John Lunt is a pioneer of triathlon in the UK with a tremendous track record – competing back in the early days of tri in the early 1980s, a former Board member of British Triathlon, founder of Kingfisher Triathlon Club, President of the London Region, through to founding leading race organising company Human Race. John was then given the responsibility of organising the biggest tri event on the planet as Race Director for the London 2012 Olympic Triathlon in Hyde Park.
We caught up with John back in November as he was jetting off to organise the inaugural St Lucia Triathlon. We talked through the ambitions for this grassroots event, his thoughts on the state of triathlon today and that stellar event back in the summer of 2012…
triathlonbusiness.com (TriBiz): Your latest venture is focused on giving back to the local community in St Lucia. How has it been shaping up?
John Lunt (JL): It’s coming along really well but numbers wise, it’s a tiny event in the grand scheme of things. We have some locals, some people flying in from elsewhere in the Caribbean and a few pale and pasty white Brits together with some from the USA! We are turning it into a real community island event, something they can be proud of. Interestingly it’s like organising an event in the UK 20 years ago.
It’s one of those madcap events that has been generating tremendous media exposure both on the island and in the UK. We’ve had extensive coverage in the Financial Times. They’re a media partner at Human Race. The event in St Lucia offers up some high value prizes, like a trip for two to the island with 5-star accommodation. It’s one of those iconic places of interest to FT readers.
We have also worked hard in getting dignitaries to attend the event and this in turn helps to create more noise on the island. We’ve got the most amazing VIP list ever: the Governor General who represents the Queen on the island, the Minister of Tourism, the Director of Tourism, IOC member Richard Peterkin and then of course we have Daley Thomson, two-time Olympic Gold Medallist.
So, as an event, it’s pretty much a drop in the ocean. But as a media property it’s creating tremendous value, driving sponsor interest and so on.
TriBiz: Digicel has come on board as a sponsor of Tri St Lucia; a nice addition to the sponsor roster…
JL: Yes. They are a major telecoms network player, particularly in the Caribbean and they want to wrap themselves around sport across the region – getting behind cricket and lots of different activities. They came on board fairly late in 2013. In 2014, we’ll be building a lot on the connection with young people, mobile phone usage and triathlon.
TriBiz: How did the Tri St Lucia event come about?
JL: It was really via a series of fortunate coincidences. One was Olympian Daley Thompson, a good friend of mine. We’ve been hooking up and working together on a few things over the years; he loves triathlon and loves the type of people involved in the sport. That relationship generated his flagship triathlon – Diamond Tri at Dorney in the UK.
Over the last 8 years, Daley has been going out to St Lucia to run specific sport training camps within local hotels. Another friend of his, Adam Gobat, a hotelier on the island, and also a keen triathlete, helped make up the project team.
The 3 of us got together. I went out in November 2012, met with the local community and of course the St Lucia Triathlon association and local sport clubs.
We knew that to make anything happen on the island, you need buy-in from the top. So, we had lunch with the Governor General (who happened to be at the London 2012 Men’s Triathlon on 7 August 2012) and others to get permission at the outset. By going to the top we had a level of commitment straight away and then we started talking to the tourist board, PR agencies, the police, harbour-master, etc.
They all loved the idea and wanted it to happen, they could see the benefits – sport, health, tourism etc. So I came back and said let’s put on a triathlon!
This event has a number of platforms. It’s not so much about making money. It’s about building an infrastructure into an area that doesn’t do triathlon. There isn’t a bike shop on the island for example. We’re trying to give something back… To make it happen, we’ll get around 40 Brits to the island in year one and get the islanders into the event as a starter.
We have a great crew from Human Race flying out… Around 22, paying their own way to work on the event. We’ll build the event for the St Lucians. The crew will train and empower the locals and so help build capacity and give them the belief to stage their own events going forwards.
We said from day one that we’d leave the kit behind – from swim caps, medals, race numbers, arrows to racking – helping the locals build the sport of triathlon on St Lucia. This helps build the pyramid and get people excited about the sport. We have great plans for the race on the island. Watch this space…
TriBiz: And despite being surrounded by water, few people swim?
