Since I haven't been working out and I have no races planned, I sorta figured there was nothing to write about. But who am I kidding? I have endless opinions on just as many topics, so I tried to think about what really has me irked these days. It didn't really take me much time to figure out what's been on my mind lately. It's the Ironman North America Scam!
Let me back up a minute and give a brief overview. There are 6 Ironman North America full races: Arizona, Canada, Coeur d'Alene, Florida, Lake Placid and Wisconsin. Typically, registration for these races for the next year opens the day after the current year's race. I've only been doing Ironman races for 3 years, but I remember the first race I signed up for closed registration within 4 hours. These races are not cheap, I believe the 2008 rate is now close to $500 per race. (and you must tack on the $18.00+ "processing" fee for online registration).
Fast forward to 2007 where, if you are participating in this year's race, you have the option of signing up for next year's race EARLY - the day before this year's race! Now, the day AFTER the race, entry opens to everyone who is ON SITE at the race. When I drove by the line this year after Florida, it was an obnoxiously long line, probably 3+ hours of waiting. OK, now the online registration used to open at 10am for the next year's race. This year, they've delayed the online registration so they could take all the entries from the people who are on site first. So the online registration opens hours past the announced time...then fills EXTREMELY fast...I think IMFL 2008 filled in 15 minutes or something.
This is ridiculous. All this points to is that if you are not on the race site the day after the race, it's highly unlikely you will get in. So, if I want to get into Lake Placid for 2009, I'd have to go to Lake Placid in 2008 just to stand in line and HOPEFULLY (there is no guarantee) get a spot. Are you kidding me? Who has the time and the funds to do that? Well, I guess some people do, but I just don't think it's fair. I believe Canada has worked this way for years. As much as I'd like to do Ironman Canada, I don't think I should have to take a trip up there the year before just so I can maybe get a spot.
I can complain about it until the cows come home, but there will still be those die-hard Ironman fanatics who will jump through whatever hoops necessary to get in their race of choice. Same goes for the astronomical rising cost of these races that far exceeds the rate of inflation. I get that - you can charge what the market will bear. If people do it and you're still able to sell out your races in record time, you must be doing something right.
I've now had the opportunity to participate in an iron-distance race that was NOT Ironman North America. I've gotta say, there is a big difference. I can only hope that these smaller, no-name iron-distance races grow in number, locations and participation. Most other sports, you can sign up the DAY OF the race, no problem. Try that with an Ironman! It would be great if we didn't have to commit an entire year out (and fight for that entry, nonetheless) and didn't have to be ON THE RACE SITE to get that entry. Oh yeah, if something happens to you in that year that you signed up, like an injury, the most you could get back would be $150 and that needs to be requested a full 6+ weeks out.
So I'm all in support of the up and coming Iron-distance events (you can't use the word Ironman, they have it trademarked, WTF?). Yes, it will take time and practice to get it right, but it will give the athletes more options. There are many of us who do this simply as a hobby - it's not our entire existence! - and we just shouldn't have to make a trip to a race just to sign up for the following year.
I can't complain about the IMNA races. They're well organized, plenty of volunteers, great venues and courses, blah, blah, blah...but there has to be a better way to have registration.
11 comments:
There are non IMNA irondistance races that are on a larger scale than Greater Illini. Think Grand Columbian, Vineman, Chesapeakeman. I agree that the time has come to support these other venues. I'm certain IMNA races did start out at the grand scale they are now.
The reason that the NA Sports IM Distance races sell out so quickly is that they are far and away the best product out there. I've done more than a couple non M-Dot races and have been kind of disappointed with the productions.
That said, I hope that the other IM distance races continue to grow and improve, but they all have a long way to go.
BC
Well, IMNA is really developing a reputation for oversold events leading to impossibly crowded swim and bike courses. They do offer the majesty of declaring you an Ironman at the finish and more "fans" cheering you throughout the course. But they also allow their venues to require week long hotel stays, why because that brings in more money.
Yup, they're a business pursing a dollar. Until their competitors start to take away some business they'll continue to ignore their customers.
O.K. here's the deal with N.A. Sports Ironman product and all of the imitators.
