Luxury hotels, $30K bikes — Ironman triathlons a relative breeze for the rich

These ultra-rich endurance athletes are trying to buy their way to the finish line.

One percenters are shelling out beaucoup bucks to train for and compete in Ironman XC, a grueling test where participants subject themselves to 2.4 miles of swimming and a 26.2-mile run, followed by a 112-mile bike ride. To prepare for the ultimate challenge, a privileged few are indulging themselves with luxury hotel suites at the starting line, pre-race spa services, and bikes that cost more than a car. 

“There is no way around it — we are pampered,” said Jerome Le Jamtel, a Westchester-based Wall Streeter, who spends six figures a year on his Ironman hobby.

In an interview with the New York Times, Le Jamtel, a chief risk officer for an investment firm who took up running after the 2008 financial meltdown, said he trained for the triathlon at a mini indoor Ironman facility with a $1,900 dry-land swimming simulator — all while watching his favorite movies. He also invested in a $10,300 Diamond Marquise race bike that snaps into a $1,300 indoor cycling bike trainer. 

Competitors in the Ironman World Championship Triathlon run in the late afternoon Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
The Ironman XC, which stands for “executive challenge,” is a triathlon for athletes to swim 2.4 miles, run 26.2 miles and bike 112 miles. The cost ranges between $5,700 and $15,000.
AP

According to the Times story, Le Jamtel’s extravagant-seeming expenditure was almost frugal — some race bikes can cost up to $30,000.

A traditional Ironman race costs between $475 and $675 to enter and features up to 2,000 people, the paper reported. The elite, however, prefer the Ironman XC — XC as in, executive challenge — events admitting just 10 to 25 competitors who pony up between $6,200 to $16,200, according to Ironman’s website.

With XC hopefuls traveling thousands of miles to submit to a typically hellish experience, Troy Ford, Ironman XC’s master of ceremonies, told the Times his job is to make the experience as fun — and as comfortable — as possible for their business-class guests.

Group of athletes cycling at ironman.
Just the price of a bike alone can cost some deep pocketed participants in Ironman XC up to $30,000, one participant told the Times.
AP

“We take all the logistics, headaches, hassles and hurdles out of it, and make it really easy on them,” Ford told The Times.

That means, he said, a “whatever it takes” approach to convenience, from arranging luxury accommodations, stocking mini-fridges in a participant’s swank suite with goodies like a six-pack of nonalcoholic craft beer, a box of specialty chocolate and hard-to-find fruit, to having a personal shopper on speed dial should an athlete pack the wrong sized bike crankset.

“I can understand seeing from the outside where it feels unfair, or there is a shortcut. That’s completely understandable … but it’s missing the point,” Le Jamtel told the Gray Lady.

When the rubber meets the road — literally — even the luckiest contestants find themselves on a level playing field. After competing in his 20th Ironman, Le Jamtel confessed to barely finishing, enduring everything from a jellyfish bite to a complete gastrointestinal breakdown, all while suffering from a cold.

“I had to manage on a very narrow line to move forward without collapsing,” he told the paper. “My slowest and hardest [race], but great memories!”

source: nypost.com