DHansenTri

I wonder how many people are going to run over to China for these races:

"Dear IRONMAN Athletes,

First, thank you for being part of the IRONMAN community. Your dedication and commitment are inspiring—you truly represent the pinnacle of accomplishment in endurance sport.

Since IRONMAN became a part of Wanda Sports last November, we have been very excited to bring the unique IRONMAN race experience to China. With the recently added IRONMAN 70.3 events in Hefei and Xiamen, we are now able to showcase two of China's premier event destinations and world-class host cities.

To celebrate these two new races and help introduce the triathlon world to China, we are pleased to announce that these events will together offer a total of 100 slots to the 2017 IRONMAN World Championship in Kailua-Kona, making them the only IRONMAN 70.3 triathlons in the world to provide standard qualification slots for Kona. IRONMAN 70.3 Hefei will offer 50 age group slots and IRONMAN 70.3 Xiamen will offer 40, allocated proportionally as per our global world championship protocol. The remaining 10 slots will be awarded to top performing athletes who complete both races."

Matt said:

How are Millenials supposed to afford all that tri gear when they have massive student loans and no jobs?

Don't you know...?  They're automatically entitled to a $100K+ year job with minimal responsibilities.  

BW_Tri said:

DHansenTri said:

I'm going to post on this later when I get to the office, or possibly when I'm at home drunk later tonight, but I have a good bit of experience to share from the standpoint of Ms. Hansen. I've been tracking that nightmare and her financial progress for 4 years budget to actual. It's not pretty. 

In terms of her "brand" / personal  recognition as an athlete, it went up substantially when she won IMLP in 2013. When she got injured she's almost all been forgotten about. Before that she had some success with podium finishes at two or three other IM  events, but we noticed that second place is shit in comparison to a win and the attention that brought. 

Interested to hear your take on it.  Not saying it is "easier" for women, but I think if they select races appropriately it is easier to pick up paychecks.  If I remember correctly Dubai, Incheon, Gurye all had paychecks left on the table.  I don't think you can find a men's race in 2015/16 that has a pay check left on the table.

I gotta tell you, this "pick races" thing is not as easy as it sounds for women, IMO.  Yes, there are a couple races way the hell out there that typically have less of a professional field (possibly Malaysia, UK, etc), but it's not always the case.  You never really know which races will be well attended or empty until 2 weeks before.  Believe me, we've had conversations and I've tried to get her to book a flight and race with 2 weeks notice, but no dice.  

Before Jen won IMLP in 2013 she had a second place finish IMLP 2012 and a second place finish at IMTX 2013, both of which were fairly well represented.  Neither 2nd place finish, nor any of her other 70.3 finishes, did too much to elevate her status.  Then to get her Kona slot that year she raced a 4th IM (yes 4, in less than 12 months) and got 6th at IMMT (3 weeks after IMLP) in '13 which was the North American Championship.  I only added that last bit because I can't fucking stand the qualification criteria and how stupid it is to get to Kona.