There is no fine line between earning and being given things. There is no comparison!!!!! I say this because this week was the Kona Lottery. Let me explain to those who don’t know what it is.
Kona is the Ironman World Championships. This is the big one. Yes, there are many other IM’s out there but those are qualifiers for Kona. To qualify for Kona you have to pretty much finish top 3 in your age group to have a chance. For me, that would be under 10 hours. Once you get a qualifying slot you get the chance to race in Kona. That’s all you get, nothing is free in this world and the people who put on IM’s make your wallet very aware of that. I could totally go into how IM (the event itself) is not worth the $575 entry fee after the first time but I’ll save that for another day.
The Kona Lottery is for folks who pay around $150 just to get their name in a hat for the chance to participate in Kona. That’s right….. they pay a good chunk of change just to be able to say they went to Kona. Notice I said “went”…..these people did not qualify. They were lucky and that’s about it.
My issue with the lottery is that you can pay the $150 bones and then cross your fingers for the chance to go to the big one. I believe this lottery thing is horseshit! It’s just another way to screw the age groupers who work their asses off out of their just right. There are people out there who absolutely bust their ass just to go out to a qualifier and have their dreams crushed because they came in 4th in their AG and only the top 3 get a slot. Why not get rid of the lottery and open up more opportunities for the AG’ers to EARN their spot @ Kona? I understand that there would be some situations that would qualify for someone who can’t qualify for Kona to get a chance to go. That’s cool and I don’t have a problem with that. Maybe having them write an essay as to why they should be given a bib # to Kona. If they have a disease that will not allow them to get there in the future, had a death in the family and there needs to be some closure or maybe their doing it for some honest reason like for the troops or something like that. I’m all good with those reasons. But don’t you tell me that a perfectly capable person who just doesn’t want to work for their spot can pay some money and get a chance to go to Kona. Again… horseshit!
I know people who have just about killed themselves through hard work and determination to get to race a qualifier and have the race of their life just to get that slot. A couple of names that come to mind are PT, Jim and Michelle Ryan. Shit… Michelle had to travel to Brazil to have a chance. All of these people have trained for years to get to where they are and have sacrificed soooooo much to make their dreams of Kona come true. I am very proud to call these people my friends as I look up to them and see that there is hope for me to get to the Big Island one day.
I almost don’t have anything personal against anyone who enters the lottery but don’t you dare even act/think that you deserve to go. Not for a second!!!!! You didn’t do the work. You didn’t sacrifice. You didn’t pay the personal price. You didn’t EARN it! You basically cheated yourself.
So if you are out and about and see someone with a Kona jersey or maybe overhear someone @ a party talking about how they went to Kona you should just pop in and say, “Where’d you qualify?” If they say anything other than a qualifying event…… look down upon that person and say….. “Yeah… that’s what I thought.”
If this offends anyone…… well…. toughen the hell up. This is my opinion and my blog. If you don’t like it change the channel.
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3 comments:
Good Post Logan. I agree with you. For those that buy their way in, good for them, have fun, but this is not the way to get into the World Championships.
Dude, you would really look down on somebody for doing some fucking race? Lame.
Kona isn't magical, mystical fairyland, it's a place in Hawaii that people put on tight clothes and swim/bike/run around and really doesn't matter that much to anyone but the people doing it. People take this tri shit way too seriously.
That said, if it's your goal to qualify for Kona, cool, go for it, train hard, make sacrifices, whatever. Pushing yourself hard to achieve goals is one of those things that makes being human awesome and interesting.
But at the end of the day, it's just a fucking race that ABC made really melodramatic once on TV. Lottery/qualifier/charity/celeb spot.... Unless you're in the hunt for prize money, why give a rat's ass who else is racing and how they got there?
well put Logan, thx for the props!!
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