Competitor drops support for elite athletes immediately - runblogrun

Funny how letsrun still has the advertisement for the rock n roll series on the page. Can't let go of that money.[quote]Ask for a frappe then wrote:

Maybe Letsrun or someone could organize a movement where a bunch of shirts are made that say "Competitor Kills Running." The shirts are then sold and all of the proceeds go to funding prize money at more local, smaller races where the money will support up and coming runners who are scraping to get buy or finance their own training. Just a thought...

Joejogger wrote:

Reports from employees state that Competitor are not losing money since the new VC's took over but are not achieving the forecasts they projected. The company isnt leaking water but bolstering profit margins to give good early reports. $500,000 with a $225mill company does not add up. They spend more on catering! They should have quietly reduced appearance fees over time but this is the selfish world they live in.

A friend of mine interviewed with them about 6 months ago for 2 different positions. He was told about 3 weeks after the interviews that they were not going to be hiring anyone for either of the positions as well as several others that they had posted and interviewed for across the country. They were told that if they got permission to hire for the positions again in the next 12 months they would use the already completed interviews of they could re-interview if desired. The positions still haven't been reposted.

As long as some of the money they are saving goes toward better finisher medals, I'm all for it. Most of the medals they give out are atrocious. Las Vegas is cool, but the ones for Denver and San Antonio are horrible. Competitor, are you listening????

I could care less about whether an elite athlete gets free travel to the race. I am more interested in how much will this lower the price of the Rock n Roll races?

They certainly need to change their name. How about Non-Competitor?

ph wrote:

I could care less about whether an elite athlete gets free travel to the race. I am more interested in how much will this lower the price of the Rock n Roll races?

Prices will drop by between $0 and $0 depending on what city the races is in.

I think that if elite distance running and runner development is going to thrive, an Association has to be devoted to it in a way that other successful professional athletic associations are to their sports stars.

They will have to do some savvy marketing to drum up hype,interest, and excitement, generating a fan base, and delivering a good experience for the paying fan. Heck, if the WNBA can make it, why couldn't an elite running circuit of some kind? There sure is a hell of a lot more excitement at multi-team high school and collegiate cross country races than there is at most major league baseball games.

I think for U.S. elite distance running to make a real go at it professionally, they are going to have to do it "stand alone", apart from relying on the "races for the masses", as "the masses" is whom those races are responsible to serving first and foremost.

If those who want to see elite running become a successful profession would just get unified and organized to build and promote something worth getting excited about on a national level, for example, developing a league of teams, nation wide, with drafts out of college, etc., create a "team racing" circuit, with courses allowing for great crowd viewing, be it road or cross, and bring it out to a paying public to view on a weekly or every other week basis, with a season structure leading to a championship event, for example, all the while hammering the marketing, it will force people to take notice and become interested in showing support as paying spectators.

All the extraeneous B.S. that helps draw otherwise uninterested people out to view the other sports (cheerleaders, beer, souveniers, sales items, etc, etc.) would certainly play well into bringing people out to the races as well, and enjoying the experience regardless.

Recently, as reported by flotrack, the Competitor Group has announced the elimination of its elite athlete program in North American races including in the half marathon in Philadelphia. I first became actively involved in the Philadelphia Distance Run after the race in 1980, when then race director, the late Bill Jackson, asked me to join his staff. Bill and I shared a vision for the PDR: we wanted it to be a community centered event that brought world class athletes to Philadelphia to toe the line in a highly competitive race on a beautiful course at the perfect time of the year for road racing. We believed that this approach would be good for the sport as a whole, good for elite runners, good for recreational runners, and good for the community. I’m happy to say that we were correct. When Bill retired from the race, he passed the race directorship to me. After a few years I stepped down as race director but continued to assemble the elite fields for several more years.

I am proud that the PDR launched, sustained, and resurrected the careers of many elite runners, both American and foreign. World records, national records, and age group records were broken regularly at the PDR. I will not attempt to name the giants of the sport who participated in the PDR for fear that I might make an inadvertent omission. Even a quick check of the records will verify the quality and depth of the fields from those years.

When I was involved in the race, I and the rest of the administrative staff worked as volunteers. We did it out of love for the sport and the people who are drawn to it and out of love for our community. The race was successful in every way year after year: it was competitive and operationally sound, it served Philadelphia and the local, regional, national, and international running communities well. It was financially sound. I was always pleased that wherever I went in the running community, be it on Kelly Drive and the Wissahickon Trail or to other cities for other events, PDR was always held in high regard. I regret that the current iterations of the race have not been so regarded, especially in the Philadelphia running community

By way of historical background, the Philadelphia Distance Run was founded in 1978 and operated under the auspices of the Philadelphia Family of YMCA’s. In the early years we branded the event as the fastest half marathon in the world and tried to prove it by bringing in elite fields to run fast and bond with the other participants. In early 1988, the Philadelphia Family of YMCA’s informed the race committee that it was withdrawing the level of support for the race that was required to maintain it at an elite level. Those of us who had built the event disagreed with that approach so we formed a non-profit corporation and negotiated the rights to the race away from that group. We maintained and continued to build the reputation of the event through tenacity, creativity, relationships, and courage. As the demands of our personal and professional lives made it impossible for us to continue to produce the race at the standards we set, we entered into a relationship with Tim Murphy and Elite Racing, because Tim and his colleague, Mike Long, seemed to share our vision. Over time, Elite Racing was sold to the Competitor Group which was purchased by Falonhead Capital. Later, Celara Capital purchased the operation. In essence, the PDR went from a world class community based event to a commodity. It has been very successful in terms of growth in participants, but the event has lost favor with the local running community, and the competitiveness of the event and the depth of the fields have declined over the past few years Still, the race continued to be an important stop for many elite athletes preparing for a fall marathon.

