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Another Triathlon Podcast
ATP, or 'Another Triathlon Podcast,' is a fresh voice in the world of endurance sports. Our name is a playful nod to the abundance of triathlon podcasts out there and also stands for Adenosine Triphosphate, the energy source of our bodies, symbolizing the relentless energy of triathletes. We want to have some fun with triathlon, not take ourselves too seriously while delivering insight, answer your training and racing questions and give you everything you need from inspiration to information that can help your race day.
At ATP, we dig deeper than race recaps and gear reviews. We explore the untold stories, the science, the ridiculous, and the trials of triathlon. We feature inspiring interviews, expert advice, and innovative training strategies, aiming to inspire, educate, and entertain athletes of all levels.
If you're a triathlete, ATP is your fuel to keep moving forward
Another Triathlon Podcast
Episode 58: SuperTri Chat Co-Founder Michael Dhulst, Ironman Frankfurt Predictions and World Triathlon Multisport World Championships
SuperTri co-founder Michael Dhulst discusses the vision and evolution of the SuperTri series, which aims to make short course triathlon popular in North America. The series features innovative formats, such as the short shoot and team events, to make the sport more exciting and accessible. The franchise model has been introduced to build teams and attract new sponsors. The races are fast-paced and intense, with athletes competing in swim, bike, run sequences multiple times. The upcoming events in Boston on August 18th and Chicago on August 25th are expected to showcase top athletes and provide an immersive experience for spectators. Viewers can watch the races on TV or online through the SuperTri website.
More Details: https://supertri.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/supertri_/
We also dive into Ironman Frankfurt pro start list and predictions!
Takeaways
• SuperTri aims to make short course triathlon popular by leveraging the Olympic momentum and focusing on delivering great content.
• The series features innovative formats, such as the short shoot and team events, to make the sport more exciting and attract a wider audience.
• The franchise model has been introduced to build teams and bring in new sponsors, creating a strong narrative and fostering community.
• The races are fast-paced and intense, with athletes competing in swim, bike, run sequences multiple times, providing thrilling action for spectators.
• Viewers can watch the races on TV or online through the SuperTri website, and attending the events in person offers a unique and immersive experience.
Stay connected with us! Follow us on social media - @anothertriathlonpodcast with hosts Jenna-Caer, Fede and Josh to keep up with the latest. And if you have any burning questions for the coaches, feel free to shoot them over to Jennacaer@maunaendurance.com
https://www.instagram.com/anothertriathlonpodcast/
Welcome to another triathlon podcast, the podcast that brings the electrifying world of triathlons right into your headphones. Journey into captivating conversations, share the excitement of race recaps, enjoy the humor only a triathlete would understand, and join us as we debunk myths and bring you the bare, thrilling truths of the triathlon world. Myths and bring you the bare, thrilling truths of the triathlon world. So feel your heart pound, breathe in anticipation and get ready to dive into the world of triathlon. This is another triathlon podcast. Enjoy the ride.
Speaker 2:We are back with another triathlon podcast brought to you by Mana Apparel. As always, I am joined by my co-host, Josh. Unfortunately, Fede was not able to make it. But first off I have to say thank you guys for taking over for me last week, when things were a little bit hectic getting ready to fly over to Australia and some family in town. But we are back to talk all things triathlon like usual, and there's a few big races happening this weekend, Another race that was big for me. That may or may not happen this weekend, but we will dive into all of that, Starting off with Josh. How are you doing? What's going on in your world?
Speaker 3:It's not going on in my world. I've got double sessions going which are going great. My training is going really well. Had another long run this weekend, yet again struggled through the heat, but that was my first race pace type effort during that, so I had some intervals there 20 minutes I was able to hit the first one, second one was a little less and then third one a little less, but I got through 16 miles, which was nice, and then had a good bike and run off the bike on sunday and now just getting ready for my first olympic triathlon at boston triathlon, which is the flagship event here in boston, right in south boston, on the beach in the harbor there.
Speaker 3:And we are adding supertri to the mix this year. So really cool for super league supertri to be coming in and kicking off their event here, and we'll have the co-founder of SuperTri on later on this episode. So stay tuned for that interview and he'll tell us all about Boston and all about the entire season coming up, because they got Chicago and London and Tulum and Yolm, so lots of good stuff coming there. But uh, yeah, with that comes some other community events that I'm doing with with mana and human powered health. We're doing a shakeout run on saturday morning and doing some collaboration with stars and stripes, so parker spencer is going to bring some of his team to the event and sounds like katie's affairs and maybe a few other Olympians might be there as well and, who knows, from super dry teams are going to show up. So we'll do that the day before and then event check in and race early the next morning on Sunday.
Speaker 3:So busy week, busy training schedule. Going to take a little bit. I did a swim start yesterday which was really cool. I did 1,000 straight in the pool and it's had a pretty good time for me and I feel pretty confident going into the race this weekend. So it's a different effort level, different effort level at the Olympic distance than I'm used to. So we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 2:A little bit more full gas, Just a painful, fast, lactic burn all that good stuff.
Speaker 3:Exactly Just enough that my coach won't put in a long run after. There you go, I think my schedule is nothing compared to yours, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think my schedule is nothing compared to yours, though. Yeah, I find myself on the other side of the world here in Townsville, australia. I think I mentioned before I have wanted to come to Australia forever, especially before I used to coach for Team Maca X. We have a bunch of the team out here in Australia, so I'm so happy to finally make the trip over. Unfortunately, it hasn't quite gone to plan. So far I've made it to Australia.
Speaker 2:However, my bicycle seems to still be in Canada. It was lost for a few days, but now it sounds like they've located it. It is just not here. So definitely keep my fingers crossed that my bike will make it over for the event. It's starting to get really tight now, but when I qualified for these races, I was planning on doing the standard duathlon, which is on Sunday, but I also qualified for the sprint duathlon, which is a draft legal race that's happening on Friday. So right now I'm chasing down every lead trying to see if I can find a road bike to rent or borrow or anything I can do there to do the sprint duathlon on Friday. So again, so far no luck. But people have been so great with sharing that I'm looking for a bike, reaching out to friends or people who might be around. So keeping my fingers crossed either I can find a road bike to borrow or my time trial bike shows up so I can do the standard just kind of in limbo at the moment, unfortunately.
