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August 02, 2005
Too much of a good thing?
That's what you have to wonder when you look at the current half iron distance event calendar. I think it would be safe to say that the number of half iron distance races in the U.S. has doubled in the last five years. A few years earlier there was a boom in iron-distance races. Often race promoters assume that if official Ironman events can fill up in less than 24 hours and turn several thousand athletes away; those athletes are going to want to race another iron-distance race somewhere. That may be true, but I would guess that 80% only want to race an official Ironman race, not one of the independent races. With the exception of the Great Floridian, none of the independent U.S. races have yet to break the 500 participant barrier. Most are still attracting less than 300 athletes. It is not because of the quality of the events, it is because they are facing the most powerful brand in the sport at this time. I know if you gave me the $1,000,000 budget that many official Ironman races have to work with, I could easily produce an event that would rival their’s.
Following the growth of half iron-distance races came the U.S. Half Championship Series. This was the brain child of Mark Livesay of UltraMax fame. He brought a dozen or so independent races into the fold all qualifying for his series. Seeing how he owns the designated championship race, I'm sure this was more of a marketing ploy to attract additional athletes and attention to his race. It certainly does increase the exposure in all of the races, yet qualifying does not mean much when you can also enter the same race on your own without racing one of the qualifying races. The series also created some confusion in the market place by calling itself the U.S. Half championships. Some athletes thought they were qualifying for the USAT National Long Course Championships and did not realize they were qualifying for a self proclaimed national championship.
It looks as if the 70.3 series is doing the same thing. At first when WTC, the owners and producers of the 70.3 series, announced the 70.3 Series I thought they would be creating new high profile destination events in the U.S. After reading the WTC's most recent media release, it appears as if they are just copying what Mark has done with his U.S. Half Series. They are banding together several existing races under the 70.3 brand. Races like EagleMan, VineMan, and Buffalo Springs are carryovers from the old Ironman Qualifier system and the other two U.S. races were already Ironman Licensed events. I understand their strategy now. Because you can only race their self proclaimed world championship event in Clearwater by qualifying at another 70.3 event, it is important that they get as many events as possible in the 70.3 feeder system. If the series offered Kona slots, athletes would trip over each other to enter, but no kona slots are being offered in the 70.3 series.
Two of the new events just added to the 70.3 series are the Stealhead Triathlon in Michigan and the Dannonman Half in Lake Stevens, WA. These two events have nothing to lose by being part of the series. Steelhead had less than 400 finishers last year and the Dannonman Half did not even have 100 finishers.
Clearwater is not Kona, and it will take plenty of marketing hoopla, along with some smoke and mirrors to make into a high profile triathlon destination. It may take even more than that as we enter into a cycle of increased hurricane activity. Most late season storms develop in the Gulf of Mexico.
My personal opinion is that the 70.3 series in its current format will only dilute the existing market. There is nothing new and exciting about it, it is just big corporate America at work.
Posted by Fred at August 2, 2005 03:49 AM | More in: Triathlon