Published on July 29, 2026 at 06:00 AM
On the weekend of July 12, the sandy beaches of Horseshoe Bay in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin served as the perfect weekend backdrop. Triathlon in Door County. Although the race weekend appeared as usual race Distance and Mark Ernst Memorial Kids Triathlon The Olympic distance replaced the event’s signature 70.3 race, which ran from 2008 to 2025. In a post on the Door County Triathlon website last May, triathlon race director Shawn Ryan said the decision was in response to a widespread decline in long course participation.
On the same day, in a mountain village in New Mexico, Ironman launched the first-ever Ironman 70.3 Ruidoso, accompanied by a sprint and Olympic 5150. He loves 80% from 2026 North American Ironman and Ironman 70.3 entries, general entries sold out for this opening 70.3. According to Iron Man, there are many sales For 70.3 events It indicates an increase in demand for longer races, contradicting industry data of a 70.3 decline in triathlon participation.
So what’s the matter: Are triathletes flocking to or running away from long-distance triathlons? To understand this discrepancy, we reached out to… Tom RichmondCEO of Cal Tri Events and TriFind. Ryan also joined the conversation, sharing his own experience with the 70.3 distance – and how dropping the long track event can be a model for other locally owned races to stay viable in the ever-changing triathlon market.
Multiple factors contribute to the decline of non-ferrous finishes 70.3
“Our market size data reveals that from 2013 to 2025, participation in Ironman 70.3 races declined significantly, from 34,300 finishes annually to 5,132. However, over the same time period, participation in Ironman 70.3 rose from 39,558 to 50,368 finishes annually,” Richmond says, offering some explanations for this discrepancy. “For example, there were only 24 Ironman 70.3 races in 2013. They had to produce a total of 30 races in 2025 to reach the latest final numbers. Meanwhile, there were 155 non-Ironman 70.3 races in 2013. In 2o25, there were only 53.”
“The second reason is that athletes have overwhelmingly decided that if they’re going to put in the effort to achieve 70.3, they want to say they’ve run an Ironman. This is especially true for Aquarius triathletes, who have only done a long triathlon in their life,” Richmond explains.
“The third reason is that athletes can’t or don’t want to go that far anymore, whether that’s because they don’t want to spend as much time training or because they have bad knees after years of racing,” Ryan adds. “A lot of people are turning to short-course racing and they love it Olympic Distance and even jet ski. We have adapted to accommodate these athletes and offer both.
Door County Tri is adapting to changing market conditions…again
This isn’t the first time the Door County Triathlon has shifted based on market demand. The event debuted in 2005, offering sprint and Olympic races until 2008.
“At that point, interest in long runs was growing because Ironman Wisconsin The triathletes who signed up for it wanted to get 70.3 in their training. So we dropped the Olympics and introduced the enemy and 70.3 “Over two days,” Ryan says. By 2011, tickets for the Door County Half Iron sold out less than 24 hours after registration opened. It went on to become the largest non-Ironman race at 70.3 miles in the United States in 2024.
“Ironman has now taken over a lot of the 70.3 events at the same time that long courses have declined in popularity,” Ryan says. The Door County Triathlon board has agreed to address declining participation by offering the Olympics instead of 70.3, as well as the Double Door, a competition that combines the Saturday sprint with the Sunday Olympics for those who want more mileage. “This allowed us to train athletes for 140.6 races. But there were also unexpected complications. We discovered that 100 people had signed up for both races separately, assuming that this made them Double Door participants. But that was not the case. Fortunately, the issue was resolved before race day.”
Additionally, the course map and website for the Door County Triathlon had to be redesigned.
Ryan says this is an improvement on the 70.3 route, which was a double loop through busy villages: “Switching from the half made a lot of things better. Now we have a scenic and challenging Olympic course with a perfect lollipop loop.”
The reality of shifting the focus from half iron to a short course
Shifts in market conditions were the driving force behind the Door County Triathlon Championship’s move to the Olympics, and according to Ryan, this could have implications for other grassroots 70.3s.
“As a race director or semi-race organizer, it is important to consider whether the race is meeting all of your goals in this changing landscape, including profit goals,” says Ryan, who holds an MBA in market research from Northwestern University. By introducing an Olympic course instead of 70.3, total participation in all Door County triathlon distances (including relays and aquabike) increased from 1,363 in 2025 to 1,486 in 2026.
For domestic triathlons that are half replaced by an Olympic tournament, the financial reality is that revenues may temporarily decline despite increased participation.
“You can’t charge as much for an Olympics as you can for 70.3. So, even though the number of athletes who finished the Olympics this year is more than half that in 2025, earnings didn’t go up. But there were cost savings,” Ryan says, and sharing that payment with local law enforcement and contract charities went down. “Staff work has also decreased. We used to have 10 to 12 workers until Monday afternoon to do the cleaning, but now we finish around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.”
Watch the market, check the boxes
Ryan warns Local 70.3 residents not to ignore industry trends, even if their itinerary is in an amazing destination.
“In 2025, Ironman launched the Rockford 70.3 in a blue-collar town with little track appeal or post-race appeal. Meanwhile, the scenic Door County peninsula is often referred to as the ‘Cape Cod of the Midwest,’ and we serve a post-race feast complete with cold beverages. We had over 400 finishers, but Rockford had nearly 2,000. This confirmed my suspicions that it was because of the man’s brand appeal Ironman, the track “It doesn’t matter,” Ryan says. “As long as there’s a Half Ironman nearby, even if it’s a lower location, we won’t be able to compete.” Dropping the half was a humble surrender. So now we are focusing on delivering an outstanding Olympics.”
In a post-race survey conducted by Door County Triathlon, 100% of athletes said they would recommend the Olympics.
“We have every reason to believe we have made the right decision to pivot,” Ryan concluded. “We will continue to monitor the market and analyze whether our course offerings meet all our requirements – promoting tourism and health, as well as generating revenue for local charities and achieving positive financial results. We will adapt again if we have to.” “We can’t change the market, just respond to it. That might mean going back to a halving or offering a quarter iron…or maybe moving away from that.”