Speaker 3:What is D-Day for the bike arriving your bike, when does it be there, Brian?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have to check the bike in the day before. So Saturday will be kind of last day there and it is currently Wednesday in Australia. I had to check that for a second because I'm on all sorts of different days and times, exactly, exactly. So I either have to get that by saturday or, if I can find a road bike here, by thursday. Um, yeah, it's a beautiful little town that we're in, but unfortunately that means that there's not a ton of resources all around, so all the bike shops are totally out of rental bikes and stuff. So right now I'm just kind of, yeah, putting it out there and, like I said, people have been great kind of sharing that I'm looking for the bike.
Speaker 2:So keep my fingers crossed. I can find a road bike somewhere in here to try to do the event. But you know what it? It'll suck if I can't race after the training and time that has gone in. But if there's somewhere I have to be stranded without a bicycle and without a race on, the coast of australia is not a bad place to be. I just have to plant my butt on the beach and, uh, enjoy some downtime instead. We'll see how it all shakes out I'm pretty sure you'll find a bike.
Speaker 3:I think it just depends on how much you're going to have to work on the road. That's what it's going to come down to.
Speaker 2:Yes, I know Ironic how I spent all this time getting as aero as possible to be as slippery in the wind as I can. I'm like I will take anything. It can have all the wires, it can have all the stuff sticking off. Just give me two wheels, yeah.
Speaker 3:No, Speaking of being in Australia and Ghibli and getting arrow. I did see Mr Josh. Hamburger is testing out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, as well. He is. Yeah, apparently he's getting some good information there, and his partner, ashley gentle, will be using it too to get even more slippery in the wind, which watch out. If she gets even faster on the bike, she's already destroying people with that run of hers, so should be interesting to see if she what she can find with it. Man, she will be a weapon, not that she isn't already.
Speaker 3:More of a weapon.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, yeah, it's kind of. It's a fun vibe down here, though, because it's the multi-sport world championships. There are like 12 days of racing going on across the various events and starting to see all the different countries popping up in their team kits and shirts and everything. So it's definitely a fun vibe regardless. Hopefully there'll be some good racing, seeing it all get set up and, yeah, see what happens, but we got a few other races going on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we definitely do have some races. We got a big, big race in terms of Kona the last option for people getting their Kona slots and Jen and I did some research and some math and it's pretty interesting how this one's going to play out.
Speaker 2:It really is. Basically, if you're looking for a Kona spot and you're half decent, this is a good place to go because you got a good shot at it here. We are obviously talking about Ironman Frankfurt coming up this weekend and there have been a few last minute additions to the start list, so why don't we start with kind of who's going to be there on the top end? We got Patrick Lange, christian Blumenfeld, matt Hansen, jackson Laundrie, Colin Schutz, robert Wilkwecki, trevor Foley, clement Mignon, andre Lopez, brighton Curry, sam Long, bradley Weiss, so Cam Wurf, but who knows if he's going to race or not? I'm pretty sure he just signed up for every single race, just in case just jumps in and out there. So we definitely have a few going in there.
Speaker 2:And the most recent mentioned there, sam Long. He kind of put it out there this week that he's jumping into Ironman Frankfurt. After you know earlier this this week that he's jumping into Ironman Frankfurt, after you know earlier this season he wanted to jump into Ironman Cairns and then decided to focus on the PTO and then, well, because San Francisco didn't go great, and then his next PTO race didn't go great either. So now he's jumping back to Ironman. So be curious to see how he goes there. But, josh, you took a look at who is already Kona qualified. Why don't you give us the rundown of what that Kona qualification looks like at this race?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we've got, I believe, close to 89 pros, something like that on this start list. So it's huge. And of that, 17 of them already have their Kona qualifications. One of them, Christian Blumenfeld, only needs to finish and validate. So there's 18 spots that could finish in the top 18, which means the six slots could go as far down as the 24th finisher in the pro field.
Speaker 2:Isn't that crazy.
Speaker 3:Which is nuts. So I believe we know why Sam Wong is showing up. It's interesting too, because I just listened Bob Babbitt just dropped a breakfast with Bob with Sam and the interview was about not Kona. And he did the interview while Sam was in Italy on vacation, so just recently, but the interview was before Sam had made the decision. He talked about not having an opportunity to go to Kona in the interview, so I think he got off that interview with Bob and he and Laura are like you know what? Have you seen this list of how many spots there are and how many people are there?
Speaker 2:And they're probably like Italy, frankfurt. Let's make it happen. I mean, you're right there, it's close enough.
Speaker 3:He's got his bike, he's got his gear. So, yeah, I guess he's going to go get his Kona slot and we were talking about this before we recorded that's an average day for him, top 24. I mean I know he doesn't do many Ironman, even when he hasn't Kona qualified, he's missed by one slot the last two times that he's tried. So I think he was fourth in maryland and third um earlier this year and so I mean he's just missing. So I think an average day for sam, a good training day, is going to get him to kona, which will again add to the field come later this year, which will make things even more interesting. But yeah, 18, 18 potential spots already taken by people that are already there. So six spots open for a pretty good field. Still to come um, and I mean we got almost 90 pros, which is impressive for an event this late, but I guess to be expected when it's the last chance to qualify that's exactly it.
