Sunday June 1, 2014 was the sixth running of the Rev 3 Quassy Half Distance Triathlon.  While the race is a quality race with a challenging course, it represented a sad day for the triathlon community.  On April 25, 2014, Rev 3 announced that it would no longer offer prize purses for professional triathletes at its races (in previous years the purse at Quassy was $100,000, $13,000 to first place and paying out 10 deep) — the largest half distance prize purse other than Ironman 70.3 World Championships.  The $100,000 professional prize purse would be replaced with a $4800 “all-comer purse” (under USAT rules if there is a prize purse of over $4999 then the money in the purse can only be paid to athletes holding a USAT elite card.  By using the $4800 number Rev 3 is able to make cash payouts to age groupers).  Rev 3’s announcement was met with little media attention.  Other than an article on Slowtwitch there didn’t seem to be too much reaction to the decision.  For comparison when Competitor Group decided to eliminate pro prize pursues for its endurance running races (including the Rock and Roll Marathon series) there was a great deal of outrage from the running community.

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Rev 3’s elimination of the pro prize purse raises two separate sets of issues — first what does the elimination of prize money mean for the “professionalization” of the sport of triathlon; and second can Rev 3 put on a viable “event style” race in the absence of professionals.  The first issue is complicated.  In a nutshell I think that WTC’s North American monopoly on professional 70.3 and 140.6 distance events is not a good thing.  WTC (unlike say USAT, USATF or other national governing bodies) is a for profit corporation with WTC’s best interests in mind — unlike USAT whose mission is to be a custodian of the sport.  While many times WTC’s and long course triathlon’s interests align, sometimes they do not.  For example, it is in the best interest of triathlon to make it possible for mid level pros to make a living from prize money, thus allowing them to focus on becoming better triathletes rather than juggling being triathletes with being physical therapists, math teachers, investment bankers or whatever other “day job” they might hold.  The more competitive the sport, the more exciting it becomes, which in turn leads to growth.  Conversely it is in WTC’s interest to develop a set of bankable stars that it can trot out for sponsors and pro panels.  WTC doesn’t really care if there’s a really great race for 3rd place.  In addition the larger percentage of the market share WTC controls, the more influence it can assert.  WTC has publicly stated that it is examining the Kona qualification rules to essentially prevent stars from walking qualification races or from participating in non-WTC events (Challenge Roth seems to be of particular concern).  Rev 3 did a lot of support pro triathletes (not just with prize money but with home stays and VIP treatment) and as a fan of the sport its sad to see that end.

While I can speculate on the monopoly issue all day, I can actually speak with a bit of authority on the second issue — whether Rev 3 can put on race with a big event feel in the absence of pros.  The answer from the 2014 Rev 3 Quassy is not yet.  People are willing to travel long distances for a race because it is special.  Special can mean a lot of things (it is in a beautiful location, it offers a particularly fast or challenging course, it has great swag, it offers qualification slots to an in demand event, there is tons of crowd support etc.).   In Rev 3’s case their races were/are special because of a combination of these things.  However, with the elimination of the pro race, Rev 3 Quassy seems to have lost some of the magic.

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First and foremost, there were significantly fewer spectators in 2014 (I have spectated, volunteered or raced at all 6 Rev 3 Quassy events so I feel that I can speak with some authority) which made for a very quiet course for the athletes. Usually the bike in / run out / run finish roadway is lined with people.  If you look at the photo immediately below from 2013, you can get a good idea of what the road looked like.

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This year there were maybe a dozen total people lining the road and three of them were me, Shaun and Stacey (we did our best to create some atmosphere with speakers blaring One Direction).  The photo below (taken in 2014) gives you a good idea what the scene looked like.  For a “big race” that’s not a lot of crowd support.

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In addition to lighter crowds, Rev 3 didn’t appear to execute the overall age group race well.  There was no “elite” wave at the front. The people racing for overall placing didn’t actually know where they stood in relation to other competitors.  The guy who as first off the bike could have been in 10th place, but he just started in an earlier wave.  Without an elite wave it makes it difficult for spectators and other competitors to know where the race stands.  There’s something to say for having the person who breaks the tape be the actual winner of the race.

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In addition to a confusing overall age group race the race itself wasn’t geared towards the age groupers.  Normally at Rev 3 Quassy the race announcer would be filling people in on the pros and having a nice banter with the crowd.  Without pros the announcer literally had nothing to talk about — at one point he said “look a hot air balloon way across the lake.”  With a little planning the race announcer could be given info about age groupers to keep the conversation flowing.  For example when Mary Eggers announces races for Score This she does an awesome job of weaving together facts about people racing with triathlon related stories and trivia, thus keeping the crowd and the racers engaged.  Same thing goes for Rev 3’s social media presence.  Rev 3 is a pretty active tweeter but had nothing super interesting to tweet about on race day because it appeared that the staff didn’t really know what was going on.  Rev 3 owns tons of great AV equipment, why not put it to good use to make age groupers feel like superstars?

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In addition to lacking that something special, it appeared that security was laxer than in previous years.  For example there was no cattle fencing at bike out so spectators were standing in the road where bikers were supposed to be mounting their bikes.  In several instances there were near misses because there was nothing to hold back eager family members attempting to get a picture of their loved one exiting transition.  I’m not sure if Rev 3 reduced its staff, but it definitely felt like there were fewer people who knew what they were doing managing the venue on race day.

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Without the pros there just wasn’t the same sparkle.  With pro athletes comes entourages, sponsors, coaches and teammates.  These are generally people who live and breath the sport (I admit I am a bit of a pro triathlete groupie).  These crews provide lots of hype for the entire race, age groupers included. There’s nothing like a guy in a speedo and a clown wig to get the crowd and athletes going. As Shaun put it, without the pros it just felt like a local sprint, not a big deal event.

In the grand scheme, I feel that there are lots of easy things that Rev 3 can do to make their races feel very special for age groupers. My guess is that they’ll quickly figure that out and implement those changes (I am hoping that there are not financial issues within the organization that prevent making those changes or continuing the series).  Unfortunately in transitioning from a really big money pro race to a age group only race in 6 weeks they didn’t have the time to make magic for race day.

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Kelly Burns Gallagher

mccarter english employment litigator / oiselle team runner / coeur sports triathlete / sonic endurance coach & race director / witsup.com writer / dartmouth '02 / emorylaw '05

2 Comments

Michael Martin · June 4, 2014 at 1:10 pm

Let me provide an alternative perspective. It’s great that there are exceptional athletes, whom we call “the pros” and “the elites.” We love racing with them and against them. I would prefer to have them line up in the same waves as the rest of us. Sport is a great leveling device: we are all endowed with the same body, and we work hard to get the most out of it. Let’s let everyone line up at the same time, and let the results speak for themselves.

    Kelly Burns Gallagher · June 4, 2014 at 3:55 pm

    You line up in waves within your age group so that there is a fair race among all the participants in a given age group. For example at a race like Eagleman the first wave goes off at 7 a.m. and the last wave goes off at 9 a.m. there’s a big difference in race conditions between those two start time. Its not fair to have someone in the 7 a.m. wave “race” against someone in the 9 a.m. wave. Its two completely different races. Putting elites / pros in a separate wave essentially allows for a fair race among the people in that category. On the flip side the greatest leveling device would be to have mass starts at every race.

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