JL: Yes. It’s staggering. The statistic I’ve been told is that 85% of kids on the island can’t swim. If the event inspires kids to get active via a kids Triathlon or Aquathlon, they can really be a part of the event experience*. Hopefully, they’ll stay with it and we’ll have started something good.”
*The tristLucia.com event has a number of children’s events both triathlon and aquathlon.
In tandem with all of this, triathlon is of course a business. The commercials are important to sustain the event and the sport on the island. The tourism spend is important. Hence, the St Lucia Tourism Board is involved. It’s driving a lot of media activity. It’s putting triathlon in St Lucia on the map.
Another ideal for the event is help using sport for social good – using the sport for betterment – for me that’s the key to its success, helping kids and adults, feel better about themselves and giving them the belief to achieve better things. The three of us behind this event, Daley, myself and Adam, are all firm believers in this. (Daley, for example, is a Laureus Sport for Good Ambassador).
TriBiz: Travel for triathlon is not so extensive amongst UK triathletes, according to research by the Triathlon Industry Association (TIA). Do you feel there’s a barrier with athletes preferring to stay, and compete, closer to home?
JL: No not really, I know many athletes travelling to IM/long distance/standard races around the world!
I think you need to look at it on a timing/distance/location/event basis. People will travel if it’s something special. It’s about raising awareness for the longer term. Tri St Lucia is a destination, end-of-year fun event. November is cheaper and quieter for flights and hotels etc. The professional people who do triathlon, who may not have children, or those older athletes with older children tend to fit with this particular event. I’m sure other events will attract different profiles. The key is matching them up.
The Brits do travel if the package is right. Remember the biggest age group traveling to the ITU Grand Final is the British (closely followed by USA, Australia, Canada and NZ).
Also for St Lucia, the event isn’t about turning up, racing and then just going home! It’s a festival of activities, (there is a 5K fun run, Aquathlon, and a 2K sea swim) together with a lot more social activity, parties, connecting with other athletes and locals and taking in the sights, sounds, food and overall experience of the island.
TriBiz: How did you get into triathlon originally? And what was the initial appeal all those years ago?
JL: In 1990 I set up Human Race. Prior to that I did my first triathlon in 1984. I even frighten myself thinking ‘oh my god that was such a long time ago!’
A guy I played rugby with, and who was a friend of mine did the original Reading Triathlon in 1983 and said he would train me up to do this daft triathlon event in September 1984, down in Dorking [Surrey]. So he took me for a run and it nearly killed me! And swimming was my weakness. So, breast stroke it was and we just kept going with the training.
The event itself was a strange one. It was the Tanners Triathlon – an 800m swim (pool), a 35 mile bike and a 16 mile run! Not quite a Sprint! But I survived, knew I could improve and so became hooked on triathlon.
The following year I did 5 triathlons and in 1986 did my first Nice Triathlon, I just kept doing events! I did the original London Triathlons in 1986, 87, 88, with 8 laps of the Old Docklands roads organised by Aleck Hunter and I still have the t-shirts to prove it…!
I enjoyed the racing, I enjoyed the buzz and the satisfaction of finishing. There was and still is a great camaraderie; triathlon has so many nice people. However, a lot of the events were organised fairly haphazardly. The mile markers weren’t in the right places and so on, no sponsors, etc. I started to think that people would pay a little bit more if they got a decent professional event experience.
Around this time (1989), I went to Brazil to do some training and travelling in South America – to get some life experience. After about 7 months I came back and asked myself what I wanted to do; and I decided to start organising triathlons professionally. Everyone said it wouldn’t work. This motivated me even more to make it work.
TriBiz: You liked the challenge?
JL: I think all triathletes like a challenge. I enjoyed taking it on. I realised quickly that to get permissions from local authorities you needed to meet on their time – not in the evening after you’ve finished a day job. It was a business you had to commit to fully at the outset. So, I went out and met lots of people and tried to make events happen. I got some sponsors, partners etc., who all thought I was crazy…
TriBiz: Who were your first sponsors?
