End Of An Era
END OF AN
ERA
The writing has been on the wall for years: In a sport driven by amateur participation, pro prize purses are being hacked out of race budgets. So what’s a pro to do? By CHRIS FOSTER : Photography by rich cruse
“I
t’s all about the bike in these races,” Sara McLar-
a bone in my left hand, it was becoming clear that being able
ty leaned in and confided as we scouted the
to handle a bike off road was very important.
swim course a day before the Xterra Southeast
Later that evening, sitting in my $47-per-night motel room
Regional Championships in Alabama.
just outside of Birmingham, with my hand wrapped in ice, I
“Just before the race at Xterra Costa Rica, Lesley Paterson
was seized by the clear conclusion from the last three weeks:
broke her shoulder and couldn’t raise her arm above her head. She did the whole swim with just one arm,” said an incredulous McLarty. “In the ocean.”
I was here to race my first Xterra—and I was totally screwed. But what led me here? Why would I put myself in such harm’s way? My story mirrors McLarty’s. She began Xterra
McLarty, a pro triathlete who also swam at the 2004
this year with almost no previous off-road experience. She
Olympic Trials, crushed Paterson by 12 minutes on the
had raced successfully on the Olympic-distance non-draft-
swim in Costa Rica, before things turned around. “She
ing circuit and made a decent living doing what she loved.
passed me before the halfway point [of the bike],” McLarty
Yet here she was, ready to race through tight trees and over
said grimly. “I think at that race she put 20 minutes into me
slippery roots and jagged rocks. For both of us, racing short
on the bike alone.”
course on pavement had once been so nice and safe. Once,
Apparently injury is part of the game in Xterra. After only
it had been so lucrative. Somehow, over the course of the
10 days on a mountain bike, almost tearing my plantar fascia,
last two years, pro non-draft short-course racing had disap-
injuring my ankle, and—two days before the race—fracturing
peared entirely. But why?
060 : END OF AN ERA
Javier Gómez storming through Miami en route to winning the 2012 South Beach Triathlon.
In 2012, pro short-course racing was at its pinnacle. Life Time Fitness held
Seymour further elaborated that, while there were a lot of factors at play
the Race to the Toyota Cup, which paid out over $500,000. Rev3 had a series
in Life Time’s exit from the pro stage, one of their biggest was the reduction in
of varying distances that offered roughly the same. The biggest monster of
sponsorship money. “We lost Toyota, which was about half a million,” he said.
them all was the Hy-Vee Triathlon, offering $1.1 million at a single event. In-
“It also came down to a decision to shift focus to driving new participants.”
cluding primes, 2012 Hy-Vee winner Javier Gómez took home over $170,000 in one day.
“I asked my marketing team to meet with the pros, to try to come up with a game plan that was a lock on getting new participants into the sport,”
Unfortunately the dream couldn’t last, and Hy-Vee was the canary in the
said Seymour. “The plan that they came up with—the dollar investment
coal mine. In 2013, Hy-Vee abruptly cut their prize money in half. The Rev3
they asked for—I didn’t feel we were getting a proper return.” Seymour said
series was the next to go, eliminating their pro prize money in early 2014. A
his team came back with two presentations. One involved the pros, and the
year later, Hy-Vee changed their focus to children’s fitness events and an-
other did not; he decided on the latter.
nounced the end of their race. Next came the Life Time Series, who eliminated not only their series money, but also the money from all of their pro events: South Beach, Cap-
Though Seymour’s experience with pros was generally positive, it was sometimes a struggle. “It was hard to get some of [the pros] to engage,” he said. “We had to figure out a way to make it worth their while.”
