World Triathlon Corporation

The World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) is a sports event promotion company owned by conglomerate Advance Publications, that produces the Ironman Triathlon, Ironman 70.3, the 5150 series of triathlon races, and other sports events.[1]

History

In December, 1989, Dr. James P. Gills and David Voth acquired and purchased the Hawaii Triathlon Corporation, owner of the Ironman Brand, for $3 million from Valerie Silk. Voth was the CEO from 1989 to 1993 followed by David Yates then Lew Friedland in the CEO role. With the Ironman brand, Gills and Voth established the World Triathlon Corporation with the intention of furthering the sport of triathlon and building a multi media and global brand presence. By increasing prize money for both male and female triathletes and developing the Ironman World Series including new associated and licensed IronMan races, IronMan was launched into the mainstream of sports. [2][3][4][5]

Event acquisitions

In addition to the North American Sports acquisition in 2009 WTC has acquired several other event management companies and races.

In February 2012 WTC purchased USM Events, owners of Australian triathlons in Geelong, Mooloolaba, and Noosa, as well as the Sydney World Triathlon Series (WTS) race.[20] USM Events also owned and produced a full Ironman distance race in Cairns, Australia called Challenge Cairns.[21] Challenge, a rival to the Ironman brand, did not wish to have WTC running one of the Challenge family of races. As a result, Challenge terminated its contract with USM and Challenge Cairns subsequently became Ironman Cairns.[22] The purchase of USM Events expands WTC's Asia-Pacific triathlon market. The purchase would have placed WTC into International Triathlon Union racing with the Sydney WTS race, but government officials in New South Wales took the option of not extending an agreement to continue staging the Sydney event due to the ongoing logistical and financial investment required.[23]

In June 2013, WTC purchased YWC Sports, a private company that organizes triathlons and endurance sport events in Denmark.[24] YWC Sports was contracted by the Challenge Family to produce the long-distance triathlon races Challenge Copenhagen and Challenge Aarhus. However, Challenge Family CEO Felix Walchshöfer did not wish to have WTC produce a Challenge licensed event and therefore terminated YWC's agreement stating that the sale to WTC constituted a breach of contract.[25] As a result, the Challenge Copenhagen race, which was scheduled to race in August 2013, would be rebranded as Ironman Copenhagen and 50 qualifying spots would be offered up for the 2013 Ironman World Championships.[25] Challenge Aarhus was replaced by Ironman 70.3 Aarhus and debuted in June 2014.[26]

In January 2016 WTC acquired Lagardère Group's endurance sports division. Lagardère was owners of ITU World Triathlon Series races in Hamburg, Abu Dhabi, Kapstadt, Leeds, and Stockholm. The acquisition also greatly expanded WTC's portfolio beyond triathlon adding several cycling events like Cyclassics Hamburg, Velothon Berlin, Velothon Wales, Velothon Copenhagen, Velothon Stockholm, Velothon Stuttgart as well as several running events like the Hamburg Marathon, Hawkes Bay International Marathon, Marathon de Bordeaux, Queenstown Marathon, Music Runs in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Sweden and South Africa and several multisport events.[27]

Cape Epic – annual mountain bike stage race held in the Western Cape, South Africa[28]

Optimum Sports Events (2015) – Owners of Challenge Vichy

SuperFrog, Inc. (2015) – Multiple events including the Superfrog Triathlon.[29]

Firstwave Events, LLC. (2015) – Big Kahuna Triathlon and Santa Cruz Half Marathon[29]

Auckland Marathon (2014)

Lifesport Properties Inc. (2014) – Owners of the Subaru Western Triathlon Series

Tritlon Spain SL (2014) – Owners of Challenge Barcelona

Columbia Triathlon Association, Inc. (2014) – An Ironman race licensee and owners of ChesapeakeMan

XXtra Mile, LLC (2013) – Owners of the Danskin Triathlon Series, the events were rebranded under the IronGirl banner.[30]

Former business ventures

LAVA magazine

In March 2010, World Triathlon Corporation announced the start of a triathlon publication called LAVA magazine. At its conception, the magazine was published by John Duke, former publisher of Triathlete Magazine and then Vice President of Global Sales and Media for WTC. LAVA built its initial subscription base from United States athletes who had entered in an Ironman branded event in 2010.[38] The magazine produces 9 issues per year. The "Lava" name is in reference to the Hawaiian Island that the Ironman Championship is held on each year.[39]

The magazine was started under former World Triathlon Corporation CEO Ben Fertic. Under CEO Andrew Messick, WTC sought to focus solely on the Ironman brand of races and move away from publishing.[40] In May 2012, WTC sold LAVA to a group of investors that included LAVA publisher John Duke, Active.com's CEO Dave Alberga and president Matt Landa, as well as former hedge fund manager Matthew Michelsen. Additionally, as part of the sale, Heather Gordon became the new publisher. The sale also coincided with the end of a two-year ban that prevented LAVA from being sold on the newsstand for two years. That ban was the result of a dispute and settlement between Duke's previous employer Triathlete Magazine, its parent Competitor Group, Inc., and WTC.[41] After the sale LAVA will receive a preferred relationship with WTC as the official publication of Ironman, which will grant the magazine unique access to Ironman consumers.[40]

Ironman Access

On October 27, 2010, World Triathlon Corporation put out a press release announcing the creation of an athlete membership program called Ironman Access.[42] This program was to offer advanced registration to its Ironman events before entries would be open for registration to the general public. Advance race registration for members of Ironman Access would be open one week prior to the event's general entry registration date. Members of this program would also receive a number of other benefits, such as a free subscription to its LAVA magazine and discounts at its shopironman.com website. The cost of membership into the Ironman Access program was US$1,000.[42] However, a day later, in response to comments the WTC received via email and from comments received through Facebook, Ben Fertic, then CEO of WTC, appeared in an online video announcing that Ironman Access program would be rescinded, stating: "If you guys think we're wrong, we're wrong." [43][44] As explained in the video by Fertic, the purpose of the program was to free up 2,500 to 3,000 entry slots that go unused by individuals who sign up for multiple Ironman events.[43]

type	Subsidiary
founder	Valerie Silk, James Gills, David Voth
key people	Scott DeRue: CEO Ben Fertic: President
industry	Sport Event Management Sports
products	Ironman Triathlon, Ironman 70.3, Ironman Live, Iron Girl, Ironkids
parent	Advance
foundation	1991 in Tarpon Springs, Florida
location	Tampa Bay, Florida

World Triathlon Corporation

History

Dalian Wanda Group (2015–2020)

Advance (2020–)

Event acquisitions

Event and product licensing

Former business ventures

LAVA magazine

Ironman Access

See also

External links

References