Taking place in Roth, Germany, on 10-11 July, the second Global Triathlon Conference by Triathlon Business International (TBI) brought a number of international triathlon industry representatives together. This is our first post on the conference, with more to follow in the coming days…
The theme of TBI’s conference was ‘Shaping the Future of Triathlon’ and delegates were offered-up a range of speakers and topics to get their teeth into over the past few days. Presented by Challenge Family, the conference preceded the iconic DATEV Challenge Roth, which took place on 12 July. The conference also saw race solutions business Lapio on board as a main sponsor.
The proceedings got under way on Thursday 9 July, with conference check-in and the Erdinger Urweisse Party. The party was held in the Challenge Roth Triathlonpark – a major expo and athlete village area that is arguably the largest globally. This also helped conference delegates get a taste of the Challenge Roth experience and sense the scale of the event.
Challenge Roth certainly takes over the small town in Bavaria. There are signs throughout the town welcoming triathletes; and this year Nuremberg-Airport welcomed incoming triathletes and fans to the region, further helping to expand the reach and awareness for the event.
Day one gets under way
Day one of the TBI conference began on Friday 10 July with a welcome and overview from Jack Caress, Founder/CEO of Pacific Sports and President of Triathlon Business International (TBI). He was joined by Whit Raymond, the US race commentator and announcer, who was part of the commentary team for this year’s Challenge Roth. Alongside Jack, Whit also served as an MC for the TBI conference on the first day.
Challenge Family’s Felix Walchshöfer, Race Director of Challenge Roth, gave an overview of the iconic event, which has run since 1984. Formerly part of the IRONMAN series, it has been held independently from IRONMAN brand owner World Triathlon Corp (WTC) since 2002.
Felix explained that the parting of ways between Challenge and IRONMAN took place when “IRONMAN insisted on a mass swim start, rather than swim waves, and there were disagreements on the route of the bike course.”
He continued, “When the race went its own way, we asked the people of Roth to decide on its name. The town chose the word ‘Challenge’ from a number of suggestions that were put forward; and from this point Challenge Family was born.”
Felix added that more than 6,000 volunteers would be involved with the 2015 event, more than the 5,700 actual race participants. The 2015 race also had a pilot project in place with the Deutsche Triathlon Union (DTU). This strictly enforced the non-drafting rule on the bike course, with an extra 1K penalty given to triathletes found to be breaking drafting rules.
Felix emphasized the strong relationship that Challenge Roth has with the local town and surrounding areas. He noted that the county majors all have ‘triathlon major’ t-shirts and are fully behind the event, which further helps to bolster the community-event relationship.
Pro perspective
The first keynote speaker was Timo Bracht, the 2014 Challenge Roth Champion, who gave an overview of the ‘Highs & Lows of a Professional Career in Triathlon’. Timo said, “It was a no-brainer to choose Roth this year. As a winner last year I had to return to defend my title. But also, with a number of German companies as my sponsors, the event provides good exposure; and Challenge Roth is a big deal, with TV and extensive media coverage.”
Timo shared his perspectives on the sport as a pro. He felt that the emerging role of professional triathlon teams can bring the sport of triathlon to a wider audience. “It is important that the bigger companies get behind the sport,” he said. “This will bring in money to promote beyond the triathlon community and raise the scale of our sport overall.”
More to follow on the conference in the coming days…
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