Time flies when you are having fun and that’s certainly the case on teamTBB! Our team is now officially 6 months old (or young) and it’s been a great journey. I’m sitting here at home contemplating how much can happen in just 6 months in a world that has been fairly new to me personally.
With 15 years of corporate background I was always happy to put in my own 10 - 12 hours of sports a week and perform an Olympic Distance race every 2 or 3 months. I occasionally read a tri magazine and have always been interested to see how some of the world’s best triathletes eat, train, race and focus on their goals. But in the end I was more interested to use triathlon as a balance in my work life. Working weeks of 70-80 hours were normal, so triathlon provided some sanity.
Then in December 2006 I suddenly got myself and our bike boutique franchise involved in the start of a pro team. There were many good reasons to get involved in the sport of triathlon and a pro team for social reasons, to provide a structure to young people to live their triathlon dream, link the corporate world directly with a sport that needs more funding and finally to provide branding and marketing opportunities for The Bike Boutique franchise.
Now 6 months later I can only report that a lot of things have changed in my life with regards to triathlon.
First and foremost, I totally respect what all the pro tri-athletes out there in the world are doing. The passion for their sport, the will to achieve success or just make a living in this sport in each of these athletes is unbelievable strong, I love that! From just observing our own teamTBB athletes and other pro’s at races, one can quickly notice that if an athlete does not have that 150% commitment every day of the week and focus their mind and body on training, quality eating and full out racing, you are just finished in a matter of months.
Another observation has been that while the sport of triathlon is gaining great popularity around the world, the level of professionalism of the sport itself, sponsors and organizations involved still has a long way to go. Race organizers who stop pro athletes from ‘their’ race because of competitive business motives are of course unbelievable to comprehend. Athlete managers who, against knowing what would be the absolute best for their athlete, still push through their own commercial agenda’s. Race organizers who nicely advertise what prize money the pro’s can win at their races but in the end just don’t pay the money to those athletes who did win. Examples enough which show that this sport is still in a “cowboy stage” where both athletes, race organizers, sponsors are trying to get what’s best for them. In a few years time I hope that teamTBB can proof that a well organized team can deliver sustainable results and more important establish a unique culture that supports the athletes and the next generation of athletes.
After 6 months teamTBB is about to announce (July 2007) some great new sponsorships for our team. Sponsorships are of course crucial to ensure that a team like this is financially viable and more important that we can hopefull increase the income of our pro athletes to a level where there are some savings at the end of each year. We have found some great companies that totally believe in the mission that teamTBB is out to achieve and they are providing the team with great products and performance bonusses. Triathlon compared to other sports such as golf, tennis, soccer or even road cycling hardly provides a stable and reasonable income for the pro tri-athletes. With all the travel and accommodation cost that is involved my guess is that 90% of all pro tri-athletes will just or not even cover all their cost at the end of the year let alone keep some savings for the future. That measured against the effort and very long hours that goes into being a pro tri-athlete is of course a harsh reality. Salaries or prize money for pro tri-athletes will only go up if the sport gains increased TV and media coverage, obtains higher sponsor income and governments who start taking this sport more serious. If a golf tournament where 50 pro’s attend and 800 people visit and watch the game without any TV coverage can obtain a US$1.5 million dollar budget, then there should be so much more opportunities for triathlon! This requires of course an integrated effort from many parties and that is not one of the strong points I have seen so far in this sport.
So for now, as teamTBB management, we are trying to bridge that gap by getting more of the corporate world and media directly involved in the sport of triathlon and involve young children in the sport and show them a way to live there passion to the fullest. There must be a way to make life better and decrease the income gap with other sports a little…
Now six month into the year, teamTBB athletes have delivered some fantastic athletic results over the past 6 months. This is not the right place to repeat all of those great results, but if last weekend (23/24 June) was anything to go by then we are in for a lot more great stuff later this year and during 2008. Belinda’s Granger 3rd place in Ironman Roth with her best ever time of 9hrs and 07mins was an unbelievable achievement. Luke Dragstra slashed 13 mins of his best time and completed Roth in 8hrs 24mins and that time ‘only’ gives you an 8th placing.… Rebecca’s win in Switzerland was teamTBB’s first WTC Ironman win of the season and she delivered such a great fight out there! Stephen Bayliss’s 3rd place and bronze medal in the ITU European Long Course Championship was another great display of the form that he is in. Reinaldo Colucci’s 5th place in the ITU world cup in Edmonton was again a great display of the Lion heart this young fellow has. With this great achievement, he moved to the 13th place in the ITU World Ranking. Our new team member Chrissie Wellington who turned pro only a few months ago won the VW-Circuit Olympic Distance Triathlon in Switzerland. She keeps winning nearly every race she enters and is an athlete to watch for the near future! And last but not least a great performance from Ben Sanson in San Sebastian with a 3rd place. Ben will for sure surprise some of the younger athletes in 2nd half of this year.
I thank all of our teamTBB athletes for these great results, because let’s be honest as a professional team these results will impress the sponsors we have found so far and the many that are still to come. And that in return will make teamTBB a very desirable team to be part of.
Our squad currently trains in Leysin Switzerland to prepare for part II of 2007 with many more exciting races to come. From August onwards Thailand will then again become our home until early December when we break for Christmas. The first 6 months of 2007 was the time to build the foundation of our team, the next 6 months should show us the results in terms of sponsorships, new young and high potential athletes joining our team, an increased activity in our social projects. All this will enable us to enter very strong into 2008 and keep expanding the structure and impact of teamTBB in the world of triathlon.
Life is beautiful and I thank every person, company and organization that has been involved in our team’s success to date!
Alex