Let WTC and N.A. Sports have the IronMan product, everyone else is just an imitation anyway. The Tri 101 series was an unbelievibly dumb attempt to take market share away from WTC and NAS. Who wants the bragging rights for finishing a shorter distance course? You don't get called a catchy name when you finish either.
Here is the idea for a race series that could take market share from WTC and NAS without having to resort to making a poor copy of their product.
You will have to have a slightly longer distance race, instead of 140.6 make it 151. Maybe latch on to Bacardi as a sponsor to go with the 151 theme. Just add the correct ratio to the swim, bike, and run. IronMan is kind of a lame name anyway, there are better ones out there without resorting to retarded variations like Vineman or Chesapeakman. Those are just way too provincial to ever have a chance at making it big.
How about a new name to go with the new distance? There are an awful lot of underused superlatives
out there just waiting for some commericial applications. How about The IMMORTAL distance. Get some guy who sounds like Mike Reilly to announce at the finish line...BERNIE CONWAY OF MOKENA ILLINOIS.....YOU ARE IMMORTAL!!!!!
Go ahead and take it, it's my gift.
If you apply this you're gonna be richer than Grahm Fraser.
BC
BC,
I like your plan, but Bacardi would probably frown on people that continue to give the middle finger on video at the finish line.
That jerk Captain Morgan keeps making me do that!
BC
I think I would be pleased to do a race that would allow me to achieve enlightenment. I would like to hear "U R the Buddha, the Boddhisatva, the Dali Lama" I would like to become an enlightened star in the heavens through Swim/bike/run. So much less troubling than that meditation shit.
P
I think in europe they do have a competitor. I believe it the Challenge raceslike Quelle Roth Challenge, which I believe used to be an WTC race, but As I understand it they had a disagreement. So they went on their own, and now it is quite successful. They even have challenge events around the world, I believe there are 8. But none here in the US :(
I agree though that NA sports is like a monopoly, they even manage to be poorly organized and still succeed. type in ironmannorthamerica.com and you will see that they even let their domain name expire lol yet still they will keep succeeding. Why because their races ARE so well organized.
Until another series pops up that gives lots of BLING and make events feel grand and special, they will never be able to compete.
I stumbled to this blog off a google search.
I had a terrible incident with North America Sports (formally Ironman north America). Please read below....
On Thursday morning August 14th I received a call from my friend Mike, he informed me that he had gotten an email from the Senior Director of Team in Training for the Wisconsin Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and that a man named Tom who is registered for the Ironman Wisconsin 2008 has been diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (the same type Mike's brother has had) and was now in day 7 of chemotherapy and will not be able to race. Mike said he would like to give his spot to anyone who is willing to do the race and help raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
After a short period of consideration I decided that I would accept this challenge. Tom contacted, Friday August 15th, with his excitement that this might happen. He told me he left a message with North America Sports (Ironman Race Directors) indicating he would like to transfer his spot but had not yet received a reply.
What was to follow might be one of the most heart-breaking weeks of my life.
The next day this response came from North America Sports not to me or Tom, but to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to which they then forwarded on to me:
Hi Katie,
I am sorry to hear about Tom’s illness and do wish him well with the Chemo and the recovery. However, I am sorry to inform you that our policy will not allow the transfer of races, athletes, or years unless you are a charity participant. Do to the large number of athletes that we deal with and with all fairness we cannot make an exception for one person and not accommodate all other transfers that we received on a daily basis. Although, the deadline has past for refunds we will most certainly issue Tom a refund since he is unable to participant but the transfer to take his spot cannot be allowed. I wish you well in the fundraising with TNT and Tom will get an email confirmation that his Status has been changed to out and he will get a refund in the mail per our refund policy.
Best Regards,
North America Sports, Inc.
Melody
Tom did not ask for a refund, he simply asked that his spot be transferred to a person could run the race and raise money for cancer. My personal response what to go over Melody’s head, she was just a buffer between the real decision makers and was simply following policy. No big deal I thought, someone would come to their senses, and the man does have CANCER! Too bad I was wrong.
