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Life Time & Ironman & Other Stuff...

Saturday, 21 February 2015 00:10

By Dan Empfield (Slowtwitch.com - Jan. 29, 2015)

Announced at the TBI Conference this week was the rebranding of several races reminding me of a baseball card swap. Soma and Bend, former Life Time (or Life Time Fitness branded "Leadman") races will henceforth be Ironman branded. Soma will become a 70.3, Bend will likely become a 70.3 (rather than a full) and will be so-branded in 2016. Addressing the Conference were Ironman's Andrew Messick (right) and Life Time Fitness head of events Kimo Seymour. Slides below were among those presented to Conference attendees.

One takeaway is obvious: Ironman realizes its brand leverages down to 70.3 and no further. Life Time admits its brand leverages up to Olympic distance and no higher. Smart. This signals the end of the 5i50, even if that is unannounced. I'm not writing this because it's a stated fact, rather it's the obvious conclusion. But then some of us knew in 2011 that the 5i50 was a bridge too far and it just needed its contracts to run out; then it would be laid to rest in an unmarked grave...

Life Time's CEO, Bahram Akradi, an avid triathlete himself, will explain his interest in the events arm of his business to anyone who cares to listen. While only a fraction of all Life Time's customers participate in all its events (indoor and outdoor triathlons, footraces, and cycling events) its customer retention rates are much higher when those customers participate in these events. When I wrote about this in 2012 I estimated more than 100,000 discrete registrations per year in Life Time's events. That certainly has increased between then and now. READ MORE

QUIZ TIME! How many first class, major league endurance events does Life Time Fitness produce in the US? How many in MInnesota? Click HERE to find out.

TRI-ING TIMES - It's time to start thinking about Life Time's MINNESOTA SERIES. Which of the triathlons will you be doing? SERIES INFO

WOMEN FOR TRI - Life Time Fitness introduces its 2015 Women for Tri Board of Advisors - LINK