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Raise the profile of Triathlon

Hi, I'm new to the forum and although I'm not a triathlete I'm looking into the sport as part of my sports media course. It seems to me that triathlon really doesn't seem to get the media coverage it deserves as one of the fastest growing sports in the UK.



What do you think should be done to raise the profile of the sport in the media?

Comments

  • guv001guv001 Posts: 227
    Perhaps we could canvas Ch 5 to put the ITU highlights on before 3 am every week. It seems to me that all minority sports are given little if no media support even the Tour De France has been relagated to ITV4 this year. With more media coverage comes more sponsors which equals money and resources for your sport. We could make a big start by getting IMUK on the tele as well as things like Brit Champs.
  • BonusBBonusB Posts: 279
    Making more of the success of our athletes when they do perform well would help as well, only been doing triathlon a short while but its not even a sport that gets a brief mention on the news.



    Interestingly I had to go to a presentation skills training course, in which we had to do a 5 minute talk about something where we have an interest, obviously I went with triathlon. But what came out of doing a short presentation was how little people actually know about the sport, just over half the room knew that it consists of the swim bike run element, but very few knew that they were done consequtively, I think triathlon is often seen as being similair to the decathlon.



    I think that in time given the growth of the sport it will eventually gather a critical mass and then start to gather more media attnetion, and with that, funding.
  • JasonBJasonB Posts: 303
    It would be really easy in my eyes to glam up triathlon, and it is a glam sport, which can be quite expensive.



    However the problem lies in not the perception of the sports rather how many spectators it can attract. For example sprint triathlons are good to watch, because you will see an athlete and then maybe 20mins-30mins that athlete will reappear. However the other extreme would be ironman. It is a true challenge to complete one, and a spectator or broadcast company would not then see many highlights or atheltes for hours.

    So even though it is a fairly known 'difficult' sport, it is not viewed on by broadcasters as a money earner. Where as football for example could gain thousands/millions from one two hour show.



    I personally prefer triathlon the way it is, it is a sport where people do nt osaturate it because of its known challenges, and immense training that is required, although it would be nice to see on telly now and then at a decent hour. Bring back Trans World Sport.

  • jazdogjazdog Posts: 223
    Lets face it...triathlon is just too long to provide exciting tv coverage unless you are a triathlete. If swimming and cycling can't get its profile up after the great results for all the home nations in Melbourne how can tri hope to compete - especially when the Olympic squad has been cut?



    Most we can hope for is that the numbers coming into the sport rise fast and builds momentum.



    jaz
  • guv001guv001 Posts: 227
    If you go on the IM Germany website they have loads of media coverage of their event. It can be done.
  • RewRew Posts: 62
    The profile of the sport does need to be raised, but then again there are soooo many sports that scream out for the same thing.....namely funding.

    I think that the elite athletes in this country do exceptionaly well for the lack of funding they get.

    Take Tim Don for one. I record and watch the ITU Triathlon series on channel 5. Last year Tim Don finished second in the series...that second in the world!!! If you put Tim Don in a room of 100 people how many would recognise him? The same for Richard Stannard, Andrew Johns, Andrea Whitcombe, Liz Blatchford, etc etc.

    The message of Triathlon is getting through to the general public. It must be cause we keep hearing that it's the fastest growing sport in the country. Hopefully with that will follow the media attention and then the profile will raise even further.

    For now it relies on us to spread the word. To encourage friends and family to come and watch and then possibly enter an event and then they in turn will do the same thing.



    Phwor that was quite a rant. I've stopped dribbling now and calmed down a bit!!!
  • trichamptrichamp Posts: 22
    I think the more we shout about our successes the more people are going to sit up and take notice. Take our junior club for example;



    a year ago we had only just formed and had about 20 members but went to a local event and practically wiped the floor. the kids take these successes and tell their friends so they come along and join too. we've now got about 50 members a 150% increase!!!



    I think we've got to do the same for the wider picture like BonusB said and when we do do well, SHOUT ABOUT IT!!! Maybe that way the TV/Newspaper/Radio stations will take a bit of notice and move their coverage to a more earthly time.



    What about a triathlon TV channel?????
  • trisitrisi Posts: 13
    I think that triathletes are too busy training for the three (or is it 4?!) disciplines rather than shouting about their successes. I concur with the idea that it's not a moneyspinning sport to broadcast, even though it features competition between some of the most impressively fit people the world has to offer.



    Let's not forget that it has come a long way in the last 30 odd years, and was only announced as an Olympic event in 2000. My father in law has been competing since he was 50 (now 67) and he's started complaining that the competitor fields are becoming too large! surely that's a testament to it's growth - albeit too slow for our generation.



    [:)] Perhaps we need to employ Japanese event organisers to start throwing electric eels in the pool and feline predators on the run circuit - that'll get us on C5 more often [:D]
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