Tex, Minneapolis, Chicago and Oceanside. The only exception was the New
Two-time Life Time Fitness Series champion Alicia Kaye offered a different
York City Triathlon, which retained its prize purse due to existing sponsor
perspective. “I believe my job is to show up and try to win the race,” said Kaye.
agreements. Over the course of 13 years in the sport, Life Time had paid
“If there is something more a race wants from the professionals, spell it out in a
over $3 million to pros. As of March 2015, they would pay no more.
contract and get athletes to sign it. You can’t blame the athletes for the demise
“Sponsors are less and less interested in a pro race and more interested in
of a race if you haven’t been leveraging them in the first place. I think athletes
human interest stories,” explained Kimo Seymour, Senior VP of Media and
are willing to do more, but it would be amazing if a greater effort was made by
Events at Life Time Fitness. “We’re seeing a greater interest from the spon-
race organizers to provide more pre-race and live race coverage so that fans,
sorship side on those everyday stories.”
friends, sponsors, and family can follow along with the event.”
lavamagazine.com
062 : END OF AN ERA
Age-group athletes make their way around Manhattan at the 2010 New York City Triathlon.
Seymour also recognized some of his own team’s shortcomings. “Shame on
ing, ‘Thanks, but we’re out,’ was a terrible way for them to let us know of the
us for not engaging them better,” said Seymour—a sentiment that Kaye echoed.
cancellation,” said Dye. “I actually found out via Twitter initially, but then
“Life Time asked very little of us as professionals at the actual events,”
I checked my email, and I had an email from the marketing person we had
said Kaye. “I wish they had asked for more from us. Looking back, I don’t think any of us truly knew how good we had it. I believe that Life Time was the most professional and fair race series I have ever participated in.” When asked about rumors that Life Time Fitness’ recent acquisition by private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners and TPG Capital (a
been speaking with on the conference calls.” Regardless of how it was handled in the end, Life Time was still the first in and last out. Their series was a mainstay of the professional schedule. Some of the greatest names in our sport won events in the Life Time series and inspired a generation of triathletes.
deal valued at over $8 billion) had anything to do with the decision to
I saw my first glimpse of pro triathletes while sitting on a stained car-
end the pro series, Seymour was adamant. “Unequivocally no,” he said
pet—beer in hand—in a house shared by 11 skinny, stinky college distance
flatly. When asked if there was any cause and effect between the two
runners at Penn State. I had watched our tiny TV as a thin, ripped woman
announcements—made literally days apart—Seymour said without hesi-
somehow beat the best male triathletes in the world. Products of Title IX
tation, “It had no bearing whatsoever.”
bitterness, my teammates and I had cringed as Australian Craig Walton
The final announcement in mid-March—less than a month before the
and former U.S. college runner Hunter Kemper both failed to overcome
South Beach event—was a massive surprise to pro Cam Dye. “The Life Time
the 11-minute deficit created for the men, courtesy of the unfeeling mon-
Series cancellation was a huge shock,” said the three-time Life Time Series
sters they called race organizers. This was the 2004 Life Time Fitness
winner and reigning champion. “At the end of last year in Oceanside, there
Triathlon Equalizer.
was no talk of the series going away. More importantly, I had been on mul-
Two years earlier, in 2002, organizers announced the first Minneapolis
tiple phone calls with Life Time organizers in January and February discuss-
Life Time Fitness Triathlon with a respectable $50,000 prize purse. In 2003,
ing how the series was going to work.”
the purse was increased to the largest ever at that time, $500,000, most of
Dye, along with other top-tier pros Sarah Haskins, Ben Collins, Alicia
which would go to the first person, man or woman, across the finish line.
Kaye and Hunter Kemper, had been involved in conference calls on how to
The series began in 2007, with the inclusion of New York, Chicago, Los
find a solution, and yet Dye was blindsided. “Getting an email simply say-
Angeles and Dallas (U.S. Open) triathlons. Early on, Life Time’s model was to
lavamagazine.com
064 : PULLING THE WIRES license events into their series, but their strategy shifted in 2010 with the
were years when we got full-color photos on the front page of the Tribune,”
purchase of the Chicago Triathlon and later New York City, Miami and South
said Caille. Due to changes within the media, this is rarely the case today.
Beach among others. Their final acquisition was the Boulder Peak Triathlon,
However, back in 1994, ESPN2 did a full-hour special on the heroes of the
an event that, like the Chicago Triathlon, had a long tradition of deep battles
Chicago pro race, which at the time was known as Mrs. T’s Triathlon. Over 60
in the pro field.
pro men and women, including legends like Greg Welch, Simon Lessing, Mi-
According to Barry Siff, former race director of Boulder Peak and current USAT President, even the first year of Boulder Peak had prize money. This year it will not.
chellie Jones and Karen Smyers, raced in Chicago with full-feature coverage. In the opening minutes of the show, the host made a simple statement. “One of the great things about an event like this in triathlon is the fact that
While Boulder Peak had been a household name in pro events for 22 years,
you get amateurs [...] on the same course at the same time with guys like
it pales in comparison to the professional history of the Chicago Triathlon.
