Trevor Wurtele next issue teaser

In our next issue of Triathlon Magazine Canada, we talk to Kelowna’s Trevor Wurtele about his first career Ironman victory at Ironman Canada and a few other things.

Here is a small portion of our conversation and with Kona coming up next weekend we chose this candid comment from Trevor:

“If you’re an athlete struggling to make a living in this sport, going to Kona should be the last thing on your list. Even a great race is not going to help you pay the bills. The athletes on the start line should be the ones who have proven themselves with consistent great results, and therefore have a bit of money to risk tackling Kona. Sponsors get far more benefit from you coming top 3 in an Ironman than they do seeing you finish 25th in Kona. Even 11th place in Kona, a great result, gets nothing! Maybe some sponsors put pressure on athletes to race in Kona, but my thoughts are that the sponsors should understand if you would rather focus on a podium elsewhere. My wife Heather made this mistake in 2009. We weren’t in a position financially to be going to Kona. That year, she should have just focused on getting a win at another Ironman as opposed to spending thousands of dollars just to participate in Kona. That winter we were in dire straights financially. Racing in Kona that year was probably the worst decision we made as new professionals struggling to get by.”

On a lighter note, here is one of Trevor’s now classic race report videos.