Tri America

BBB said:

My town (Louisville KY) is host to one of the Tri America
series of races. Living in the town I thought I'd do the
race. The cost is $85 for an Olympic distance race (+ the
one day USAT license). So $94 dollars for the typical
person. I did the race last year and it is a good race ...
but $94 that seems outrageous. I paid $144 for a 3/4
ironman in Columbus Ohio.

Are they making a killing on this race?

BBB

Of course they are. I bet that right now, the race director
is picking out the color of his new Porsche and deciding
which month to spend on the Riviera.

Mike Tennent "IronPenguin"

BBB said:

My town (Louisville KY) is host to one of the Tri America
series of races. Living in the town I thought I'd do the
race. The cost is $85 for an Olympic distance race (+ the
one day USAT license). So $94 dollars for the typical
person. I did the race last year and it is a good race ...
but $94 that seems outrageous. I paid $144 for a 3/4
ironman in Columbus Ohio.

Are they making a killing on this race?

BBB

It's very expensive to do a national series. In addition to
the normal costs of police-venue-tshirts-etc-etc, you have
to maintain the cost of a truck & driver traversing the
U.S., flying in a crew of 5-15 people, housing them, paying
them, several pre race trips to set up the race, etc, etc.
It's a lot different than doing a local race where a guy can
get virtually all volunteer labor if he's a nice guy and
community minded.

JJ

That makes sense ... but I'm just doing this one race (not
the series). So what I have to burden some of the cost for a
series when I'm only going to participate in 1 race?

Last year the cost was $75 (so a $10 increase in one year).
Also last year it was not obvious that the one day USAT $9
needed to be paid. So when you go to pick up your packet you
get an addition $9 hit (I'm sure it was on their web site
someplace but not obvious like most).

So $10 increase just for the cost of living?

I liked the race ... but I'm not certain I like it $94
worth.

"JJ Waguespack" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

BBB said:

My town (Louisville KY) is host to one of the Tri
America series of

races.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Living in the town I thought I'd do the race. The cost
is $85 for an Olympic distance race (+ the one day USAT
license). So $94 dollars for

the

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

typical person. I did the race last year and it is a
good race ... but

$94

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

that seems outrageous. I paid $144 for a 3/4 ironman in
Columbus Ohio.

Are they making a killing on this race?

BBB

It's very expensive to do a national series. In addition
to the normal costs of police-venue-tshirts-etc-etc, you
have to maintain the cost of a truck & driver traversing
the U.S., flying in a crew of 5-15 people, housing them,
paying them, several pre race trips to set up the race,
etc, etc. It's a lot different than doing a local race
where a guy can get virtually all volunteer labor if he's
a nice guy and community minded.

JJ

In article <fFSEc.7542$MB3.439@attbi_s04>, "BBB" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

That makes sense ... but I'm just doing this one race (not
the series). So what I have to burden some of the cost for
a series when I'm only going to participate in 1 race?

Last year the cost was $75 (so a $10 increase in one
year). Also last year it was not obvious that the one day
USAT $9 needed to be paid. So when you go to pick up your
packet you get an addition $9 hit (I'm sure it was on
their web site someplace but not obvious like most).

So $10 increase just for the cost of living?

I liked the race ... but I'm not certain I like it
$94 worth.

To me, the biggest rip-off looks like the LifeTime Fitness
Triathlon. What, I'm supposed to pay a fortune to do a race
because you've decided to pay $500,000 in prizes to the
pros? $150 for a short course or Olympic race? No thanks.

It may be a very well-run race, but there are lots of well-
run races in that area (and some that aren't!).

--Harold Buck

"I used to rock and roll all night, and party every day. Th-
en it was every other day. . . ."
- Homer J. Simpson

Harold Buck <[email hidden]> wrote:
: In article <fFSEc.7542$MB3.439@attbi_s04>, "BBB"
: <[email hidden]> wrote:

: > That makes sense ... but I'm just doing this one race
: > (not the series). So what I have to burden some of the
: > cost for a series when I'm only going to participate in
: > 1 race?
: >
: > Last year the cost was $75 (so a $10 increase in one
: > year). Also last year it was not obvious that the one
: > day USAT $9 needed to be paid. So when you go to pick up
: > your packet you get an addition $9 hit (I'm sure it was
: > on their web site someplace but not obvious like most).
: >
: > So $10 increase just for the cost of living?
: >
: > I liked the race ... but I'm not certain I like it $94
: > worth.
: >

: To me, the biggest rip-off looks like the LifeTime
: Fitness Triathlon. What, I'm supposed to pay a fortune to
: do a race because you've decided to pay $500,000 in
: prizes to the pros? $150 for a short course or Olympic
: race? No thanks.

Price goes up as it gets closer to the race. I signed up in
January for the Sprint, and I paid $90. Still expensive (to
this newbie) but not as bad as the cost is now.

Susan
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
+++
Susan [email hidden]

"If God is a DJ, life is a dance floor, love is the rhythm,
you are the music." Pink

BBB said:

That makes sense ... but I'm just doing this one race (not
the series). So what I have to burden some of the cost for
a series when I'm only going to participate in 1 race?

Last year the cost was $75 (so a $10 increase in one
year). Also last year it was not obvious that the one day
USAT $9 needed to be paid. So when you go to pick up your
packet you get an addition $9 hit (I'm sure it was on
their web site someplace but not obvious like most).

So $10 increase just for the cost of living?

I liked the race ... but I'm not certain I like it
$94 worth.

The problem with a national series (I also produce them) is
you need to have an average price point that may be higher
than local averages in some venues and even lower in others.
The local costs can also vary widely from one city to
another yet it's difficult to try and price each city
individually and maintain the overall quality of the series.
My only suggestion is if the race was a good one the year
before then spring for the extra few bucks and be a part of
something "bigger" than the average local race. But if you
run the numbers of what it costs to produce this race you'll
see that the race isn't "making a fortune" off that higher
entry fee.

JJ

Harold Buck said:

To me, the biggest rip-off looks like the LifeTime
Fitness Triathlon. What, I'm supposed to pay a fortune to
do a race because you've decided to pay $500,000 in
prizes to the pros? $150 for a short course or Olympic
race? No thanks.

It may be a very well-run race, but there are lots of well-
run races in that area (and some that aren't!).

It's all perceived value. How come athletes will pay double
for an IM brand race that closes out 6 months in advance
when for half the cost they could do another IM distance
race that is not branded. There's a few well run IM distance
races out there at much more reasonable cost that you can
register for virtually on site that don't break 1000
participants. There's a contingent of atletes that value the
media frenzy of a 1/2mil payoff race to enough of an extent
to pay $150 for an Oly race. Apparently the contingent is
pretty large.

JJ