Mike Pigg, Michellie Jones, and Karen Smyers. How would you like to line up
The first Chicago Triathlon in 1983 had only 760 competitors. It was won by
with Greg Norman at the U.S. Open?” he asked, and added, “Too bad they
legendary triathlete Scott Tinley, who received $1,000 for his efforts. Since
don’t allow that sort of thing.”
then, the Chicago Triathlon has changed and grown, but for 31 years, it always kept one thing the same: it always had a prize purse.
Unfortunately, for the first time in over three decades, there will be no pro field in Chicago to race alongside. While there are still a hand-
“CAT Sports (the original Chicago organizers) valued the participation
ful of pro non-drafting short-course events in the U.S. (St. Anthony’s,
of the pro athlete,” said Jan Caille, cofounder of the original Chicago Tri-
Escape From Alcatraz, New York City Triathlon, and a few others), tri-
athlon. CAT Sports took the opposite approach to today’s trend, focusing
athletes will have to look at either longer distances or the pro-only ITU
less on human interest and more on the excitement of the pros. “In order
format for inspiration.
for the sport to grow, we needed stories,” Caille recalled. “The best stories were about the pros.”
Meanwhile, back in Birmingham with my broken, bandaged hand and our combined lack of experience, both McLarty and I got our asses handed to us.
This sentiment was echoed by Chicago cofounder Jim Curl. “[We] felt you
Regardless of whether non-drafting short-course pros end up in long-course
needed the best pros,” said Curl. “You needed to create heroes.” In those
racing, in the dirt, or in a cubicle, one thing is certain—a golden era of the
days, an exciting pro race brought valuable attention to the event. “There
sport has reached its end.
lavamagazine.com
LAVA
ERA
The writing has been on the wall for years: In a sport driven by amateur participation, pro prize purses are being hacked out of race budgets. So what’s a pro to do? By CHRIS FOSTER : Photography by rich cruse
“I
t’s all about the bike in these races,” Sara McLar-
a bone in my left hand, it was becoming clear that being able
ty leaned in and confided as we scouted the
to handle a bike off road was very important.
swim course a day before the Xterra Southeast
Later that evening, sitting in my $47-per-night motel room
Regional Championships in Alabama.
just outside of Birmingham, with my hand wrapped in ice, I
“Just before the race at Xterra Costa Rica, Lesley Paterson
was seized by the clear conclusion from the last three weeks:
broke her shoulder and couldn’t raise her arm above her head. She did the whole swim with just one arm,” said an incredulous McLarty. “In the ocean.”
I was here to race my first Xterra—and I was totally screwed. But what led me here? Why would I put myself in such harm’s way? My story mirrors McLarty’s. She began Xterra
McLarty, a pro triathlete who also swam at the 2004
this year with almost no previous off-road experience. She
Olympic Trials, crushed Paterson by 12 minutes on the
had raced successfully on the Olympic-distance non-draft-
swim in Costa Rica, before things turned around. “She
ing circuit and made a decent living doing what she loved.
passed me before the halfway point [of the bike],” McLarty
Yet here she was, ready to race through tight trees and over
said grimly. “I think at that race she put 20 minutes into me
slippery roots and jagged rocks. For both of us, racing short
on the bike alone.”
course on pavement had once been so nice and safe. Once,
Apparently injury is part of the game in Xterra. After only
it had been so lucrative. Somehow, over the course of the
10 days on a mountain bike, almost tearing my plantar fascia,
last two years, pro non-draft short-course racing had disap-
injuring my ankle, and—two days before the race—fracturing
peared entirely. But why?
060 : END OF AN ERA
Javier Gómez storming through Miami en route to winning the 2012 South Beach Triathlon.
