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to the finish area downtown by a professional valet. Series bike sponsor Orbea has developed a new program to make 100 bikes available for use by participants traveling long distances to series events, sparing them the expense and hassle of transporting their own bikes. If the pilot program goes well this season, they will likely expand it for next year.
Top age-group competitors have already begun to rearrange their race schedules to take part in this unique opportunity. Among them is Loren Uscilowski, 37, of Los Angeles, who qualified for the U.S. Open Triathlon at her hometown event last year. “They treated us first-class all the way,” she says of her trip to Dallas. “They paid for everything: our race entries, flights and our hotel rooms. There was a welcoming dinner with the pros that we got to go to, which was really fun. We got to ride the bus to the race with the pros and we got to start right after they did, before the rest of the field.” Even if you’re not fast enough to compete in the elite amateur division, there are reasons to consider racing a Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series event. According to Caress, the additional sponsorship involvement is enabling the individual event directors to host bigger, higher-quality events with more perks and amenities. “Participants and spectators are seeing much more of a festival atmosphere, where this thing is extending three or four days,” he says. “It’s much more like a pro tennis or golf tour event. It’s what you’d expect if you went to a major championship event in any sport—not only for the participants but for their families, too.” Among the new amenities is a Toyota-sponsored valet program in which a limited number of participants in the Los Angeles Triathlon (which features a point-to-point course) have their cars delivered from the starting area at Venice Beach 148
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A skeptical analysis of the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series reveals at least two possible Achilles heels. The first is possible tension between Life Time Fitness and the companies that manage its constituent events. The two sides of the partnership need each other, but they have different interests and perspectives. “There have been battles back and forth,” Caress admits. “One of the things we learned very early is that each of us really had to swallow his ego and compromise. For guys like [Chicago Triathlon race director] Jan [Caille] and John [Korff ] and me, not being able to make our own decision and go with it is kind of hard.” Perhaps one or more of them will eventually decide it’s too hard. Another concern is that the health of the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series is dependent on the health of Life Time Fitness, and lately there have been signs of wear on the company’s cloak of invincibility. Bahram Akradi’s business carries a high debt—more than $470 million worth—accrued from loans taken to finance its aggressive growth strategy. The same credit crunch that is now hurting so many individual homeowners is also putting the squeeze on Life Time Fitness with higher borrowing costs. The current recession has slowed membership growth and increased the cost of acquiring new members. Fancy health-club memberships are considered a discretionary expense and are therefore among the first expenses that consumers cut when they feel the need for fiscal belt tightening. Similarly, the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series represents a large discretionary expense for its corporate namesake. Life Time Fitness is far from that point, however. They’ve made a five-year commitment to the triathlon series that extends through 2010, by which time the company may well have regained its momentum—not unlike a triathlete who suffers through a bad patch on the bike and says, “I’ll just get through the bike and then decide whether to quit,” and subsequently gets a second wind and runs strong all the way to the finish line.
Robert Murphy/bluecreekphotography.com
ONLY TIME WILL TELL