So I want to guage interest and structure for this…so slowtwitchers help me out here please.
I’m RD of a new long course (half distance) and I posted info and discount code on Notices page (Surf City Challenge Long Course Tri). Because we are not doing wave starts (modified mass start with seeded swim time entries) it sparked an idea for me to have age groupers, collegiates, and pros do a kind of a shoot out to see who gets to the podium. I know there’s a lot of fast AG folks can, or think they can who beat an elite.
It’s a first time event so my monetary resources for prize money are limited by two things: USAT rules say keep it under $5000 without having it flip to an elite race with a required separate start, and quite honestly the acess to $$s. Especially for a first time event that’s a hard nut to crack.
So I’ve thrown this out to the elite community - that I need at least 3 of each gender to buy into some really good fun at claiming podium spots. I’ve offered a combined $3K of prize money for elites for the top 3 spots, appearance fees in reality since we don’t have resources for a huge prize purse. Our awesome sponsors TriSports.com and Rudy Project have stepped up with great prizes for the non-elites who hit the podium and potentially take any top 3 spot.
Should we consider using some of the money that keeps us under the threshold and handing that out to the collegiates and age groupers who podium as well? One of our thoughts is to provide money in terms of refunded entry fees to offset costs for the race? That helps to make the prize equitable with the elite cash that is given.
Just as a caveat, I have always firmly believed that prize money should only go to elites with the appropriate license. I would not necessarily call this prize money for amateurs because I don’t really think that’s correct, but I do want to provide some great incentives for people to come to the event.
On the other hand…if I happened to have an windfall of sponsorship dollars I would certainly up level the elite prize money as well and figure out how to structure the age group/collegiate awards
Surf City Challenge Long Course Triathlon — has nothing to do with the Challenge Family…and trademarked and announced before any other half ironman challenge races in the US.
I think you will definitely have to up the prize money for pros to show. Most pros seasons that do long course are planned out already focusing on getting to 70.3 Worlds and Kona or Rev3 championships etc. You want pros to come, race all out with age groupers for their money and then into the necessary recovery time before building up their training again for a combined purse of $3K? That will barely cover travel, nutrition, hotel, etc. Doesn’t seem worth it.
“I’ve offered a combined $3K of prize money for elites for the top 3 spots”
I actually have 5 locals already committed and I would love to have $10K of prize money. Did you know that the Patco NA championship only has $7500. That’s really sad!
Just FYI we do a local grassroots race in it’s 9th year with a $5K prize purse. Clearly in my third tier market we are not getting big sponsorship bucks but I also think that every little bit helps support the local elite athletes and anyone who comes to race benefits from a well produced and fun event. It would be nice to be able to give what LifeTime Fitness gives, or to attract huge money sponsors. That however is not the plight of the local independent race directors.
On the other hand, we could just pocket the $5K but we choose not to do that in support of the sport. When I looked at the total prize money on most of the PATCO events I was shocked to see such small prize amounts.
I never understood what was wrong with giving prize money to AG’ers. In bike racing, everyone pays a fee to enter, like tri. However in bike racing the top few spots get a bit of that money back. When I won my first tri race I was sort of surprised not to get anything back. I kept racing and if I really cared I would have read the flyer before hand. Nonetheless, I think it’s fun to have money on the line. I haven’t done too many races with pros/elites though.
I am confused here on what you are trying to do. You want to offer prize money, but you only want to pay the “License Holding Pros”? Are because it is under $5K you are going to have an Elite/Pro wave that AG’ers are eligible to enter and they will be eligible for that prize money, correct? I was just confused by your statement with product for any “non-elites” that hit the podium.
I just did a race this weekend, the Tri Tyler Half, in Texas and they had $4,999.99. Anyone that wanted to could enter the “Elite” wave and race for the prize money. It paid 3 deep to both men and women, first 3 guys were pros and top female was a pro while the other 2 were AG athletes I believe.
If you are going to put up less than $5K in prize money I know AG’ers are eligible for it by USAT rules, but I do not know if it is required for you to let them race for it. My opinion, if you are putting up less than $5K, let the AG’ers race for it, you might draw out some more athletes that way. Give the pros complimentary entries and find them homestays if traveling in to offset their cost since you don’t have a big budget. Just my 2 cents.
good point…I need to decide if I give AG/Collegiate the money too, or if we restructure the payments, etc. That’s the whole point of my post - trying to collect the input on how best to do this, what other races have done, etc. How other races have handled money for age groupers, etc.
There are no waves…it’s seeded based on swim time so there’s no signing up in a special wave. My guess is we will have a split podium between pros and non-pros and I want to be fair to everyone. So far I have $600/$500/$400 plus merchandise for the winners. Would love to make the prize purse bigger but with a first time event I’m not sure I can afford it without a sponsorship because we are paying for this.
For safety reasons we have determined that it needs to be general non-drafting AG Rules with no stagger on the bike course and we’ll stay under the $5000 cutoff for having to have a separate elite wave. On the other hand, if we get more money we could establish an elite wave and still provide any winning age groupers with some great prizes.
Can you do a 10-20 “elite” wave? Or is it impossible to have that many people start at once? If you can then you cap the “elite” field at XX amount. Your discretion on who gets into the wave.
Anyone in that wave is eligible for prize money, pro, non-pro, clydsdale, athena, if they are in the wave and they beat the pros they get paid.
Consider going 5 deep and doing merchandise only or free entries next year for 4th and 5th, along with top 3 on entries.
AG rules apply since it is under $5K, that is my understanding. So the new pilot helmet rule is void for any event under $5K, there is no stagger rule for pros in WTC races, it is 1mX10m I believe.
The race I direct has $3700 in prize money. Small local tri in Canada.
One wave for all to start regardless of status. Whomever crosses the line in the top 3 (or 5) gets the cash. If an AG beats out an Elite/Pro they deserve it.
If you don’t want that situation set up separate waves.
Brad…not doing waves - no separate wave start! A seeded swim start means that 95% of the fastest people can seed themselves into the water first anyway.
But we could ask people to declare for top prizes. Good idea on the 4th and 5th getting the non-monetary prizes.
Just FYI the under $5k money does not require that it go to everyone. It’s at the Race Director’s discretion, and it just says that non-elites are eligible if you want to make the money available. What I’m hearing is that it’s an attractive option. We don’t have any races in our area that have done that have done that so maybe we’ll start the new trend!
Ahhh alright, well I thought you were doing like a Louisville start where one person just goes in after another. If that is not the case, then that is fine that everyone starts together, then just make the prize money available to any and all that select Elite/Pro for their wave.
I think by allowing AG’ers to compete for it you might get a few extra athletes to sign up. Also, if you are on a low budget maybe come up with a referral program for the pro athletes. If they refer X amount of athletes you pay them $XXX. Just a thought…
Hey - where did you land on the prize money decision? Top 5 overall regardless? Or only top 5 w/ elite licenses? My gf and I are looking at flying out from Boston to visit friends and do the race, so just wondering for planning purposes.
