First the Lottery, Now the Auction ...
When you think about it, this isn't really all that much. I mean, what do your triathlon expenditures total over the years? A guy in our community bought one of these a few years ago for $40K; it's the only triathlon he ever did.
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Now, the current $32k bid, that I'd have a hard time raising...
Mike
Yes its not that much when if you distribute it over say 5 years or so. I just spent 4K on a new bike and some other pieces of gear. Throw in the new wetsuit I will need the trip to Penticton and the possible race rehersal out there and I could easily call that 7-8k for this year. I won't have a new bike every year or wetsuit but in 6-8 years I could just not race and save up the cash.
Now once I got 6 years down the road I might just want to invest in a new vehicle and skip Kona. At least that's what my wife would advise, or more like we should be getting a bigger house with that 30K
Gordon
I would bet for most people it is much less expensive to buy a slot at ~$35k than to qualify. To each there own though, because I am in this for the journey and have no regrets about spending the time and making the scarifics that it took to qualify. I was also very fortunate to only be in this game for 5 years and qualify as many people spend a lot longer and more money trying.
A friend of my parents bought a spot 5 years ago, and like the person Al mentioned it was one of his first and only triathlons. I believe he did a sprint and/or olympic to "train" prior to racing in Kona. He really wanted to do an IM someday and had other priorities in life and did not want to spend years training to qualify.
An interesting take.
If your disposable income is such that $40,000 is something you'd spend on a vacation, then I can really see what you're saying. On the other hand, I bet you'd say you're in it for the lifestyle choice....and of course you learned fairly early in the game that you had a legitimate shot at qualifying for Kona. These are two pretty small groups of people. The first have lots of choices, and the second has fewer.
For the moderate income ironman wannabe, I have to think that the much more common choice is to resolve to do it a year in advance and buy into any one of the "affordable" ironman races.
For the guy or gal who is on the wrong side of the borderline of qualifying for Kona, it's an interesting question as to what they really want is to do the race or qualify for it. I don't begrudge either choice (and I certainly don't begrudge the lottery people either), but it's just a very different matter.
William (who will only get to Kona by getting a lot older but not a lot slower) :-)
I do not think lightly of spending that kind of money on anything at all and there is no way my disposible income would ever have allowed me to put up more than $30k at one time for one race. In fact I look back now and am amazed at the money I have spent, but like you said this has become a lifestyle and getting a Kona slot is just one part of the overall journey and experience.
I think we are all agreeing in what we are saying. I just wanted to make the point like Al did that I bet if there was a way to figure out how much most kona qualifiers spent to get their spot, it would probably not be that far off of the cost of buying a spot. For most qualifying for Kona is a multiple year effort with significant costs each year along the way.
I'm sure there are examples who spent way less (KQ'ed first try and in the first year at the sport) and many who spent 10 or more years trying. But from who I know I bet the average quailifier spends a lot.
I'm just happy to read that it is for charity. I've only been doing this for a short time, but they way you guys are speaking, I better get another job!!!
Matt, I agree 100%. I know that ever since I did my first IM, I had the goal of qualifying; I had been told by several other triathletes who had been there that, with time and the right work, I had a legitimate chance. It took me 5 years, and I'm certain I spent more than $40K along the way on all things triahtlon. But, like you, I really started the whole triathlon thing as part of my lifestyle, and still feel as if it is a lifelong endevour for me, not a one-year shot. So I'm glad I invested disposable income a bit at at time, rather than all at once. I don't begrudge any one who gets there any way they can. I know that just training for and competing in that race is something which really has no monetary value, like those credit card commercials which end with "priceless".