First up you have WTC/Ironman proving that they care mostly about profit and shareholder value, and that their leadership can be dicks. There are plenty of examples of this in other blogs and social media. If you don't read Slowtwitch or follow triathlon on the internet, then you probably don't know a whole lot of this. The easiest thing is probably for you to go check out this set of articles by The Real Starky, and then check out this follow-up.
Having worked for large public companies and smaller privately held companies I guess I understand, but it doesn't make me feel any better about giving them my money. They've also cancelled the pro prize purse and Kona qualification points at all of the races I was considering. Does it matter? I don't know. Probably not in the short term, and probably more so in the long term.
Then, Challenge and Rev3 go and merge (though it looks more like a buyout of Rev3 by Challenge to me), again changing the picture. From where I sit, it's hard to get a clear read on what this means for their races, and how the race at Cedar Point that I was considering will change, or if I should add some of the other races in the region to my list (like Challenge Atlantic City).
What it all means to me is that in addition to looking at the details of each race - the logistics, the courses, the timing, etc., I also have to consider emotion and whether or not I'm willing to give my money to one or the other of these enterprises. Is a particular experience worth the cost, am I willing to participate in a race run by dicks, and how will next year's races compare to the years past? Is it even worth considering any of these races since the athlete experience is changing quickly, and it will be hard to know what to expect in the next few years as these changes ripple through the long-distance triathlon market?