In 2012, pro short-course racing was at its pinnacle. Life Time Fitness held
Seymour further elaborated that, while there were a lot of factors at play
the Race to the Toyota Cup, which paid out over $500,000. Rev3 had a series
in Life Time’s exit from the pro stage, one of their biggest was the reduction in
of varying distances that offered roughly the same. The biggest monster of
sponsorship money. “We lost Toyota, which was about half a million,” he said.
them all was the Hy-Vee Triathlon, offering $1.1 million at a single event. In-
“It also came down to a decision to shift focus to driving new participants.”
cluding primes, 2012 Hy-Vee winner Javier Gómez took home over $170,000 in one day.
“I asked my marketing team to meet with the pros, to try to come up with a game plan that was a lock on getting new participants into the sport,”
Unfortunately the dream couldn’t last, and Hy-Vee was the canary in the
said Seymour. “The plan that they came up with—the dollar investment
coal mine. In 2013, Hy-Vee abruptly cut their prize money in half. The Rev3
they asked for—I didn’t feel we were getting a proper return.” Seymour said
series was the next to go, eliminating their pro prize money in early 2014. A
his team came back with two presentations. One involved the pros, and the
year later, Hy-Vee changed their focus to children’s fitness events and an-
other did not; he decided on the latter.
nounced the end of their race. Next came the Life Time Series, who eliminated not only their series money, but also the money from all of their pro events: South Beach, Cap-
Though Seymour’s experience with pros was generally positive, it was sometimes a struggle. “It was hard to get some of [the pros] to engage,” he said. “We had to figure out a way to make it worth their while.”
Tex, Minneapolis, Chicago and Oceanside. The only exception was the New
Two-time Life Time Fitness Series champion Alicia Kaye offered a different
York City Triathlon, which retained its prize purse due to existing sponsor
perspective. “I believe my job is to show up and try to win the race,” said Kaye.
agreements. Over the course of 13 years in the sport, Life Time had paid
“If there is something more a race wants from the professionals, spell it out in a
over $3 million to pros. As of March 2015, they would pay no more.
contract and get athletes to sign it. You can’t blame the athletes for the demise
“Sponsors are less and less interested in a pro race and more interested in
of a race if you haven’t been leveraging them in the first place. I think athletes
human interest stories,” explained Kimo Seymour, Senior VP of Media and
are willing to do more, but it would be amazing if a greater effort was made by
Events at Life Time Fitness. “We’re seeing a greater interest from the spon-
race organizers to provide more pre-race and live race coverage so that fans,
sorship side on those everyday stories.”
friends, sponsors, and family can follow along with the event.”
lavamagazine.com
062 : END OF AN ERA
Age-group athletes make their way around Manhattan at the 2010 New York City Triathlon.
Seymour also recognized some of his own team’s shortcomings. “Shame on
ing, ‘Thanks, but we’re out,’ was a terrible way for them to let us know of the
us for not engaging them better,” said Seymour—a sentiment that Kaye echoed.
cancellation,” said Dye. “I actually found out via Twitter initially, but then
“Life Time asked very little of us as professionals at the actual events,”
I checked my email, and I had an email from the marketing person we had
said Kaye. “I wish they had asked for more from us. Looking back, I don’t think any of us truly knew how good we had it. I believe that Life Time was the most professional and fair race series I have ever participated in.” When asked about rumors that Life Time Fitness’ recent acquisition by private equity firms Leonard Green & Partners and TPG Capital (a
been speaking with on the conference calls.” Regardless of how it was handled in the end, Life Time was still the first in and last out. Their series was a mainstay of the professional schedule. Some of the greatest names in our sport won events in the Life Time series and inspired a generation of triathletes.
deal valued at over $8 billion) had anything to do with the decision to
I saw my first glimpse of pro triathletes while sitting on a stained car-
end the pro series, Seymour was adamant. “Unequivocally no,” he said
pet—beer in hand—in a house shared by 11 skinny, stinky college distance
flatly. When asked if there was any cause and effect between the two
runners at Penn State. I had watched our tiny TV as a thin, ripped woman
announcements—made literally days apart—Seymour said without hesi-
somehow beat the best male triathletes in the world. Products of Title IX
tation, “It had no bearing whatsoever.”
