Saturday, 18 December 2010
Being priced out of the sport?
Well I've entered the Vitruvian Triathlon this week. I have a couple of issues with this, the first is timing. We all know that this event will fill completely, we all know it will fill quickly, what bothers me is them opening it the week before Christmas. Why? If its going to fill and fill quickly why not wait until the new year. Not many people have a spare £110 lying around the week before Christmas, but some might have Christmas money they can use to pay the entry. As I said I'm entered but only because I have just sold my old training bike frame could I afford it. This brings me on to the second concern, the price. £110 is a lot of cash for a race. I was reading a thread on Tri Talk forums this week about entry fees for events. I have never wanted to do the Windsor Triathlon, it doesn't really appeal to me, but even if I did I would not pay £87 for an olympic distance race. The cost of entry to any triathlon is getting silly in my opinion and soon I fear that the only people racing will be those that can afford it. The average working man/woman is being priced out of the sport. The thing is that this is only going to continue because the quicker the events fill the more the organisers are going to put the price up and it would seem that it is just becoming about the profit rather than the race. I bet that if you put an Ironman entry fee up to £1500 they would still fill in less than a week? I have some provisional ideas of what I would like to race next year but being able to afford to enter the events and having the money to enter them before they fill up is debatable. I can see me retiring from triathlon due to the cost of the sport long before retiring due to age/injury etc.
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4 comments:
Daz, you are absolutely right, it is simply the law of supply and demand. I find the cost of tri absolutely disgusting at the moment and a shameful case of profiteering but I also understand that if you are running a business then if you can charge an extortionate amount and still sell out then maybe you haven't charged enough!
Tman you are of course correct, just pi$$es me off that i'm only restricted by funds and not ability. Would love to do GB duathlon, GB Xterra and GB Long course next year, got the ability, not got the money. Still smarting about turning down the clearwater slot I qualified for too, maybe its time to let it go!!!
Its been like that for a while; just look that you now have 2 x IM in UK next year, 1 x Challenge series and the outlaw plus a couple of other lower key LD races, ForestMan etc.. £87 for and OD race is as bad as the £50 they are now charging for sprints??? You do have to be choosey about what and when you race now. Daz your point about the Vit opening up Xmas week is spot on!
As Challenge are competing against IM to put on cheaper LD races hopefully someone will start a 'no frills' triathlon series where you can just do what we all would like to do and race!
I am with you Daz. 2011 is going to be a difficult year financially for me (various reasons).. It's frustrating! Considering specialising on TTs. It's onbly £7.50 to enter a race. Problem is, i want to remain competitive in Tri to be able to assault the 50 - 54 age group titles!
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