When informed of this email (he never personally received it) Tom decided to give NAS a call. We would never have guessed how it ended. Tom talked directly to Melody and when he again he asked for a transfer she refused, when he asked for this denial in writing she also refused stating that the policy is in their waiver. When he pressed her again for a denial in writing, she hung up on him. Tom immediately called back and got the voice message to which he left a message stating his dissatisfaction. Five minutes later Melody called back to claim they were “disconnected” and that they could still not honor the transfer.
When Tom told me they hung up on him I was so furious! I declared all out war, I starting asking for contacts emails and I started writing emails. They went along the lines of the opening paragraph of this report, simply asking for anyone who could to help us push this through. It seemed so wrong that NAS would have the gall to do this to a man with CANCER!
The following response came from Paula Newby-Fraser herself, 24 time Ironman Champion, and Co-CEO of NAS
Mr Rhoads
I am sincerely sorry to hear about Tom.
Unfortunately, I cannot accommodate your request, at this late date. This is a no-win situation for us on all fronts. By making a ‘special circumstance’ exception for this, we/ I then need to be accountable to all the other requests that are made, and turned down, based on our published policies. Many of them are as life changing and heart breaking as this one.
In all honestly with over 20 000 athletes registered for our events at any given time, the requests for special exceptions on all that life dishes out, are more numerous than you can possibly imagine.
Our most heartfelt energy and wishes go out to Tom for a return to full health.
Sincerely
Paula Newby-Fraser
My response:
I'm sorry but I fail to see how if you make this exception you will be forced to make all exceptions. How many of these transfer requests are as life changing and heart breaking as this one? If it is in fact overwhelming perhaps Ironman should craft a policy that can accommodate people diagnosed with cancer three weeks before the event or any other extreme circumstances that "life may dish out". Maybe a person could be put in charge or hired for these transfer requests? Or perhaps you could charge more money for a transfer to offset any costs associated with the transfer. There are solutions to this problem.
Unfortunately those solutions are for the future and Ironman should consider them, but for now perhaps you should see what the "right" thing to do is and act on that impulse.
I didn't become an "Ironman" by giving up and won't do that now and I don't think Tom will either, on this, or with cancer.
Here is the web address for our donation website. It was just put up today so you can be sure that total money donated will go up, with Ironman's cooperation perhaps it could go higher than any of us would expect.
"No-win situation"? I've never heard of that.
Thank you for your time,
Nick Rhoads
In the meantime Tom sent this back to NAS:
Dear Ironman Wisconsin,
I have completed Ironman Wisconsin the past two years and am signed up for the 2008 event. Unfortunately, I was just diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia and am currently in the hospital undergoing chemotherapy treatment to fight this disease.
I would like to turn this misfortunate event into an opportunity to help raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I have spoken with Katie, who works with Team in Training to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, about finding someone with Ironman experience to do the Ironman in my place to help raise funds for this worthy cause. I wanted to identify someone with previous Ironman experience to mitigate any liability issues that Ironman Wisconsin may have in transferring my spot to someone else.
Katie introduced me to Nick. Nick has completed Ironman Wisconsin previously and is in shape to do the race this year. More importantly, Nick has started working with Mike, another Team in Training member, to design a fundraising website.
My request from Ironman Wisconsin is simple. Please support our efforts and grant me the opportunity to transfer my spot to Nick.
Sincerely,
Tom
Mike’s mom backed it up with this heartfelt message shown below:
Dear Paula,
I am the mother of Mike and of Eric. Mike let me know of your response to Nick e-mail concerning his desire to replace Tom in the Madison Ironman. I don't know any of the parties involved, other than my sons and what they have gone through with Eric's fight against Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in 2003 and in 2008. Mike has competed in the Ironman a few times and loves the challenge. He has used the event to raise over $20,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Hope is a powerful thing; positive thinking and expectations are what
make these competitors rise to the challenge of the Ironman. They are also what give a person fighting for their life the power to continue fighting and never give up. A family is around to ensure that the support system of the one they love, that is fighting with every ounce they have, continue to fight and never, ever lose hope.
Eric has been faced with the monster known as cancer twice. He has fought and he has fought hard, he has helped many people see the
positive things in life and value what is most important. Mike's
Ironman has become strength for Eric. He is so proud of his brother and would do anything for him. Enter Tom…here is a man
battling the same beast that Eric is facing. Mike wants to help in
any way he can, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society knows the importance of the fundraising and even more so, the importance of the hope that all their patients NEED.