bitterness, my teammates and I had cringed as Australian Craig Walton
The final announcement in mid-March—less than a month before the
and former U.S. college runner Hunter Kemper both failed to overcome
South Beach event—was a massive surprise to pro Cam Dye. “The Life Time
the 11-minute deficit created for the men, courtesy of the unfeeling mon-
Series cancellation was a huge shock,” said the three-time Life Time Series
sters they called race organizers. This was the 2004 Life Time Fitness
winner and reigning champion. “At the end of last year in Oceanside, there
Triathlon Equalizer.
was no talk of the series going away. More importantly, I had been on mul-
Two years earlier, in 2002, organizers announced the first Minneapolis
tiple phone calls with Life Time organizers in January and February discuss-
Life Time Fitness Triathlon with a respectable $50,000 prize purse. In 2003,
ing how the series was going to work.”
the purse was increased to the largest ever at that time, $500,000, most of
Dye, along with other top-tier pros Sarah Haskins, Ben Collins, Alicia
which would go to the first person, man or woman, across the finish line.
Kaye and Hunter Kemper, had been involved in conference calls on how to
The series began in 2007, with the inclusion of New York, Chicago, Los
find a solution, and yet Dye was blindsided. “Getting an email simply say-
Angeles and Dallas (U.S. Open) triathlons. Early on, Life Time’s model was to
lavamagazine.com
064 : PULLING THE WIRES license events into their series, but their strategy shifted in 2010 with the
were years when we got full-color photos on the front page of the Tribune,”
purchase of the Chicago Triathlon and later New York City, Miami and South
said Caille. Due to changes within the media, this is rarely the case today.
Beach among others. Their final acquisition was the Boulder Peak Triathlon,
However, back in 1994, ESPN2 did a full-hour special on the heroes of the
an event that, like the Chicago Triathlon, had a long tradition of deep battles
Chicago pro race, which at the time was known as Mrs. T’s Triathlon. Over 60
in the pro field.
pro men and women, including legends like Greg Welch, Simon Lessing, Mi-
According to Barry Siff, former race director of Boulder Peak and current USAT President, even the first year of Boulder Peak had prize money. This year it will not.
chellie Jones and Karen Smyers, raced in Chicago with full-feature coverage. In the opening minutes of the show, the host made a simple statement. “One of the great things about an event like this in triathlon is the fact that
While Boulder Peak had been a household name in pro events for 22 years,
you get amateurs [...] on the same course at the same time with guys like
it pales in comparison to the professional history of the Chicago Triathlon.
Mike Pigg, Michellie Jones, and Karen Smyers. How would you like to line up
The first Chicago Triathlon in 1983 had only 760 competitors. It was won by
with Greg Norman at the U.S. Open?” he asked, and added, “Too bad they
legendary triathlete Scott Tinley, who received $1,000 for his efforts. Since
don’t allow that sort of thing.”
then, the Chicago Triathlon has changed and grown, but for 31 years, it always kept one thing the same: it always had a prize purse.
Unfortunately, for the first time in over three decades, there will be no pro field in Chicago to race alongside. While there are still a hand-
“CAT Sports (the original Chicago organizers) valued the participation
ful of pro non-drafting short-course events in the U.S. (St. Anthony’s,
of the pro athlete,” said Jan Caille, cofounder of the original Chicago Tri-
Escape From Alcatraz, New York City Triathlon, and a few others), tri-
athlon. CAT Sports took the opposite approach to today’s trend, focusing
athletes will have to look at either longer distances or the pro-only ITU
less on human interest and more on the excitement of the pros. “In order
format for inspiration.
for the sport to grow, we needed stories,” Caille recalled. “The best stories were about the pros.”
Meanwhile, back in Birmingham with my broken, bandaged hand and our combined lack of experience, both McLarty and I got our asses handed to us.
This sentiment was echoed by Chicago cofounder Jim Curl. “[We] felt you
Regardless of whether non-drafting short-course pros end up in long-course
needed the best pros,” said Curl. “You needed to create heroes.” In those
racing, in the dirt, or in a cubicle, one thing is certain—a golden era of the
days, an exciting pro race brought valuable attention to the event. “There
sport has reached its end.
lavamagazine.com
LAVA
