Under the surface of WTCS Sunderland, it was possible to detect a very clear current of dissatisfaction.
The locale had certainly bemused some athletes yet there was a deeper frustration at play. News earlier in the week that British Triathlon would be dropping out of hosting a WTCS stop in 2024 did not help. On the British front, perhaps some were trying to reconcile the rank hypocrisy of the narrative surrounding Sunderland itself.
On the one hand, the story went that Sunderland’s local council had decided to host the event to inspire the local community to get fit (and in doing so cut the costs associated with poor physical health). The rationale was expressed during the coverage of the race. On the other hand, the event came hot on the heels of the closure of Gateshead leisure centre only a week earlier.
Gateshead is only 20km away from Sunderland yet the local council could not afford to keep the leisure centre, and all of its attendant sports facilities, open. Instead, money was available to cover the best part of half a million pounds to host a WTCS race to “inspire” the community.
On a purely hypothetical note, what is the point of inspiring people to do a sport on one day and closing the available facilities on another?
There are plenty of issues in the UK at the moment, not least pertaining to the cost of living crisis. Yet the blatant paradox of Sunderland and Gateshead seemed to perfectly sum up why people would be upset at the status quo.
This dissatisfaction, though, boiled over and went in the wrong direction. More than anything, the anger crystallised in the direction of Britain’s triathletes.
Following the numerous social media comments lambasting Britain’s top triathletes for skipping the event, Sophie Coldwell, a WTCS winner in Yokohama this year, took to Instagram to defend herself and her colleagues.
To start with, no athlete is at fault for the design of the Series, the selection and timing of the race or the nature of Olympic qualification.
Based on the livestream feeds, more spectators also appeared to show up to watch Bundesliga Tübingen than they did in Sunderland. Although the local fans turned out, no one else appeared to think to go there.
The athletes are professionals trying to do their jobs under the strictures of the system around them. The WTCS does not reward racing every stop so there is no incentive for them to show up. British Triathlon have also placed the Paris Test Event at the heart of its Olympic selection policy so it is natural that those with the best shot of qualifying for the Olympic Games will target the event.
At the end of the day, the triathletes are trying to make a living.
To those that were upset, it may be worth considering the true source of your anger. Maybe it really was the athletes. Maybe the withdrawals of Alex Yee and Coldwell angered you. Perhaps the injuries of Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sian Rainsley and Kate Waugh infuriated you. What kind of British athlete gets injured, am I right?
Maybe the fault lies with British Triathlon. Ultimately Sunderland is their event and falls under their purview (a responsibility they will be abdicating next year).
Or maybe, just maybe, the problem is a whole lot bigger than a handful of triathletes. The Gateshead council has had its budget slashed by £179 million since 2010 and that is why the local sporting facilities have been shuttered. There is an awful lot to be angry about in the UK. All things considered, triathletes possibly do not make the list.
At the same time, a strange counter-narrative seemed to bubble up around Sunderland. While the dissatisfaction spread, many voices latched onto Hayden Wilde as a counterpoint to all that was seemingly wrong on the British front.
Wilde announced after the men’s race that he had been suffering with flu since winning WTCS Hamburg and had not fully recovered. Even looking at his running form was enough to indicate that something was up with him and the flu fit the bill.
There are two main ways of conceptualising Wilde’s decision. The first is to commend him for his courage to race even when unwell and to laud his fortitude. The other line of thought would question why he showed up. As a professional athlete, his recovery will need to come first and racing may prove costly.
Yes, his bronze medal earned him leadership of the Series, but a good race in Paris next month would have done that too. Furthermore a good race in Paris could book his Olympic place for New Zealand. By racing when sick, Wilde could jeopardise his Paris performance.
To double down, Wilde nobly stepped up to race in the Mixed Team Relay (having publicly stated he would not) after his teammates came down with food poisoning.
Again, it was a great gesture of solidarity and the mark of a compassionate athlete determined to represent his country. Was it sensible, though? Probably not.
Herein lies the ultimate conundrum. How much do we expect of athletes?
Are they to be paragons of fortitude and fight through all travails like Wilde? Do we not really care about the results so long as they give us a good story?
Or do we actually care about the results? When the British team do not perform they regularly come in for criticism, as do virtually all other athletes. Should one of them claim Olympic gold next year, will anyone care that they did not show up in Sunderland?
If results are what we demand, then it might not be logical to criticise the pursuit of said results.
Yet the criticism rained down all the same.
As a result, the conclusion could be that triathletes are supposed to carry and build the sport themselves. Forget the national federations, forget World Triathlon, everything is pinned on the athletes. It’s a bold take, for sure. On balance it does not seem to be a very logical one.
Unfortunately, until everyone collectively works out what they actually want, the athletes will continue to be hung out to dry.
Hayden Wilde was not right and the British team were not wrong but the opposite is also true; both were right and wrong simultaneously. It simply depends on your outlook.
When Sunderland is left to gather dust in the pages of history, everyone will move on to the next story.
The athletes, though, are real people. The British team will likely now appreciate just how quickly parts of their support will turn on them. Wilde, too, may understand how keen people are to bandwagon onto him breaking himself. Maybe if he races on a broken leg next time they will really get their fix.
This dynamic is not healthy and only encourages athletes to break themselves. With that in mind, there has to be a better way of conceptualising the contract between athlete and fan.
To figure that out, though, we must all first ask ourselves what we actually expect from the athletes.
