 race will be on the Saturday, June 8, with the regular age-group race on the Sunday, June 9. Per my understanding.
PTO T100 Miami: I’ve heard from a couple of athletes about getting wildcards, but no word yet on the full start list in two weeks. Reminder: Of the 20 women & 20 men on the T100 roster, they only have to do 6 of the 8 races in the year (and less if they’re racing the Olympics), and so the rest of each race will be filled with one-off wildcards. We know that the three women + one man racing the Olympics won’t be in Miami, plus at least Chelsea Sodaro and probably Lucy Charles-Barclay.
Ironman Pro Series: Schedule is out for the rest of the year now.
The -ish
The rest of the news you should know about from around our sports this week.
Ironman announced the 2025 world championship race dates (which apparently was surprising to some people for some reason): Men in Nice - Sept. 14; Women in Kona - Oct. 11 (Ironman)
Supertri also announced a one-day e world champs in London (formerly Arena Games). (supertri)
There’s a new Slovakia race on the Xterra World Tour—which is quite expansive this year. (Endurance Sportswire/Xterra)
Apparently it’s also now a thing for the pros to announce their full year’s race plans because of the whole competing pro series thing: Kat Matthews is officially going for both the IM Pro & PTO T100 series (!), Sam Laidlow is unshockingly looking for his Kona win in addition to “doing” the PTO T100 races, and Patrick Lange is committing fully to the Pro Series. (Instagram/Triathlon Magazine)
The U.S. National elite and para-elite teams have been announced. (USAT)
Mary Cain has filed with World Athletics to now represent Ireland. No, I don’t know why, but there’s a whole LetsRun thread theorizing that it’s about taxes — which I don’t feel like linking to because that whole site is a dumpster trash fire. (Irish Times)
There were two age-groupers busted for doping recently: one Brazilian guy that ITA/Ironman announced and one British guy that UK Anti-Doping announced (and, it sounds like, whose girlfriend turned him in). (ITA/UKAD)
The big trail running season kicked off with the Tarawera 100 this weekend, which was won by Ruth Croft and Daniel Jones. In triathlon news: Beth McKenzie got second. In other triathlon news: Ashley Paulson (who used to race as a pro triathlete) won the USA 100-Mile Champs. (iRunFar/Instagram)
Both Beth and Ashley have previously served doping bans that they say were a mistake. And, evidently, the trail running world is quite worked up right now about doping bans because Stian Angermund, who won the Golden Trail Series and the Mountain Running World Champs, announced last week that he tested positive for a diuretic. (NRK)
This past weekend was also the USA Track & Field Indoor Nationals. Big news was probably Noah Lyles v. Christian Coleman. Though Allie Wilson’s excitement after winning her first national was adorable. (Citius Mag/Instagram)
Just because I *love* in the weeds insanity: World Athletics is considering changing how long jump is measured to count from wherever athletes jump off instead of needing to hit the board. People are not happy. (CNN)
This new Youtube channel of just pro runners’ workouts is getting a lot of attention. Watching people workout is 1000% not my thing, but there you go. (Youtube)
Magnus Ditlev’s Youtube of training is evidently getting in people’s heads, though. (Youtube)
I’m meh on the name, but have higher hopes for the new podcast from Emma Pallant-Browne, Imogen Simmonds, and Amelia Watkinson. (Triathlon Hour)
If you want more on women’s sports generally, I do a weekly The Feist newsletter. (The Feist)
Vegas is going to build the world’s largest indoor track. And this isn’t new but I just was reading about it: The elite private athlete boarding school in Florida was sold to a Chinese private equity firm. (Endurance Sportswire/WTSP)
I’d never heard of Wandrer before, which is like Strava except for new routes, but it actually sounds kinda cool. (Tom’s Guide)
And this is the best explanation of zone training ever: “Zone four is quite hard – you don’t want to do it without good cause. It’s the correct pace for a 40km time trial that you’re not too bothered about winning, but where you want to avoid embarrassment. Zone five is for when you actually do want to win and you don’t mind spoiling your afternoon to manage it.” (Cycling Weekly)
Would you take this deal: A random American gets picked, anyone in the whole country, and if you beat them at a one-mile running race then you win $1 million, but if you lose you die? Personally, I’d want to know if the other person has the same deal and if they know what your deal is, because that changes the incentives. But, still, I’d probably say no: While there’s a 99.2% chance statistically that I’d beat them, I don’t opt for things that have that close to a whole number percent chance of death. (Twitter)
One last thing
“I’m a Black triathlete, of course there’s a 50-50 chance my photo shows up in the race recap.” Click to watch the full thing 😂
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