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K-Swiss/Raelert $1M Bonus

Al TruscottAl Truscott
in Community Forum 🏠

... if they finish Kona 1/2 this year. THAT should get a little publicity for ... the Raelerts ... K Swiss ... and Ironman Pro racing. That's $1,000,000 (which, to be fair, is about what A. Pujols will make for playing 5 games of baseball, or LeBron James gets for a similar number of B-Ball contests.)

Comments

  • David AmbroseDavid Ambrose

    Kinda sucks if your a K-Swiss athlete other than a Raelert. K-Swiss should offer the $$ to any of their sponsored athletes that win Kona.

  • GMAN 19030GMAN 19030
    It's the novelty sideshow attraction of two brothers that offers the marketable storyline. I like it.

    It's not great marketing for K-Swiss to focus on Chris Lieto for example since he's a weak runner. He's a good marketing tool for Trek. Trek gets more mileage out of their endorsement of Lieto than K-Swiss does. By weak runner I'm comparing him to his peers at Kona and not compared to everyone else. He's an exceptional runner by non-pro standards.
  • tuckermtuckerm
    So say it's the Brothers and someone else 1-2-3 in the final miles. Does the non-Raelert throw it if they would cut him in on the million? Winner there only gets like $110k so for say $200k I say it's worth throwing it from a business standpoint. By throwing it I mean he isn't going to win anyway, but decides 3rd would pay better than 2nd if he gets cut in on bonus.
  • Coach PatrickCoach Patrick
    Posted By Tucker McKeever on 24 Mar 2011 11:48 AM

    So say it's the Brothers and someone else 1-2-3 in the final miles. Does the non-Raelert throw it if they would cut him in on the million? Winner there only gets like $110k so for say $200k I say it's worth throwing it from a business standpoint. By throwing it I mean he isn't going to win anyway, but decides 3rd would pay better than 2nd if he gets cut in on bonus.



    I really want to watch that discussion play out on the Queen K coming out of the Energy Lab. image

  • GMAN 19030GMAN 19030
    Even better would be watching the Raelert boys chase down Lance Armstrong for their $1,000,000 after L.A. builds a 20 minute lead coming out of T2. That would be fun to watch!
  • Michael ByertsMichael Byerts
    Lieto hasn't run well in Hawaii when leading off the bike. And Craig Alexander ran him down in a couple 70.3's. But he has run well at IM Arizona and run 1:15 or better in HIM's several times. Even for a pro, that's pretty good. He's not an elite pro runner, but I don't think he's a weak pro runner.
  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    Does anyone still think Lance will even toe the line at Kona this year?
  • manconamancona
    I think his is great for the sport and am glad Kswiss is continuing to invest in pro athletes.

    Fwiw, many companies pay there athletes bonus based on placing at key races, it's just significantly less than a million and not advertised. As a age group I had an opportunity to get paid based on individual splits, age group or overall placing... Too bad I wasn't anywhere near the FOP.
  • tuckermtuckerm
    Posted By Paul Hough on 24 Mar 2011 08:34 PM

    Does anyone still think Lance will even toe the line at Kona this year?

    Well from the looks of this it seems he is thinking of being very competitive at the IM distance.  Not sure about Kona though.

    http://triathlon.competitor.com/2011/03/news/lance-armstrong-turns-to-legendary-running-coach-for-ironman-advice_24430

     

  • Paul HoughPaul Hough
    @ Tucker - WTC will complete the Kona selection process under the new pro point system within 6 months and I haven't seen any serious attempt by Lance to qualify...as a pro or age grouper. WTC can give him a pro wild card slot but that would go back on their written comments not to do so. It would be great for the sport if Lance competed, but the pro's who had to qualify to get there would be pretty pissed at WTC if they use that wild card end run. The short run advantage might be a long term liability. Without the wildcard, if Lance wants to go as a pro, it's almost put up or shut up time. If he wants to go as an age grouper, then I'm sure WTC will allow him to enter any qualifying race he wants up through Louisville.
  • tuckermtuckerm
    @Paul, it's Lance F'n Amstrong. If he says he wants to race Kona WTC will put him in the pro field. If they can give the fat guy from the Biggest Loser a spot 2 years in a row they certainly could give Lance a spot. And they couldn't have him in the regular field as it would be a disaster. And if they do decide to let him in the race, he will race against the pros. That's where the story is.
    As for the pros, I really don't think they would care all that much. It wouldn't take away from any of their slots and would only add more attention and $$$ to their sport. There is a huge thread on ST about this. Jordan Rapp has commented a few times and seems quite ready for Lance to be there in Kona and not bitter at all.
    But like I said above, I have no idea what his plans are for Kona. He certainly spends a lot of time there training there...
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