Speaker 2:Everyone's hoping to make that last push to get on the Kona start list. And then we also have Christian. Blumenfeld was another kind of late addition to this list. Now we know he was hoping to validate his Kona spot and get that entry by winning the gold medal, which unfortunately didn't quite happen in Paris. So he does have to go do an Ironman to validate and so he'll be popping over to Frankfurt. It was interesting to see he's been saying he basically hasn't been on his time trial bike in the last few months in the lead up to the Olympics. But you know, with Christian he can cruise through an Ironman easily. The question will be is he going to race, race it, it, or is he gonna kind of cruise through good enough to check the box and save that energy for kona? What do you think?
Speaker 3:how far down in the field could he finish? Like how is it? Like what is possible? It's almost like sam too. Like how low can they finish at their like average effort, I mean?
Speaker 3:and I know christian, christian doesn't need to ride a ct bike more than once or twice for him to be able to ride 112 miles at zone um, zone one. I mean it's crazy. So I think he's fine. I, I, he rides over in europe all the time. I don't think it's going to be much of a challenge for him. But yeah, he'll finish the race. It'll probably be one of his slowest iron man's ever, um would be my guess, and I would imagine the same for for sam too. But you never know, because he's gonna have to work after the swim to at least get comfortable on the bike and then he'll probably have a decent enough spot off the bike that he'll be able to jog home the marathon yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:Then we got patrick langa is coming in there trying to rack up some more points for that ironman pro series. Um, I guess he'd be doing pretty well in the rankings now that we had, uh, that one result eliminated. It actually didn't look. That would be curious to see if he got bumped up in the rankings now that Thomas Rodriguez Hernandez didn't get those 5,000 points. So he's definitely chasing after that Ironman Pro Series goal and you have to. You know, if he has a good showing here in Germany, you can't go too wrong with Patrick Lange in Germany in top form. So he's gonna be hard to go past during this race I have.
Speaker 3:I mean. So I I made a comment on pro try news um, from our another triathlon podcast, instagram, and they were just announcing sam long being part of this event and I said this now adds to another factor. There's you got the sam longs and the christian blumenfelds that are chasing kona and many others chasing kona, but we have so many others that are already qualified. They're there for the pro series and and you've got the top group of the leaderboard here in matt hansen, patrick Lange, you've got Trevor Foley, you've got Jackson Laundrie. I mean these guys are all at the top of the pro series standings and this is going to be a huge factor for them.
Speaker 3:I mean Trevor Foley this is going to be his second bowl. We all know that Kona's their third. That's what they're all looking at. And when Fetty and I did the recording last week, not knowing if we were going to be able to do another preview of this I'm glad we are I was picking Trevor and I'll probably stick with that. I still think Trevor probably could pull the win here and because the Pro Series means so much to him, whereas somebody like Sam long really doesn't change the the podium to me yeah, he just has to kind of get through it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely different race dynamics trying to qualify for kona, which for a lot of these guys would just be checking the box with that many spots and qualifications in there and chasing down the pro series uh rankings and times at this moment, and that's kind of interesting how someone who's not in the running at all for the pro series can really affect those rankings, um, just by how much far or how far ahead they are, how many places they take up as they go along.
Speaker 2:So it changes up dynamics, which I I like that it's something a little bit different in there. We got a couple races within the races to get that kind of qualification, to get those pro series rankings to just kind of keep it interesting. My only hope is on the coverage. They're on top of it and talking about these talking points right, like saying if, so-and-so, if they finish in this position right now the time splits. Here's who's going to move up in the rankings, here's who's going to move down, who's going to get the corner spot, like they have so much to talk about with these races and where T100 is great with having Torsten on hand to run it down how things are affected and have all those data points and stuff. Ironman hasn't been great with that in the past, so I just hope they have someone off to the side geeking out on the data and saying, okay, here's the outcome, if it's like this right now, which they haven't typically done, but give your commentators something to talk about.
Speaker 3:It's not hard. I mean, I just did a whole bunch of research in a matter of 20 or 30 minutes before this recording and came up with a lot of data. It shouldn't be hard for them to do the same thing. And even looking at the leaderboard now, the top three guys are here. We didn't. I mean. Colin sunch is there too. He still needs to get his kona spot, so not only is he going after kona, but he's number three in the pro series. Yeah, so talk about an impact there. And and if colin has a good day and he gets in way ahead of Matt and Jackson, that's going to leapfrog him to the top. And that's where Matt's got such a huge lead right now. Does he have a good enough day to stay close time-wise? Because every minute counts, every second counts, as we know, and they're losing points every time they drop. If somebody has a crazy ridiculous day, if Trevor Foley has another late-class effort with even more knowledge of his nutrition, he could run away from Matt Hanson.
Speaker 3:And now you're talking other people jumping up, like Jackson Laundrie. If he has a good day, it's going to make it really tight at the top and going into Kona and 70.3 day. And it's going to make it really tight at the top and going into kona and 70.3 worlds. It's going to get really interesting. But matt hansen's in a good spot. If he has a good race, that's uh, it's going to put him in a good spot going into kona. But again, we all know kona's got even more points than the normal 5 000 for an ironman well, absolutely.
Speaker 2:And that's where you have someone like patrick lango, where if he has one of his great days, he really puts Matt Hansen on the back foot there because he could. You know, he got the 5,000 from the last race now and he could put some time into them. Or, you know, you never know Christian Blumenfeld. I'm so curious to see what he does out here. Like most athletes, you'd say just kind of of cruise it, get through it, focus on Kona I don't know if that's in Blumenfeld's DNA to not just race, it go full gas. You've seen him even with some of the super tri stuff in the past. They would be in the eliminator where they just have to cruise through the first couple of rounds. He'd still be off the front like trying to destroy everyone. So I, everyone. So I'm really curious to see what he's actually going to do out there if he'll, if he'll race it hard or just do the job.
Speaker 3:That's very true. And looking at patrick too, so patrick's in 14th place right now. He gets an additional 96 points for texas, so he already had 49.04 his second place, so he's getting another 96. That drops him into the top 13, I believe, and going into this race. So he's there. And then, like you said, if you add another 15 for a good finish and win here, then then yeah, right in the mix. So it's a huge race for two factors there's six kona slots that could drop all the way down in the 20s finishing of this race, and then you've got all these guys going after the podium in the post-series race. So really exciting and just looking forward to another big Ironman race. Like you said, hopefully the coverage is there to talk about the same things we're talking about exactly and kind of know who the athletes are and who's racing out there.
