Triathlon is no longer the new kid on the block, no longer the novelty event, no longer the thing that extreme athletes do. It has reached mainstream, where people consider doing a triathlon in much the same way they would consider a fun run or bike event, albeit with a little more complexity!! One of the things that helped triathlon get on the map…much like it did for our Ironman cousins in surf life saving…was live TV coverage of events tailored for a TV audience. The Formula 1 series was a new era for a new sport, and like World Series Cricket, shook the sport at it's foundation but changed it for the better.However, the difference between the F1 triathlon series and World Series Cricket is that cricket has kicked the theme along, and extended it with Twenty20, whereas triathlon has shrunk back into the corner, under shadows, where a lot of other minority, mainstream sports live. When did you last see triathlon live on TV?
What made the F1 series so good and so successful? It started with the big thinking Bray brothers to come up with the concept and develop it into the product we saw. They were rebellious, but visionary, brought some great sponsorship, knew how to package the product so it would be appealing, took it to the people in central city locations, sexed it all up and bingo, triathlon was live on TV and something the public talked about around the water cooler at work on Monday.
The concept challenged the traditionalists, but turned out to be popular amongst the public, and importantly, the athletes, who supported it with enthusiasm. The athletes were well presented, wore matching uniforms, recognised the leader with a yellow suit, and were front-centre of the series - they were the product content and PR. The TV ratings and event crowds supported the idea, and eventually even Triathlon Australia came around to it, liking the effect it was having on their sport…but perhaps wondering why they didn't come up with the idea in the first place (answer is that they couldn't think outside the square!).
The features of the races are what people will remember. They were short, fast and exciting, with one event often including several actual races which resulted in a winner for the day, and series scoreboard. You could follow your favourite athletes throughout the series. When I say the races were short (although some were longer), I mean in the range of 10-20min, which had lactic acid blowing out the ears of the athletes. Some were swim-bike-run. Some were run-bike-swim. Some were bike-run-swim…there were no rules, and anything went.
Also, try things like the "bike bowl" - something you'd see in a skate park rather than triathlon - or the portable pool they carted around the countryside for the event, or the bike cameras…these things defined the F1 triathlon series.
Then there were the athletes. All the best triathletes in Australia came together for the F1 series. In fact, it was a fight to get a start let alone a "contract". From short course to IM, they were all here. It was a proving ground for these guys and girls - yes, women were part of the F1 scene - and not only served to raise the standard of Australian triathletes to being world best, but gave them some profile out from the sporting wilderness. Brad Bevan was the star, who mastered the game first, and held his place there for year after year - all comers could not knock him off. Add in other legitimate stars like Greg Welch, Chris McCormack, Emma Carney, Jackie Gallagher, a young Crowie, an even younger Peter Robertson through to latter day star Courtney Atkinson, the races were a who's who in the sport. Even Guy Leech had a go, but got smashed. There were no beg-your-pardons, or excuse-me's. Racing was cut-throat, and the athletes hard.
The legacy of the F1 series has been lasting, but the sponsors haven't. The series coincided with Australian dominance of the sport internationally - many who still are today - and leads you to wonder whether the current crop of triathletes would be better racers if they also had the chance to race F1 style races.
What would it take to get triathlon back on TV in Australia on a regular basis, for as many sports will attest, TV coverage is the key to success in terms of profile, participation and eventually performance. The short answer is that it's not easy, and takes a lot of will power, connections, influence, money and more, but starts with a great product.
Triathlon does offer that product, and while many would suggest it would be as simple as reincarnating the F1 series, I think it needs a bit of evolution to keep pace with the changing appetite of the sporting public since those glory days of the 90's and early 2000's. Perhaps a mix of individual and team events, mid-event primes to encourage aggressive tactics, immunities from elimination, mid-race point scoring, madison-style enduros, and similar concepts could add appeal to the style of racing. Working on the event production would add some pizzazz, like the trademark blue carpet in ITU events, raised finish line, grandstands, GPS measurement of athlete's speed / pace, live athlete cams, stats analysis, and more. There are great ideas people around in sports who would a give some good insight to sparking things up.
Then you need to work through the bureaucracy, starting with Triathlon Australia, the seemingly immovable beast in the way to endorsement. You could bypass them and be damned, or work with them and perhaps in 20 years have a outcome…with a product that would probably be watered down and sanitised to the point of boredom. Perhaps WTC or Challenge would go at something like this, but since it would be elite based and not mass participation, their interest might be limited. So the obvious pathway is to get existing event organisers to begin incorporating these ideas, companies like Supersprint, Elite Energy and USM, to name a few. They might not get TV coverage (straight away), but it would be a move in the right direction, at least.
What they could do, in conjunction with an existing race, is have an elite, F1-style race AFTER the age group race, during the time when people are standing around chewing the fat of their race. Have some quick fire races that are over with in 60mins, and which burn holes in the lactic tanks of the athletes. It would be fast and exciting, have a ready audience of triathletes (who otherwise never see the elites because they are first away), and be on in a mid-late morning time frame when the public might actually be passing by. Sure, it wouldn't be the F1 series, but baby steps towards that…proving the concept has a life beyond the memory of old triathletes.
Something needs to be done to give triathlon a lift and boost the way the F1 series did, and short of the major sponsor or benefactor stopping by (which seems very unlikely at the moment), the people with influence and ability to make things happen need to get ideas together to lift triathlon by the shoelaces (back) to a field of prominence from where anything is possible for the sport.
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