Triathlons - Value for Money?

[Admin]

This month's poll question is:

Do you think triathlons are good value for money?

We'd love to hear your views...

[JulieMac]

It's cheaper than learning to fly a helicopter!
Is it good value for money? This question is surely subjective. I'd say not all races are and the sport in general can be as expensive as you make it. Once again though this is subjective are you earning a living out of it? Or is it your hobby? Are you a student or millionaire? Do you enter small local races or large prestige ones?
If you're asking pound for pound how much fun/enjoyment do you get when you race? Then yes its value for money, of course if you can spend less when you enter then brill but the end fact is once you're racing nothing else matters. Even if you're having a crap one the race is still your compleet focus. So if I have to pay £35-45 -55 or more when I have the cash to do it I will.

[Rob]

IMUK is £240. Now that is expensive for one race. However, it didn't stop me stumping up my cash plus it's sold out, so I guess it's perceived as good value. Or are you paying for the brand? To be fair having done a IM70.3, you're also paying for superb organisation as I found out at Wimbleball last year. I couldn't fault that & it's not hard to see where the money goes.

I pay up to around £60 for non IM races; although if you do a lot of those in the year it soon mounts up. You have to pick & choose which ones to do, based on price, who's running them & where they are geographically. The forum is a good place to find out whether a race is worth doing or not. The pricing of races is about right; otherwise I wouldn't be entering them!

[runningman]

On the whole no I don't think they are.

The ones that are good value are small club run events & thankfully they are great.

I tend not to race much & just select a few each year, mainly to do with the cost.
Triathlon / multisport is really a white collar sport.
I find the more expensive the slacker the organisation.

I think the BTA / BTF have a lot to answer for in the business model they adopted.

Why can I enter running races for £2, cycling races for less than £5, and go for a swim at my pool for £2.50 but a triathlon £30+.
Why in running & cycling prizes sometimes go down to 10th (cash ones) yet multisport is all about naff goodie bags & t-shirts.

But we don't have it too bad - its even more $$$ in NZ

[mickwood]

As a newbie, rookie, numpty I can tell you that from my perspective it was almost prohibitive to me starting up!
If it wasn't due to the fact I've found a local 'summer series' which is weekly sprint distance costing under a fiver then I probably wouldn't have started.
I think charging £30-£40 for a race is too much and when you have the likes of Liverpool tri charging £60ish then I can tell you I'll not be entering those purely due to cost, which is a real shame because I would LOVE to have entered it as it's my home town, could have returned and had family there to support me! but £60 is just too much for me
I now find myself looking for races based on cost...surely that shouldn't be the case?

[willieverfinish]

Easy answer.

No

Solution - Once you sign up and pay for BTF membership you should be allowed credit to enter 5 races of your choice ( maybe excluding IMUK).

That would take the sting out of the cost. I added up my race fees ( for the races I could and wanted to do) and it amounts to over £500!!!!

I simply can't afford that.... and carbon... and the WAT officer and 2 kids.......

[shadowone1]

as someone who tried and failed to organise a tri then simple answer is no.

My plan was to arrange a tri that was value for money. One thing that i discovered that really annoyed me was the £2 that BTF for those who are not member/insured and then race organisers take £5. Pleasr go do one.

One other thing is the race who don't do chip timing but seek to charge £25- £35 per person for entry. Chip timing costs about £750 plus some other expense. if you have a decent size event then its £5 per person.... so why are not all events chip timed????

At the end of the day because tri is not mainstream then we're forced to make do and thie prob is unless we vote with feet then it will continue

[mickwood]

I've had the very same thought myself! It seems ludicrous the prices charged. I've not even ran my first race yet so I decided against it but if I get into Triathlon like I suspect I will then I have a route sorted and would happily arrange one! Let's start a revolution and create a 'break even' series. Several folks from around the UK who arrange 1 race each, making no profit, then collect it into a series to run throughout the season.

Viva la revolution!!

[genesis]

I'd say yes. Break down the details, the use of a venue, insurance, policing, permits, barriers, pa equipment, timing gear, somtimes marshalls get paid (even if its a brew and bacon bap), security, signs, swim hats, feed stations (admitedly some are supported) etc,etc.

Used to work on a rally team and ran a client on the RAC a few years ago having spent ten of thousands to get to the start line he destryoed the on the first day! Now that is expensive sport.

[welsh auditor]

That's the first time I've heard 'triathlon' and 'value for money' in the same sentence!