JL: Back in 1990, it was Lucozade Sport who sponsored the first Windsor Triathlon. Other brands with innovative staff, like Evans Cycles, Total Fitness, Specialized… they were interested in triathlon. It was just a case of building relationships overall, with local authorities, media partners – and as everyone got on with each other and had shared values and an interest in the sport, it took off from there.
The other major catalyst was a certain Mr John Lillie. He started and owned 220 Triathlon magazine at the time. He’d originally been off to race Ironman Hawaii in the early 80s. He invested a lot of his own money and time into triathlon. With the magazine, ultimately he needed races to write about.
So we started the first 220 Series. There were five of us: Robin Brew, Graham Matthews, Trevor Gunning, myself and John Lillie. We organised a series of races: Bath, Swindon, Windsor and so on. We all promoted each other’s races to get the series going.
John had put up prize money, got more sponsors involved and the top athletes started to come over. John then put on the first UK Ironman Hawaii qualifier in 1991. That was the iron distance event at Ironbridge [in Shropshire]. He even brought over (Ironman champion) Mark Allen to promote the ‘Ironman at Ironbridge’. (Those that raced, including me, knew it was going to be tough when the river went into flood mode on race morning!)
At that time M-Dot [modern Ironman] branded races didn’t exist in the formatted franchised model as they are now. Essentially, people approached Ironman Hawaii with their races to see if they could be qualifiers offering up slots [for Kona] and pay for them. By the mid 90s and after a number of subsequent shifts in ownership [of the Ironman brand] getting to Hawaii was the ultimate holy grail and the new owners realised the increasing value of these slots. [John Lunt raced Hawaii in 1994.]
During this time in the 1990s there were European qualifying events in Roth and Lanzarote – and the slots for Hawaii were very much part of the appeal.
TriBiz: What are your thoughts on the current commercial status of the triathlon landscape?
JL: Is triathlon/sport too commercial? I think it’s really just the evolution of the sport. In the old days there were no sponsors, no toilets, no signs, no medical areas, no marshals and nobody paid anything!
That clearly was unsustainable. Now we have an industry with great organisers who can make a living and provide great events. Those that deliver a poor event and a poor experience will not survive and I’m sure a few will go under in 2014.
Triathlon has always been a really dynamic sport. We’ve always said ‘why can’t we do something’ when challenged by it. We’ve always pushed the boundaries, whether that’s hard helmets, to triathlon bars, different configurations of bikes, the use of titanium and carbon, and deep rim wheels.
We’ve often been a driver of change within the cycling and swimming world. As a consequence, is it more commercial? Yes it is. Things move on. It’s a massive industry and you can’t just roll the clock back.
TriBiz: If the industry has adapted over the decades, do you think anything has really changed in terms of the appeal of triathlon?
JL: I always say that you never just do ONE triathlon. You look back on your first race and think, ‘that was hard… I did OK in one aspect, but could have done better in other areas.’ As in life there’s always something you can fix and improve on. This is the key appeal the sport has that’s always a constant.
It’s something that taps into the mind-set of people, typical of most triathletes, who strive for self-improvement and self-betterment.
TriBiz: You’ve had a number of milestones in your life and the merger between Participate Sport and Human Race [in April 2012] brought about ‘the UK’s largest and most diverse mass participation events company.’ How much more consolidation can we expect?
JL: I think it’s just part of the evolution of the sport as it matures; it’s the same with the amalgamation of different groups and organisations. Any business model over time would see an amalgamation to make companies come together and be stronger. As with the London Triathlon, for example, that has had successive owners – from Esprit, SBI, to Quintas and now IMG.
While Ironman has grown organically adding more and more events – that business model has also had a number of equity sales. Elsewhere, there’s a lot of organic growth amongst other event organisers in the UK. Eventually, there will be a bit of a shakeout. X might buy Y and so on.
From a business evolution stand-point there will be synergies and savings. If you build a bigger database you combine your marketing and PR strength, and you combine your backend systems, you build on the momentum by being a bigger and a more synergistic entity.