Now, those elite athletes have been informed that the event no longer believes their presence is important. I disagree.

I have not yet seen a statement by the Competitor Group on the rationale for its decision. If, indeed, they have not provided one, I assume it is because that they feel that no explanation is required. If that is the case I would add a charge of arrogance to my belief that they are being their short sighted and myopic about the sport and the event.

When flotrack posted the Competitor Group announcement, it posed the question as to whether event producers like Competitor have an obligation to promote elite running. I believe that they do. Having worked in business for a large corporation I well understand the pressure for profits and to continue to improve profitability. That said, I also believe that a balanced approach is always better. My opinion is that the event owner has done a disservice to itself, the sport which provides its reason for being, the running community, and the legacy of great events like the PDR. It appears that it has sacrificed the heart and soul of the event in its quest for profit. It has been my experience in business that this is not an effective long term strategy.

I have no problem with establishing a series of fun runs throughout the country. I do, however, disagree with an approach which guts long established, venerable events. The Philadelphia Rock’n’ Roll Half Marathon is being run on the date when the Philadelphia Distance Run traditionally took place, but the current event is a large, hollow shell of the old PDR. Given the proclivity for music that the Rock’n’ Roll series has, I submit for their consideration, the words of Robbie Robertson:

Now, I don't mind chopping wood

And I don't care if the money's no good

You take what you need

And you leave the rest

But they should never

Have taken the very best

Tony DeSabato

9/1/2013

Unfortunately, "Corporate America" does not have any interest in our "special interest group". This should come as no surprise. If elite distance running is going to be a viable profession for more talented athletes to consider, the people who care are going to have to take control of it's development.

By the way, thank you for taking the time to post this thoughtful message and spell out the history behind the PDR. You are obviously a great supporter of running, and runners of all levels. It is a shame that people with different motives and agendas have infiltrated the direction of this event.

Beautiful statement, TonyD, thanks for that. I'm a Philly runner who has always held the PDR dear - it's been my favorite race from the time I started running. I'll admit that until this money-grubbing ridiculousness came to be, I was fine with RNR appropriating it but now...no. Just no. Sad day for many.

So does this mean that the athletes, who arent pro and don't get hotel, travel and VIP treatment, but good enough for free comp entry, is that still happening or that stopped too?

Corporations are realizing that far more people would rather watch 'Hillbilly Hand-fishing' and monster trucks than running. But this is a good thing. Finally, finally, running has an opportunity to return to it's roots. Running is a pure and true amateur sport and that's the way it should be. Runners who think they deserve a paycheck for running are deluded.

Does this count as a victory for that Picky Bar led group of pros that did not want race sponsors telling them who they could advertise for, what they could wear, how big and many logos they could display?

Now they can get their sponsors name out there unrestricted. They should be dancing in the streets of Asculum over this one.

Well put and thank you for your overview of the PDR, Tony. I would like to second San Jose in wondering if those of us who are paying our way to races with the promise of a comp'd entry will still get it. A lot of us chose RnR races because we could save money by running in them because our entry fee was taken care of (not to be confused with appearance fee as I am not on that level). Those of us who saved away money and arranged for time off work to travel and timed our training for a certain race will be furious if we are told we are now unable to run. This is not like Hurricane Sandy where Mother Nature does what she does. This is a situation caused by people who don't have the best interest of the sport in mind. On another note, I would like to thank Matt Turnbull for all of the work he has done for the elite and sub elite runners partaking in RnR events. He has worked hard to give runners a shot at competing and has helped us save money with comp'ing entries.

Tony,

Thanks for your hard work on the PDR. Ran my A off for one of those pewter liberty bells back in the early 80's - still one of my prized possessions.

The Ads are coming through a network. I'll look into blocking them tomorrow or Tuesday.

Maybe it will be better to let them serve while having a simultaneous banner telling people to not run their races. Assuming no one signs up that would hurt competitor more financially than just blocking the ads as they would still be paying for them but hopefully with no one signing up.

If this decision impacts competitor financially that is the only way they reverse course.

[ It appears that it has sacrificed the heart and soul of the event in its quest for profit. It has been my experience in business that this is not an effective long term strategy.

Tony

You're old. You don't get it. Every single person in CGI and Falconhead will agree with you. The key word though is "long term strategy". There is no such thing in Private Equity investments!