Speaker 2:So it'll definitely keep it interesting. I'm looking forward to see this. I'll check out time zones. I don't know what time zones or days or anything are anymore. Over here in Australia. Trying to figure those out have been oh craziness. But definitely gonna try to watch that and then also try to watch that and then also try to watch super try this weekend, cause that is always fun racing, just fast and furious, going full gas. And, like Josh mentioned, we're going to have Michael Dost coming on for an interview just to chat, all things. Super try and kind of catch up with what's going on there. They've got the teams racing, which is changing things up a little bit more, and it is going to be so good to watch. Are you going to get to see much of it?
Speaker 3:uh, go down the pro race in person, josh yeah, I think I'm gonna be kind of like you at the t100 I got. I got access to a vip pass and some post-race interviews too. So we'll see if another triathlon podcast gets some media credentials as well. That will be wicked we'll get if another triathlon podcast gets some media credentials as well that will be wicked.
Speaker 2:We'll get all the insight in the super tri because, man, it's just so much fun. If you ever can go on site for these events, they're such a blast to watch in person yeah, I mean people listening to this podcast.
Speaker 3:If you're in the area, the tickets are free to come and watch the actual race. There are the additional VIP hospitality stuff that you can purchase in addition and parking passes and things like that, but to come and watch is free. You just go online and I think you get a free water bottle all this type of stuff that you can get. But it's a really cool, fan-friendly event and it's attached to, like I said, the other triathlon in the morning and then, after that's done and the awards are done for that, the super tri race will start with the girls and then the men after that love it.
Speaker 2:And actually, before I move on to the racing stuff, I guess we didn't make our picks for frankfurt. Um, who you got for this weekend?
Speaker 3:I'm gonna stick with trevor foley. That's who I picked last week when we did the recording, so I'm gonna stick with trevor sounds good.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm gonna go. Patrick lang, you know the german in germany pretty hard to pass up and he's got that killer run. I'm curious to see if he's going to be more fired up. Um, after the result and what happened with the uh, the doping suspension at this time, see what he can go do out there. And yeah, just curious to see how hard everyone pushes it getting close to Kona. But Kona is later in the year. This year Usually you don't see people do well in that Frankfurt Roth kind of time period for racing, but Kona's later. I guess this race is later than usual too, so we'll see how that affects everyone and if they're going to be racing for the spot or racing for the overall win there. Definitely two very different dynamics.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so. You've got Patrick, I've got Trevor and Fedde has Jackson.
Speaker 2:Oh, I like it. Yeah, that would be very fun to see Jackson on the top of the podium there. Get that Canadian flag flying.
Speaker 3:It would put him very close to the lead too, depending on how Matt. Hanson does. If Jackson wins now this is what we're talking about If Jackson wins, depending on how Matt Hanson does. If Jackson wins Now this is what we're talking about If Jackson wins, how far back is Matt Hanson? That's where the clock really comes into play. If Jackson wins, you can frog Matt to take the overall lead. That's huge Talk about it. That's the type of stuff we want to hear from him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we want to know all the talking points. What's going on the?
Speaker 3:distances between do you know, are they? Going to have a race ranger at this event. I didn't look into that. No, I have not. I have not heard. Um, I can see that the race does start four days, two hours and 55 minutes from now, so you can figure that out on your end oh man, I don't even know what day it is right now um.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I do not know if race ranger is going to be there. I have not followed their page, um or not, and I think typically they make the decision, uh, when they get there. So it's supposed to be there, whether or not they use it or not. That's a lot of pros too, and we know there's only a limited amount of machines yeah, they ran into that in oceanside.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think they're supposed to be doing all the pro race series, so that'll be good to see. We want to see some fair racing out there and it really makes a massive difference. Um, hopefully we don't have any moto uh interference and people actually racing a fair distance, because that's what we want to see with Ironman. Mano a mano, do your thing and see who's the fastest at the end of the day.
Speaker 3:Did you have a social media post of the week for us? I don't, because we just recorded last week so I didn't really think of much.
Speaker 2:That's what I figured.
Speaker 3:Last week was just kind of follow Super, super try and see everything and all the cool stuff that their social media team's been putting out, and I would say the same thing this week.
Speaker 3:Just kind of follow all that heading into this race. It's a new format for a lot of people, but we hope our audience enjoys it and definitely check them out because they've already started. I did actually see that um dorian connix is already here in Boston. He was out for a run today, bracket, if you're in the area, you're going to start seeing some of these Olympians and some of these professional short course triathletes show up and running around the same courses that you normally run for your daily run. Really cool to see that. That would be my suggestion, I think just stay on top of what's going on with super try. We all know how to follow iron man and I'll get emails and posts and everything there.
Speaker 2:But uh, other than that, it was kind of the the yo-yo-yo stealing the story with his update that he's coming well, if there's nothing else in here, let's jump into that interview with michael dulst and I'm sure we'll dive into all things super try and the action that's gonna hit on this weekend, and we'll definitely drop in the show notes all the best ways to follow and watch the races too, because you won't want to miss it. It's always so good. As promised, we are back with co-founder of supertri, michael dulst. He's joining us to talk all things going on in the supertri world. With the series kicking off this weekend. We're so excited, with a couple stops in the us to start. But first off, welcome, michael. Happy to have you join us here. How are you doing?
Speaker 2:uh, I'm doing great, excited it excited, it's happening yeah you guys must be so excited to have it in these new locations. Something a little bit different here, pairing with some iconic races that already existed. What kind of brought that about, pairing with some of these races?