At Human Race, we’ve gone from 14 to 21 people and 40 to 53 events in the past 12 months. The Dragon Ride now has 5,500 riders. That’s an acquired event, with 5,500 cyclists now exposed to Human Race – which in its origins comes from being a triathlon events firm.
Those cyclists may have simply stayed doing sportives and now they’re exposed to triathlon whenever they click through to the Human Race website. That’s offering up a further evolution in participation opportunities for athletes and for Human Race as a mass participation events organiser.
TriBiz: 2012 was a major year as Race Director for the Olympic Triathlon in Hyde Park. How did that job come about?
JL: Well I had to apply like everyone else! I think about 120 people went for it and they whittled it down to about 50 and then 5 and I was fortunate to get the job. For me, the Olympics presented an unbelievable special opportunity – especially with it coming to London.
I’d organised the Manchester Commonwealth Games Triathlon in 2002, this brought me into the international triathlon fold. Salford’s legacy continued after 2002 and we staged the ITU World Cup events until 2007. This was a great springboard to see and work on other events, Cancun, Madrid, Madeira, Edmonton, Hamburg, Nice, etc.
This international travel certainly helped with understanding best practices and seeing what other organisers were doing; and all this helped build a relationship with the International Triathlon Union (ITU) and understanding what it takes to put on an major international event.
When London won the Olympic bid in 2005, it was clear all people with international experience from the world of sport would need to be involved in 2012. In the end these big events are delivered by people based on trust and a background of delivery experience. It’s quite a long drawn out process as you need to get approval from all the stakeholders, such as British Triathlon, UK Sport, the BOA, ITU and of course LOCOG, and go through a vigorous vetting process.
TriBiz: So, you got the gig and sat down and probably said ‘wow’..! What happened next? How daunting was it!?
JL: Yes. It was pretty daunting. I was appointed on 3 April 2008 after a year’s worth of process…!
I’d been out to Athens in 2004 so saw first-hand the scale and complexities of staging the biggest event on the planet and of course seen what was needed to stage the Commonwealth Games. So essentially it was about getting a lot of things in order including my business and my life…!
I’d decided about a year earlier (2006) to change the business model at Human Race. We did a management buy-in (which took 12 months) that was irrespective of me getting the Olympic job. This allowed a greater involvement of more shareholders. In hindsight, this was the best thing I could have done.
It also forced me to evolve the business. I had to take myself out of Human Race. From day one, I wasn’t prepared to sacrifice Human Race for the Olympics. I’d worked so hard to get it to where it was. So, I had to change the game. I built a great team around me; Julia St John who I’d known for 25 years and had worked for some major blue chip companies became full time CEO and managed and grew the business while I was away on Olympic duty.
By August 2008 I was out in Beijing to see how that was all coming together and meeting the delivery teams that were going to make it work in London. Beijing was a real eye opener.
The merger discussions with Participate Sport started in September 2011. The management buy-in process had already happened in 2008 which helped. But, the crucial timing leading up to the Olympics at the end of 2011 and into early 2012, wasn’t the best timing to sell the Human Race business. But we just made the time.
All that due diligence and legal stuff seemed to take forever and took evenings, weekends and so on. But having a great motivated team (who were shareholders) made the sale happen.
TriBiz: So, the London 2012 Olympics was all plain sailing, given what was happening behind the scenes between Participate and Human Race?!
JL: No, not really! There were all kinds of different challenges at multiple levels. It’s about how you cope with them really. Luckily having gone through the Commonwealth Games, I knew roughly what to expect. Although, I also knew that London 2012 would be a factor of ten greater than Manchester. In the end, it’s about how you cope with the pressure. Things happen to you and the team and you just do your best to deal with what’s thrown at you. You just work through the issues and nail them one at a time.
TriBiz: Can you talk us through the main differences between running the London 2012 event to, say, a commercial triathlon such as the Windsor Triathlon?
