Probably just the ones guaranteed to make a profit in future years.
I predicted this publicly two weeks ago.
The choptank swim that Tricolumbia had scheduled for May has been cancelled.
I suspect similar notices will be forthcoming about the Irongirl Half Marathon and other races in short order.
If they can work out logistics with Cambridge to turn Chesapeakeman into Ironman Maryland then they will keep it going, if not I suspect we’ll find out that Chesapeakeman is gone as well.
TriColumbia announced today after careful consideration, to cancel the ChopTank Bridge Swim scheduled for Saturday, May 10, 2014. It was a difficult decision to make and we wanted to give you time to adjust your plans.
A full refund will be issued to the card that was used to register for this event. Please allow 1-2 billing cycles to see this credit on your account.
We would like to thank you for supporting this event, and apologize for any inconvenience this decision may have caused.
Smart business = yes & good. Killing local/small races that might net a too small of a profit for them to worry about =bad. That reduces choices and opportunities for triathletes and for people looking to enter the sport(s).
You can’t expect any business (for profit or not) to run a race that loses money. Clearly the people do not need all of those “choices and opportunities” or they would be taking advantage of them. If there is a market to make money then clearly someone will come in and start a race in its place.
I don’t expect other people to subsidize my lifestyle and asking someone to lose money so I can race a local race is doing just that.
I wouldn’t have expected anything different. They just absorbed a bunch of events that are hemorrhaging money. TriColumbia frankly had no business adding new races if they were in financial trouble. I would have cancelled that and possibly others too.
I didn’t expect anything different either. Their press release shouldn’t have mentioned that WTC would put on all the races, should have said that they’d “evaluate in short order which races would go on” or something like that.
I expected this move, but did want to show that the move had been made.
If you read what i wrote, I said that some of the races might net too small of a profit for WTC to worry about. Nothing about a losing money on a race.
There are a ton of people at local smaller races around the country that have no plans to go do a big wtc event.
A local RD might be fine doing a race that only nets him/her a $1k. Or even losing money the first year to build the event for years 2 and beyond. Something a lot of RD’s have done btw.
WTC isn’t in the business of making only $1k per race. You need a few extra zero’s for them to consider a race.
I’m not faulting WTC. like I said it’s not worth it for them. But it’s also sad for people and the sport (triathlon * open H2o swimming in this case) who might want to do one or two local races per year or for those who were thinking of using some local events to get their feet wet in the sport. Local events can be like gateway drugs.
We’re facing losing a 3 race tri series here in Tucson due to some things the city has done to spruce up the place. This series has gotten hundreds of people involved in the sport over the 15 years it’s been going on. some of those people have dropped in then dropped out of triathlon 2-3 years later, some have dropped in and stayed in. But most of those wouldn’t have gotten in had they only had a $300 half or $750 IM locally to do. We have a $750 IM option up the road and a $200 half option. The half added a shorter race bc they needed a gateway option for people and it allowed them to make a profit overall.
It’s still my understanding that the WTC acquisition of races has yet to be finalized, largely due to issues transferring permits for the Howard County races starting at Centennial Park (Columbia tri, Celebrating Heroes, Irongirl). Basically permit transfers are not allowed and some local RDs got in line ahead of WTC to get the permits should CTA drop theirs. One such org (Ulman Cancer Fund) got out of the way, but they weren’t the only one. The above has been stated publicly at our local tri club meeting (from CTA) and social media (from UCF), but not necessarily broadcast in the papers/on the internet. So, and I’m speculating here, this may have less to do with WTC and more to do with CTA needing to spend money today (for race logistics) that they don’t have.
And yes, there are many locally worried that the Irongirl half marathon (Apr. 27th) might not happen, as well as Columbia tri (May 18th)…
I’m surprised the IronGirl Half Marathon is not a money maker. They had a great turn out last year and it would have been ever better if Nike didn’t chose the same weekend for their Women’s half. I think this event could do really well if scheduled a month before or after Nike’s event.
It probably is a money maker but doesn’t make enough money for WTC to want yo put it in.
Hopefully the races WTC doesn’t out on can be easily transferred to someone else (I understand the permit process, but I mean WTC doesn’t try to sell those to an RD but just let’s them go)
I know it sucks for those in the area who want to race Columbia & Eagleman, but I think it’s awesome WTC is having to deal w/ other people in line in front of them.
I’ve been watching all this as I have put so much $$$$ into TriColumbia’s races over the past few years! And of all years when Columbia Triathlon was scheduled to be on my 30th birthday… the nerve if it does get cancelled!
eagleman is not going to get cancelled. nobody with any knowledge of this process thinks there is any chance at all that eagleman is getting cancelled, unless something happens that would cancel any race, such as a natural disaster or terrorist act or something of the like. so, better if people don’t add to the ignorance of others by suggesting that it might be cancelled.
Well, I was on edge… these are my first races (ever) - so I was starting to 1) get nervous 2) get angry and 3) wonder why the hell train when this kind of “radio silence” is what I walked myself into… then I rode to work today and had all smiles… #commutertritraining