Speaker 4:well, I mean, I believe it's a great time to do more in North America. Obviously, we just come off Paris Olympics and, yeah, the next Olympics is in LA right. So we're building towards that and I want to use that Olympic momentum to kind of make short course triathlon great again in North America. That's the vision.
Speaker 3:Love to hear it Speaking of the vision. Why don't you kind of give us your vision of this? Going back, what now? Six, seven years since you started what was then Super League? How did that all come about, with the three of you founding this? Yeah?
Speaker 4:I mean, I think, as you say, three people founded it and all passionate about triathlon and and obviously triathlon has has a for all three of us, changed our lives to in very different ways, but had a massive impact. Uh, for all three of us. And my personal journey. I'm from belgium, right, and and I've said it many times, but in 1996 luke van luyden won ironman, hawaii and that inspired so many people to join triathlon. So I started doing triathlon back in the late 90s and kind of got stuck with it through a corporate career etc. But always loved the sport and as I saw the sport evolving, it became truly a participation sport due to the success of Ironman, I guess. But it became very much a participation sport and we kind of together saw this opportunity to say well, triathlon changed our lives. We all got inspired by triathlon and that moved us to become triathletes, right? So why don't we focus on that? Why don't we do something that nobody was doing when we started is focusing on delivering great content through triathlon. And then we took Liberties, of course, changed the format, because it's not only yeah, we wanted to do things new. We're carving out a niche for ourselves that wasn't existing previously. We don't need to compete with Ironman. We can be complementary with iron man. Um, so do it, and do it also for a younger generation. Right, it's, it's, it has to be a.
Speaker 4:The future of the sport is the next generation of the sport and it's bringing new people into the sport, right? So, creating exciting content tiktokifying if that's a word, right, uh, the sport, uh, that, that, that's what, that was our, that was our focus, and that's where we started with what is now called the league, but professional racing short, dynamic, action-packed, always something happening, but also inspirational. And then, if you're asking about the vision, obviously now we're a few years later We've developed an eSports version of the sport because through COVID, that's become a world championship. It's also become part of this eOlympics, so that's an exciting development. There's a lot there, there's a lot of opportunities there that we want to do.
Speaker 4:But, as I was saying before, we see a great opportunity now to follow the push and pull, let's say, from the Olympics to bring more focus to short course triathlon and focus on North America. And that is a push. And that's why we started doing mass participation events, bringing more mass participation events together, specifically in North America, and connecting them with the professional events and then it becomes a kind of a flywheel effect where both impact each other. The participant will drive new fans and the fans will drive new participants. Yeah, a flywheel effect where both what? Where? Both impact each other. Right, the participant will drive new fans and the fans will new drive new participants and, um, and hopefully, we, we grow to sport and ultimately, yeah, in a, in a space that is that nobody's active, much in right, short course triathlons yeah, absolutely, and it was funny.
Speaker 4:I think I did one of the the first age group events there over in penticton years ago and yes that's where I realized how much these pros were actually doing, because going from running to swimming is the worst feeling in the world, and trying to remember the actual order of the events definitely kept it interesting, um well, that's, that's one of the main challenge I like, indeed that was one of the only events where we did where we did the swim bike run swim bike run also for age groupers, because that is, that is very, very tricky yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I think even some of the volunteers were a little confused as switching up the orders, but it made it a lot of fun to get a feel for what the pros are actually doing.
Speaker 2:Um, but, one thing I love about super try um is how you actually change up the sport so it's not just swim, bike run, you're changing up the formats, but you have these things like the short shoot and now the teams. Where it's really changing it up. Is that more to make it a tv broadcast product? Because, again, it does make it a lot more exciting, or how did that start?
Speaker 4:well, I mean the, the teams. I think for me, the teams is a is, again, there's a major, is a major point of making the sport more mainstream. Right, I mean any, any sport that is team-based is attractive to a wider audience because you don't actually have to know too much. You don't actually have to know an individual, right, you can just, really, you can just relate with a, with a team, typically a country, like something much more simple to conceptualize, right? So, um, and even even cycling, where the teams are not not country based, right, there is a, there is a narrative that is much more easier to understand, that you don't really to to follow. So, I think, teams, for me, the main thing there is, yeah, a simple narrative.
Speaker 4:Let's say, if, if, if a sport is a layer cake, top line, layer cake, top line, messaging stars and stripes, american team, I support the american team.
Speaker 4:Then afterwards I can become fan of an american athlete and maybe I like one, this one more I have, because the narrative, the plot thickens, right, to put it simply, uh, and I think, yeah, that's that is for me, yeah, a big push again in making that the sport more attractive to a very wide audience and more mainstream um is creating those teams and I mean there is some added benefits to it. That's these technical elements. It also helps a little bit with distribution of wealth, right, because if you give money to a team, they can distribute the wealth to maybe the athletes who are not yet on the top of the podium, but because of their contribution to the team they can benefit. So it creates an interesting dynamic, not only for the fans but actually also, I think, for different level of athletes in their developments, right, and then creates the opportunity to mentor programs. So I think it can contribute a lot for sure.
Speaker 4:Yeah. And then to answer your other questions, why short shoots? Again, we need to modernize, we need to make it exciting, uh, and we need a point of difference, right? We're not trying to do exactly the same what has been done before, I think. For me, iron man still works, 17.3 still works, right, we don't have to try to do the same thing.
Speaker 3:We're doing things slightly different, and there's a lot of people that are big fans of, of of super tribe and more triathlon, traditionalists who don't like the short shoots, but they appreciate that this part of the future of the sport, right, so it's there to stay well, clearly the athletes don't mind it either, because you continue to get, year after year, some of the biggest names in triathlon, short or long course, and they're still participating in your league and and really bringing to it, I mean on top of the managers and the coaches that you have who are legends of the sport. I mean the combination is amazing and more people need to know about it and and we're happy to to help spread the word a little bit through our little, our little podcast here. But I think what has been your interaction with some of these top-name athletes I mean going back to Gustav and the Brownlees and still involved and Tim Don how have you done that and how is that whole experience been?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think what we focused on from the beginning I think what we focused on from the beginning and that was kind of one of our key measurements at the first event back in Hamilton Island is do the athletes love it and do they actually want to be part of it? And after the first experience, do they want to sign up again? And I think we've achieved that by community, by community and by getting them to buy into how the sport can be in the future. Obviously, we pay good prize money, but I really argue, it's not just about prize money. It's very much about how we treat them as true professionals. It's the whole community we built from. At the moment they are, we talk to them about being becoming part of the series to actually taking them on the journey and delivering them services and and uh around around every event and making it, making it the whole thing a great experience.