JL: It was light years different. The structure and delivery method are all very different. The London Olympics was essentially 26 World Championships all going off every day, for 2 weeks. There are 26 different major sports, with athletes, officials, spectators, media, TV, VIPs all travelling around at the same time. The infrastructure of the city, transport, hospitals and security all has to work behind all of this – coordinating these vast requirements of large numbers of people.
So, it’s really about the scale and the integration… 10,000 athletes, 22,000 media, 70,000 volunteers. We had to integrate that into the ‘machine’. All the training for all the different sports had to be brought together, using common terms and common training processes.
Managing the complexities and change is key. Experience helps and being pushed into a high level leadership role means you have to adapt your personality and character; because if you start to lose it, everyone else starts to lose it. I had to change my management style and focus less on getting my hands dirty and focus on the bigger picture.
I realised I needed to let people in the team get on with the detail to ensure we all got the job done. Building, blending and managing that team was an absolute pleasure and something I will never forget.
I also become more of a reporting animal, reporting to the different stakeholders, up and down and managing the political landscape instead of putting signs up and emptying bins!
TriBiz: In March 2013 you were then honoured with a tri lifetime achievement award at the annual 220 Triathlon Awards. Clearly no-one else stood a chance given the smooth running of London 2012! Did it feel strange to be honoured in this way in front of your peers?
JL: Yes. It was strange; a nice surprise. I had no idea I was going to win it. That’s not what I did the Olympics for. But it’s a great honour. Especially as it was the last award of the night; and everyone’s a bit hammered and you don’t want to make a complete idiot of yourself in front of your friends!
It’s nice to be recognised by my peers for my 30 years in the sport; hopefully there will be other things in triathlon I will be remembered for rather than just the Olympics! At the end of the day a lot of the people involved in the sport are friends. We are a big family and it’s nice the industry has stayed a big family.
TriBiz: Turning to the wider triathlon industry, any thoughts on the current commercial landscape?
JL: I think we need to keep driving forward and nurture those innovators and organisers in the sport. One of my causes is to make the sport more inclusive, with outreach to minority groups. We need to do more with paratri. We need to get disabled kids doing the sport, not just the elite disabled guys. It’s just about doing more across the board here. We can always do more.
Triathlon has always been inclusive and equitable in terms of equal prize money for males and females. There are also not many federations in the Olympic movement that have had a female President and female Secretary General in place. Having women at the top of your sport in my mind is a definite plus to any business. Triathlon is also seen as a crusading innovative sport. People look at our sport and try and emulate it.
The types of people that are drawn into triathlon only enhance that image, this is our strength. We also need to evolve quickly and keep being different. We’re very much a media driven sport.
TriBiz: Beyond strengths in having female governance of the sport, how does triathlon increase female participation? This still lags behind in the UK and other countries…
JL: We’ve seen a range of new women’s only events come through, via a range of race organisers. The recession has hit women harder perhaps, with shifts in work patterns, juggling family responsibilities and the overall hit in disposable income. This may have hindered the ability for women to take up the sport in the past.
But that’s changing now. The job market is a little more buoyant. There’s a buzz about triathlon and we should capitalise on this… increase awareness, increase the number of events and break down the barriers. This should see female participation pick up. Chrissie [Wellington] banging the drum is definitely helping also…!
TriBiz: What next for John Lunt!?
JL: Personally I’m spending a bit more time with the kids and slowly getting a bit of fitness back, who knows, you may even see me do an odd event or 2 in 2014…!
I still love being involved in events; I don’t see that changing. Events like Tri St Lucia are an area I would like to develop. I’m really enjoying giving something back to their local community in a great place with great people. I still love visiting triathlon friends around the world and working on their events.
In the last 12 months I’ve been doing some charity work where I mentor new start-up businesses for new young entrepreneurs in London. It’s very rewarding seeing new businesses get off the ground.
There are other irons in the fire and I’m always being approached to get involved with other projects. I enjoy what I’m doing and still love this sport. It’s onwards and upwards; and it’s great to be a part of this ever changing industry.
www.humanrace.co.uk
twitter.com/Johndlunt
