Why do amateur athletes love to race?
Professional athletes race to make a living. The sport of triathlon for professionals is brutal. Unless you are in the world top 10 rankings, making a living from race-award money is a tough pursuit. At the professional level, sponsors will provide endorsements of many sorts but the single most important thing to pay the bills is winning. And although there are many races out there that give options to the athletes, the level of competition just seems to get faster every year.
At the amateur level, elite athletes usually race with a different motivation. Since amateur races do not provide cash rewards, why so many amateur athletes line every year to the start of hundreds of local, national and world races?
One may categorize the amateur athletes in three groups. Athletes within each group have a completely different motivation for racing:
1. The "enthusiastic starter" type of athlete: this is probably the majority of the amateur athletes. They start with great desire to train and race, they typically invest quite a lot in equipment, they tend to race either for health purposes or for winning the local sprint race that typically has 4 participants in each age category. If the stay in they sport for more than 1 or 2 years, they tend to "yo-yo" in their training and personal performance results. Triathlon is not their priority but they love to race because it keeps them healthy, relatively fit and it gives them the local race medal and a sense of accomplishment.
2. The "I want to give this sport a shot" type of athlete: this is probably a small percent of the athletes from category 1. that decide to invest a bit more time in the sport and train more systematically. A lot of these athletes love to race to either achieve better results in bigger races (I call those the "wannabe" athletes) or they are purely enjoying the competitive side and want to explore their own limits. These athletes usually stick around for 4 years or so.
3. The athletes that are here for the "long-haul": these are the few athletes that have matured through categories 1. and 2. and simply enjoy the lifestyle of training and racing. Being healthy, fit and competitive does not have a time limit or age for those lifelong athletes. They have survived injuries, setbacks, family commitments, psychological roller-coasters and other life instances and somehow, they still find the energy to get out every day and put in the work. Medals are optional depending on the goals - but medals don't matter at this point. These guys are here for the "long-haul".
Which category you think you belong? Which do want to end up at the end?
Share your thoughts!
At the amateur level, elite athletes usually race with a different motivation. Since amateur races do not provide cash rewards, why so many amateur athletes line every year to the start of hundreds of local, national and world races?
One may categorize the amateur athletes in three groups. Athletes within each group have a completely different motivation for racing:
1. The "enthusiastic starter" type of athlete: this is probably the majority of the amateur athletes. They start with great desire to train and race, they typically invest quite a lot in equipment, they tend to race either for health purposes or for winning the local sprint race that typically has 4 participants in each age category. If the stay in they sport for more than 1 or 2 years, they tend to "yo-yo" in their training and personal performance results. Triathlon is not their priority but they love to race because it keeps them healthy, relatively fit and it gives them the local race medal and a sense of accomplishment.
2. The "I want to give this sport a shot" type of athlete: this is probably a small percent of the athletes from category 1. that decide to invest a bit more time in the sport and train more systematically. A lot of these athletes love to race to either achieve better results in bigger races (I call those the "wannabe" athletes) or they are purely enjoying the competitive side and want to explore their own limits. These athletes usually stick around for 4 years or so.
3. The athletes that are here for the "long-haul": these are the few athletes that have matured through categories 1. and 2. and simply enjoy the lifestyle of training and racing. Being healthy, fit and competitive does not have a time limit or age for those lifelong athletes. They have survived injuries, setbacks, family commitments, psychological roller-coasters and other life instances and somehow, they still find the energy to get out every day and put in the work. Medals are optional depending on the goals - but medals don't matter at this point. These guys are here for the "long-haul".
Which category you think you belong? Which do want to end up at the end?
Share your thoughts!
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