Speaker 2:So it's not just about the racing, but it's also about everything around it and I think, yeah, that's been um, that's been key the authenticity and the community yeah, absolutely, and that's one thing I always noticed, um, having gone to a few of the events over the years is, you know, you see all the athletes in the same hotel and there's not many opportunities for, well, the long course athletes, but even even the Olympics, they kind of seem to stick to their country.
Speaker 2:At Supertri it was just everyone was out there racing doing something that was cool and fun and a little different from what they spent the whole year doing, which was really great to see those interactions and see some of those friendships and all of that form. And it's been really cool to see some athletes come up through Supertri, like just seeing Hayden wild at the olympics here. I remember one of his first races was super try. He was out in like the first or second round, went hard off the front blue, and then he's in vip in a bathrobe, kind of celebrating stuff, just happy to be there and he's kind of come from that to now an 11th medalist, so it's cool to have that pathway yeah, I mean it's.
Speaker 4:And and not only hayden, but also alex. I remember him racing and, uh, racing. And where was it? In jersey, our I think it was our second ever event. Right, and alex shows up and yeah he was a runner, right.
Speaker 4:So I mean his bike riding didn't amount too much, but, yeah, both his coach and his manager at the time said look, we need to continue to commit to this, because to make him a well-rounded triathlete he needs to learn to bike ride in tight courses and then tight packs. With the best in the world. He needs to learn that transition over and over again, right? I remember going and watching the wts event in abu dhabi and, uh, standing next to the transition. They come into transition in a big group and and suddenly there's two packs right, and the first group was all the guys who were racing Supertroy and the second group was was the rest right? So just the fact that they've? Well, at Supertroy we do eight transitions back to back right, and every in every shape or form.
Speaker 4:Right, so, uh, good practice uh yeah, so, uh, yeah, I think that's that's, that's very key. And now, with the teams, we actually make it part of every we enforce every team has to have an under 23 athletes racing at least 80 of the series, right? So, uh, again pointing, pointing out that it is about creating that next generation, not only of of fans, but also of athletes, so that's very important to us.
Speaker 3:So with that and that's a good segue into the, I guess, change One of the other changes this year was the franchise model. So now you've got these teams that are supposed to build their own brands and help bring new sponsors to the sport. How has that transition been in working with the four teams that you've got and how you see that going through America? And hopefully these next three events, these next couple events, will get some more eyes on the league as well.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Well, I mean, we've done that slightly different than, let's say, most leagues. They sell their teams first and then they build the league. Right, we've obviously built the league first. We've actually operated the team. So we understood, okay, how does it work in terms of the dynamics of athletes? How do they collaborate? Do all the athletes buy in? We also have an understanding of what the media value is of each team, et cetera, et cetera. So we understand both the racing dynamics as well as the commercial dynamics and value of each team, right.
Speaker 4:And then we've said, okay, now we have, there's enough proof of concept, let's, uh, let's, let's, let's, let's, sell those franchises right and let's, let's find the right people to kind of take ownership and tell that narrative. Because Because, as I was saying, for me that top line narrative is key to attract new audiences and create fandom. And yeah, I hope, as a company, we want to give that to people to do that. And then it allows us to focus on our own ambitions, which is growing the league, putting more events on also now, growing a participation circuits right, and then expanding that intensively. So, yeah, we can't do it all, so we need to have the right partners and it feels like. Finding the right partners to team structures is a is a great way of doing it because, yeah, a lot of the team owners love also operating, working with athletes, having a team you and using the opportunities that that brings right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Now for the actual racing with the teams aspect is much going to be changing on how the actual races are run with teams compared to last season. So is it more the commercial side is changing or is it changing up how teams are actually going to use their athletes?
Speaker 4:well, I mean, you know, it's like the technicalities in terms of point system and short shoot is that's what remain? We made exactly the same. Look, if you have to go into detail, we will downweight the, the swim bike and run points slightly right, so, which means they will play a lesser role. They still remain, but they will not be as big in terms of the team contributions, where it's all about finishing. Every athlete who finishes contributes points right.
Speaker 4:In previous races that was not always the case, but, yeah, the dynamics remain very much the same. The other thing that we implemented, I points right. In previous races. That was not always the case, but, yeah, the dynamics remain very much the same. The other thing that we implemented I was just saying that it always have to, they always have to be a young athlete, but the dynamics will very much be the same. And when hearing, hearing, I mean we have obviously a lot of meetings with the different team managers. It's interesting how different teams go about with different strategies on how to achieve their goals, right, and yeah, so I think we will see different strategies, but that is just because of different management styles, because ultimately, the racing concepts will remain the same.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's something that you guys have had to, I guess, respond to just the innovation within the sport, so having different roles. Like we saw for a while, people were running out of transition without their shoes because they could save some time there, or teams sending a runner off and their only goal is to run as fast as possible. So has it been challenging to kind of adapt when things like that comes up. Come up where maybe it's not the best for the series and the sport to have people doing that, but you still want to leave that room to be strategic yeah, I think, um, I wouldn't call, I wouldn't call it challenging.