Tom is one of those people. He needs to see his goal of finishing the
Ironman come to be. He had hopes that Nick could compete for him. Not the ideal thing, but still someone to cheer on and give
positive feedback to. It would take the edge off lying in a hospital bed, vomiting from the affects of the toxic chemicals seeping into your body, weak from the pain and wishing that this was just a nightmare that you would wake from. It would give you hope that the money being raised, by the wonderful person kind enough and strong enough to compete in your place, would help find a cure for a disease that is relentless.
I understand rules and I understand that they are there for a reason; they are also meant to be broken or revised. I am sure that you get many requests for substitutions; I guarantee you leave many people disheartened. I know allowing this would be "opening a can of worms" but the act would not go unnoticed and would, in fact, be applauded by many, it would restore the hope that Tom has for competing in the Ironman. Tom would be there if he could and he certainly never expected to be in this position, but life doesn't always deal out good hands. I know his heart will be there as will his family who will be cheering on Nick and keeping the Hope alive.
Please consider this request and ask the powers that be in the IM
Wisconsin if they will reconsider and bring a man's hopes and dreams
alive. I pasted the Ironman logo below, underneath it is written:
Anything is Possible. That is what a cancer patient must believe!
Hopefully,
Mary
It seemed like a reasonable request but Paula wasn’t having it, did they really think their reasoning was sound? That this was ok? Frighteningly, the answer was yes. Below is what Paula sent back, a regurgitation of her first denial:
Thank-you for your email. Unfortunately we are not able to accommodate the transfer request for the upcoming Ford Ironman Wisconsin.
We do understand the goal of finishing an Ironman is a motivation for Tom in his fight against cancer. We, at NAS would love nothing better than to welcome him to the start line of any of our events at anytime in the future and honor him, when he overcomes this current challenge. Our hope and prayers are to see him back and completing this challenge himself. This invitation stands for as long as it takes.
On another note, we would also request that the donation page that has been activated on Active.com site be either removed or adjusted. The use of the Ironman event logo’s or brand is a federally protected trademarked license, and it’s use requires permission. For all sorts of legal reasons including a violation of the Janus Charity Program which has the legal rights for use of the event logos – we cannot allow the use of the Ironman logo in association with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They are aware of this.
Sincerely
Paula Newby-Fraser
What had to be said, sent back on the morning of Friday 8/22:
Paula, you have once again failed to provide sufficient reasoning for denying this request besides your rules, which we both know could be sidelined for these circumstances. If you have a real reason, please provide the details.
What would NASports do if we hadn't of taken down the logo? Do you think you and the Janus Charity Challenge would sue us and our CANCER donation website? Does that make sense to you? That was very untactful to include that request directly after denying the transfer. From a million dollar corporation I expect a little more professionalism.
At this point I wouldn't want to include the IM logo on such a positive donation campaign anyway; you've ruined that for me.
At some point in the future the Ironman mania will wear off, participants will drop and volunteers will be harder to come by. At that point I'm sure you will be well set with money, maybe you will have already sold the company, but your brand will eventually die and incidents like this will live on in infamy.
Best Wishes for your future!
Nick
P.S. Next time you are faced with one of your many heartbreaking decisions just make something up, such as, your insurance company will not allow it. In which case I would ask for your insurance company’s representative contact information, but at least you would have passed the buck.
I was so shocked and infuriated with this; I vowed never to wear IM gear again and to also selectively destroy what I did own in protest of this injustice. Frankly, I never had much good to say about Ironman Corporation, especially after they forced me to buy a $5 timing chip strap for a $425 race, but this put the nail in the coffin and committed necrophilia with the corpse. The horror of this round of bullshit from them has only convinced me further that scummy people must be stopped.
Have you thought of sending this story to the State Journal in Madison and the local TV Stations?
Good luck Tom
Update:
The patient in question has died. My condolences to his family.
I never brought this to the papers because the patient requested me not to.
North America Sports is a pathetic organization that puts money ahead of logic. Do the world a favor and do not sign up for their events.
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