Is anyone else disappointed with Challenge Galway?

Is anyone else disappointed with Challenge Galway’s decision to include a half distance race on the same day as the full distance one? Also, has the pricing of the event caused anyone to pause and think – WTF?

I first want to express my irritation over the pricing. The half distance is currently selling at well under half the price of the full distance. I don’t get it. I think the pricing must have been wrong from the start. They expected more people to enter the full distance race and when they didn’t (it is over-priced for an Irish event, the weather might cause the swim to be cancelled, Galway has a history of cancelling races and so on), they have had to include a half but realised it would be necessary to make the price competitive against other half distance events run across the country. This means the half is priced in a way as to make the full distance race seem ridiculously expensive. Even the early bird price seemed high by comparison. The pricing has put me off the event. Irish triathletes do not have a bottomless pit of cash from which they shovel entry fees into organiser’s arms.

There are reasons why full distance race organisers like Ironman don’t usually run half and full distance races on the same day. These include:

1. Huge numbers of people will be able to say: “I did Challenge Galway” when they only did the half. This event should provide a massive sense of achievement, but when anyone and their dog has done the shorter distance, it takes away from this.

2.  The half distance race will take many of the entries which would have gone to the full distance race making the longer race a smaller event.

3. The half distance race, taking half the time and those taking part going faster, is more enjoyable from a spectator’s perspective. By the time the full distance racers start to come in, most spectators will have left.

4. Crossing the finish line behind possibly thousands of half-distance racers would make anyone feel their day has been wasted.

5. Anyone who has attended an Irish event comprising of half and full distance races on the same day will know that the full distance race is always the poor cousin.  

For those who don’t get me, imagine you are racing a middle distance triathlon on the same day and most of the same course as an Olympic race.  The Olympic racers have left mess in their wake, the marshalls are bored by the time you get there, you cross the line and much of the drinks and snacks are gone, you go for a massage but they are packing up as they are already knackered. The fact is the first race of the day is the race – the next race is just a chore.

A full distance event should be a full distance event. It should be the big one. This the first big name full distance race in Ireland in as long as I can remember. It should be the race of the year – not part of a festival of races.