Speaker 4:I think it's, it's the right way of doing it, right. I don't think we should never be afraid to take risk. Uh, I mean, as a, as a young organization and as an organization that wants to be driven by, wants to drive change, we need to take risk and, of course, measured risk, but there's an element of risk. So, indeed, when we weighted swim, bike and run points very high last year, I mean there was eight points for the win, which compared to 15 points for the overall win. Right is a lot right, and indeed then we saw teams using that, taking that strategic advantage. But, equally, this is not us implementing.
Speaker 4:This is a discussion between the team managers, and there was a number of team managers were saying look, guys, it remains a triathlon, right? We shouldn't. I mean, if we have four athletes racing per team, we shouldn't be incentivized to bring non-triathletes in. Let's also stay true to the sport, right? So let's allow runners, younger athletes that are maybe not competing yet for the top spot on the podium but are very good at swimming, biking or running. Let's have them play to their strengths, but let's still not overly emphasize them to just run and go home right, because even even some of the athletes that were doing that were afterwards a little bit frustrated that they didn't, that, they, they, they didn't finish the race right. They didn't feel like, oh shit, I didn't get all the experience that I wanted. So I feel like many of those learnings or those risks are learnings for the better and ultimately we all look at each other afterwards and say, hey, yeah, it was great, it was great fun, it was an exciting development. Uh, yeah, but we've also learned and we're improving it now.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, and everybody seems to always be on board with that- so, speaking of getting on board, how do we get more people in Boston on board? How do we get more people in Chicago on board? What do you want to say to those regions that you're coming to for the first time, ahead of London, toulouse and Lyon, where that's expected, we know what to visualize and these are new cities. How do we get that message out there? What is your message to these two new cities and Boston this Sunday?
Speaker 4:I think people, I mean you just have to come and watch it right.
Speaker 4:Ultimately, we have to come and watch it and we are pushing that out. I think this is a great show of triathlon. You go and stand alongside the course and the athletes pass by literally every 90 seconds and it's so close and narrow that you really feel part of that racing right. There is no closer experience than that, right, and as a fan on the ground, you have the best experience because you are part of that excitement right, which is very different than how, yeah, you currently would experience triathlon but also many other sports right cycling, etc. Etc. It's very unique that you can be that entrenched and close to the action at the events, right. So I think, yeah, I'm encouraging everybody to come and experience that. I mean personally. Yeah, I'm realistic that this is a this is this needs growth right, and and we do that through content, we do that through working with, with influencers from in and outside the sport to kind of share these experiences right, and it's a longer-term commitment to change something right or to bring something new.
Speaker 2:Took the France 100 years, put a while on there, yeah, and I can personally attest that has been some of my favorite races to watch. Just going to the formerly super league events, um, when you're seeing athletes so often you see exactly what's going on. They've got massive screens so you can see what's happening. When you can't see the athletes in that 60 seconds in between laps, but you were so close to the action and the energy of the crowd that has been something else to experience. So definitely recommend that people go out.
Speaker 4:If you can watch it in person understand, tickets are free to just come out and see the event and watch everything go down yeah, yeah, indeed, I mean it's free to, it's free to watch, so everybody can come down and and, yeah, you'll be an arm's length away from the athletes and and afterwards, I mean we're setting up, uh yeah, like a pit lane from formula one right, where you see the athletes train and pull down and warm down and then you can actually peek in, get some, collect some signatures, uh, maybe catch a, catch a selfie or something. So I mean it's not only exciting to watch, but there's also that little interaction before and after and, as as you said, with the big screens and the show and the entertainment around there's there's plenty for happening.
Speaker 3:There's plenty for happening coming out of paris for some of our listeners who maybe haven't seen super try before and how quick and we keep talking about you get to see somebody like every 90 seconds. We know what that means. But can you explain, like how short this racing actually is and in in the region it covers? Like it's not like you're going out on a 70.3 bike ride and not seeing somebody for more than five seconds? Can you explain a little bit how the course is set up?
Speaker 4:well, the course is a one mile loop, right? So, uh, so, yeah, that's it. And and it's a quite narrow one mile loop. It's typically never wider than than four meters or something, right, so it's. It's a quite, very technical, very short one mile loop, which they continue to do.
Speaker 4:So, uh, a bike ride would typically be four laps, and and then, and actually for the run, we try to make it we don't do the full one mile, we do probably half of it, and they do that twice, right? So, and and then we have eight transitions. So if you're, if you're somewhere close to there, they pass there eight times, right, for transitioning. And then, for every bike ride, four times for every run, twice, right, so, uh, there's, it's always action, it's always packed, and and again, and we focus on just having 16 athletes, the best in the world, very, very fast. So it's always action, it's always packed and we focus on just having 16 athletes, the best in the world, very, very fast. So it's full speed. And then, with the different, and we incentivize in the first run, the second run points for the fastest runners. So every lap is important, they try to get to post a fast time, uh, etc, etc.
Speaker 2:So there's always plenty for happening yeah, definitely, and do you want to let people know, for the first event that we have coming up, which format will the athletes be racing for?
Speaker 4:it's a little different than one swim bike run uh, indeed, the format, the format and actually the format for all of the events this year, because we try to simplify. That is, is swim bike run, swim bike run, swim bike run continuous. So, um, yeah, and and I love that, right, because if your strength is swimming, I mean obviously you're trying, but if your strength is swimming, uh, yeah, you'll benefit a lot of that. Second and that third, swim right and you'll really be able to hurt the runners and the cyclists there, right. So that's been interesting and it still always creates confusion. Even very experienced athletes like Johnny Brownlee has had moments where he forgets to take his bike helmet off or something. And because there's so much happening, there's so much intensity.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it definitely keeps it interesting and just always something is going on and you see athletes somewhere in the front just trying to, you know, stay in the game and race it strategically, while you have some of the younger athletes, I'm sure, just trying to not get cut off and see that disqualified flag with Tom Hall, big, intimidating figure, holds up that flag and you're, I'm sure, just trying to not get cut off and see that disqualified flag With Tamal, a big, intimidating figure holds up that flag and you're just like, oh, come on.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's the other great story. Indeed, if you get lapped, you are eliminated, right. Or if you're 90 seconds behind, you get eliminated. So there's also that drive from the back and yeah, there's always that also that drive from from the back, and uh, yeah, there's a. There's a great story there. We have, uh, the funny salai, who's a now 16 year old athlete, uh, who raced with us last year and every, every, every, every event, she got eliminated, eliminated and but closer and closer and closer to it, right, right, and then, ultimately, in our final event, she made it. She didn't get eliminated and finished in the top 10, which was a great achievement. But it also shows how quickly you learn if you race that hard. So it's great.
