$1k Iron Man Entry fee is a “Ripoff”

A thousand-dollar entry fee has turned off potential Iron Man athletes from competing in the 2012 New York City race, but registration is still expected to fill up quickly.

World Triathlon Corp. officials told Bloomberg that they did not expect the unusually high entry fee - which makes the August 2012 Iron Man in New York City the most expensive Triathlon ever - to be a deterrent. The officials reasoned that 2,000 of the 3,000 competitors in the 2010 New York City Triathlon worked in the financial services industry, a relatively high-paying field, and pointed out that Iron Man competitors have an average annual salary of $161,000 overall.

But not everyone in their target demographic is willing to cough up four figures for a race that usually costs around $575 - especially not for the privilege of competing in a grueling course under oppressive August city heat.

Fraser Owen-Smith, a senior financial services professional who has twice completed the New York City Triathlon, told IBTimes that he had strongly considered competing in the 2012 New York Iron Man, but ultimately decided against it, opting instead to compete in Iron Man Mexico later this year.

His reasons for not doing it?

Price, it's in mid-August so it will be brutally hot, Price, badly designed course, Price. Total ripoff.

The same goes for seven other people who I have spoken to about it, he added. (All seven work in the same industry).

Still, Owen-Smith believes World Triathlon Corp. can get away with charging it, because people will pay it. I bet entry will sell out in less than an hour.

In 2008, Providence Equity Partners, a Rhode-Island based private equity firm that invests in media and entertainment companies, acquired World Triathalon Corp. for an undisclosed sum.

Officials said they have spent several million dollars on permits, medical personal, law enforcement and other expenses for the 140.6 mile race that will wind through New York City as well as suburban New York and New Jersey on August 11, 2012.

A portion of the 1K entry fee will be donated to the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York-based charity dedicated to reducing poverty. The goal of the partnership is to raise $250,000.