Speaker 3:And she just won an event last weekend, right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, European champion, so yeah.
Speaker 3:We got a few champions coming to boston.
Speaker 4:You want to talk about some of the athletes you do have coming for this first event well, everybody who is somebody in short course triathlon is coming, so, but no, I mean, I think the headliners are, of course, the olympic, the olympic champions, right, so, uh, cassandra beaugrand and uh and alexi, but okay, hayden Wilde, who got passed in the what is it the last kilometre of the run in Paris, he's also coming, obviously gunning for revenge. Yeah, from the American side, yeah, we have a lot of the guys from the team who's coming down, right. So, taylor Spivey is coming down, right, so have, yeah, some great names who are who are coming, but, um, yeah, and then we have some kind of, let's say, classics from from super try who, uh, like vincent louis or, or, um, georgia taylor brown, who also raced in the olympics, but she's won, she's won us a couple of times. Yeah, that will be great. There's a very great mix of old and young current champions and then more legends of Supertri coming back. That will be fantastic.
Speaker 2:And it's really interesting to see how that experience within Supertri definitely makes a big difference, because you throw even some of the fittest athletes in the world and make them do a swim bike run, back-to run, back to back to back.
Speaker 2:I'm sure it's a shock to the system to say the least so really curious to see how it plays out between the olympic champions who are obviously in the peak of their physical form, um, compared to some people who have maybe spent more time doing these races not to say they haven't done these, but be curious to see how those tactics play out this weekend.
Speaker 4:Well, I think, yeah, one one, one I'm particularly excited about and if I was speaking about legends is katie's appearance. Right, she's such a smart athlete and balanced athletes. Right, because, again, the intensity of of our racing, although it's shorter than than an olympic distance race, the intensity is something that you need to keep your head in the game right, and and their maturity plays a role there, right? So somebody like like katie, who missed out on the olympic qualification, but yeah, that's, that's an athlete who you can see third swim, third bike, third run, keeping her head, keeping her head in the game, focused, not making any mistakes and slowly, yeah, maybe missing on top speed, but through tactics and through focus, making the differences right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it'll be interesting with her and obviously, vincent Luy. They were dominating the series before and both of them didn't quite get their shot at the Olympics here, so she'll be racing with a bit of fire come this weekend.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, and again, I believe again, Supertri is about speed, but Supertri is also very much about tactical insights and keeping your focus right. And yeah, I mean yeah, Vincent Louis and Inform right, there is nobody who is smarter, is a smarter, racing, better in positioning than he is. So that's going to be very exciting.
Speaker 3:And for people not here in Boston or in Chicago for the next stop. How can they watch this? Is there a way for them to watch it on?
Speaker 4:TV while they're online. Sure, there's plenty of ways to watch it. I mean, there's TV, I think. In the US we have BN Sports, there's a couple of other channels, in Europe we have Eurosport across. But I mean, I guess the safest way is to just go to our website. You put in your email address there's no payment or nothing you just put in your email address and you can watch it there, all the action. And then we have a little show after the event where we kind of go back and deep dive a little bit in the tactics also. That will also be streamed live on our website. So that's the safest bet that is available everywhere. Go click on the website and you'll get there, and then also on the website you'll find all the information of where to watch it, if you want to watch it on the television.
Speaker 3:Awesome. So yeah, we'll put the supertrycom website in our show notes as well, for everyone.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Definitely looking forward to watching it go down. Is there anything that you want people to know going into this weekend?
Speaker 4:before we take up too much of your time, Well, no, I know, going into this weekend before we take up too much of your time, uh, well, no, I mean, I think it's like it's I'm looking for for some great plot twists and some after the olympics, right, I think that's that's what is exciting. It's still that is still very fresh in mind, and there was some exceptional racing there. Um, and then, yeah, I think, just join, join the community of growing the future of the sport, right, watch it and then share the passion for it, because I think that's what ultimately helps the athletes, that's what helps the sport to grow and to bring new people into it. Sign up for a mass participation event too.
Speaker 3:I'm doing my first Olympic this weekend. Because of your race, I'm signed up first Olympic this weekend because of your race. So I'm signed up for the Boston Tri Mass Participation event. I'll be in the water around 7 am.
Speaker 4:That is fantastic. I mean, I've done so many Olympic and sprint distance races this year already. I wish I was doing more, but it's difficult to justify doing off on our own race day, going and race myself. But anyway, good, I'll be cheering, I'll be cheering, beautiful course.
Speaker 3:Meanwhile, jen is at the world championships in australia without her bike, but she's gonna find him, she's kind of squinting about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, definitely fun. I'll be up, waking up very early to watch the races go down for Super Triathlon. I can't miss them because it's definitely fun to watch. And if you guys haven't already, go check out their social media, like I said, tiktok, instagram stuff. They really kudos on bringing the content to the game there. It really makes a big difference just showing people how exciting and dynamic triathlon racing can be. That's definitely something that's going to help reach a wider audience and if triathlon grows, it's good for everyone there because it is such an incredible community and sport for sure.
Speaker 4:Thank you, jenna, and good luck in Australia then. Good luck.
Speaker 2:Thank you Well, thank you so much, Michael, for joining us. We are going to be watching. Josh will be on the ground talking to everyone he can there and doing a little suffering on the course as well to make it more fun. We are so appreciative that you took the time to come on here my pleasure.
