point me to articles in irish newspaper re alieen reed's 4th place in london

peter kern

if you have one either sent me link
or tell me where in the paper it was an roughly how many words.

tunney

peter kern wrote: »

if you have one either sent me link
or tell me where in the paper it was an roughly how many words.

I believe there is an article. The number of words is proportional to the public interest.

Tombo2001

tunney wrote: »

I believe there is an article. The number of words is proportional to the public interest.

That's nonsense.

There are plenty of people competing in triathlons here who would be very interested. And also a lot of runners/ cyclists/ swimmers.

And then there is the issue of chicken and egg: media coverage is necessary to generate public interest.

Look at all the fuss over the womens rugby team; and yet they still get a small number at their games.

I would put it to you that there is not a single Womens Gaelic footballer or rugby player in the country that could compare with Aileen Reid in terms of the level she has achieved as an athlete.

peter kern

tombo

tunney is only interested colour runs those days ;-)

it was live covered in bbc2 and even the rainbow press in the uk covers tri.

dave which newspaper was it when?

Tombo2001 wrote: »

That's nonsense.

There are plenty of people competing in triathlons here who would be very interested. And also a lot of runners/ cyclists/ swimmers.

And then there is the issue of chicken and egg: media coverage is necessary to generate public interest.

Look at all the fuss over the womens rugby team; and yet they still get a small number at their games.

I would put it to you that there is not a single Womens Gaelic footballer or rugby player in the country that could compare with Aileen Reid in terms of the level she has achieved as an athlete.

Kurt_Godel

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/aileen-reid-is-in-great-form-ahead-of-olympic-bid-31268476.html

Have to agree its certainly newsworthy and can't see why ROI papers have avoided it.

tunney

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/aileen-reid-is-in-great-form-ahead-of-olympic-bid-31268476.html

Have to agree its certainly newsworthy and can't see why ROI papers have avoided it.

Denis O'Brien injuction

catweazle

Did Triathlon Ireland send each paper a report on the race, with minority sports the papers have to be spoonfed or it wont appear.

Rugby is far behind in numbers compared to Soccer and GAA but you wouldn't think it in terms of press exposure. The Irish Womens Rugby team have probably the slickest marketing team in Irish Sport behind them.

peter kern

Kurt_Godel wrote: »

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/aileen-reid-is-in-great-form-ahead-of-olympic-bid-31268476.html

Have to agree its certainly newsworthy and can't see why ROI papers have avoided it.

ta
intersting really ailleen would be no 5 in the world right now as the Itu point list would be the world ranking.
But this is something triathlon struggles with. I like it the way it is in tennis the wolrd ranking is important as it shoes who is the most consitent athelte over a 12 month periode.

griffin100

Irish athlete in minority sport fails to make podium in one race from a ten race series..............hardly newsworthy is it?*

Tri might be a 'mass participation' sport numbers wise in ireland but from a spectator view it's very much a minority sport. There was no thread here on her result (other than this one) so why would a national paper cover it? I'm guilty of having no interest in professional triathlon racing, and I've been 'doing' tris for seven years.

There are Irish people competing at the highest levels in many minority sports around the world that don't any coverage either. Unless it's one of the mainstream sports media tend to have no interest.

* I'm not knocking her result, I actually watched the whole of the women's race live (a first for me) and she was impressive.

rooneyjm

Maybe if she sexed it up a bit, put on a bit of lippy she'ed get a bit more coverage?

MrCreosote

I can guarantee if it was a male Irish athlete with the same result there would be decent coverage. There's a huge problem with inherent sexism in sports journalism.

peter kern

griffin100 wrote: »

Irish athlete in minority sport fails to make podium in one race from a ten race series..............hardly newsworthy is it?*

i would agree with that if ireland would produce world class perfomaces in sport week in week out ( they dont)

Currently Ailleen is the highest european ranked female triathlete in the world and there is not many athletes in Irelnad to hold this status.


as for minority sports its dosnt really get more minority sport than GAA and likely the last sport ever to be considert to become an olympic sport.

catweazle

peter kern wrote: »

griffin100 wrote: »

Irish athlete in minority sport fails to make podium in one race from a ten race series..............hardly newsworthy is it?*

i would agree with that if ireland would produce world class perfomaces in sport week in week out ( they dont)

Currently Ailleen is the highest european ranked female triathlete in the world and there is not many athletes in Irelnad to hold this status.

as for minority sports its dosnt really get more minority sport than GAA and likely the last sport ever to be considert to become an olympic sport.

Thats just being silly Pete - GAA is of course a minority sport worldwide - but certainly not in this country.

Many things are holding the Irish press back from blanket coverage of Aileens achievements

1. Triathlon is a minority sport in this country, whats the numbers again about 8000/9000 members. There are plenty of sports with far more playing numbers than that. The papers will always gravitate to the bigger sports

2. If Aileen was from the South she would get more newsprint, its notable that the Belfast Telegraph was the only paper that coverage could be found on it. Shes Irish absolutely but I have always noticed there is still a bias towards the South when it comes to print. The boxers are a fine case in point, you wont hear much about Carl Frampton down here

3. As an organization we don't really promote ourselves very well, I have an interest in reading/watching but the only bit of promotion I ever get is the odd newsletter from TI. TI can sit pretty and watch the one day licenses and membership money roll in, its up to the race organisers to try and promote local interest to make their money. A quick glance at todays Galway Independent I was delighted to see a big article on the upcoming Loughrea Triathlon on the back pages - you can bet your ass that was written by someone in Predator and sent on to the paper

4. As a matter of interest how much better is it in Germany, is Kienle and Frodeno keeping Bayern from the back pages. Is it promoted better in Germany?

Shedite27

It's Ailenn Reid's PR people who should be more active in this. Releasing aticles, free to use pictures etc. Papers are lazy, if she sent that off to papers etc it would get printed.

And anyway, I'd say 80% of the people at TriAthy last week wouldn't have a clue who Aileen Reid is, it's just not that type of sport unfortunately.

peter kern

of course my reply is silly re GAA

what iam really at here is, there was a world class performace which is really rare by Irish atheltes- in any sport- and there is no news. i think every sport should be mentioned if there is a world class performace . there was a story about an irish born marathon runner that now will start at the world champs for australia. ( she run a 2.34 marathon which is very impressive but its not world class )



point 4 you can watch hawaii live in german tv hamburg tri too roth is televised partly and so is Ironman frankfurt.
Coincidentaly a few weeks ago when a german girl came 4th in the WTS race in south africa there was a long interview in the 2nd biggest german newspaper. And you would usually find results and short articles in the paper. there is not often a year a german triathlete is not amongst the top 8 athletes of the year.
it is of course a minority sport In germany too but it does exist in the big papers.and results from wts race would always be printed in the results part and if somebody does well there would be an article. I would say on a similar level than the uk .

I am from close to roth and when challenge roth is on its for 1 week the biggest news in the sport part.(publication approx 1 milion a day)

catweazle wrote: »

peter kern wrote: »

Thats just being silly Pete - GAA is of course a minority sport worldwide - but certainly not in this country.

Many things are holding the Irish press back from blanket coverage of Aileens achievements

1. Triathlon is a minority sport in this country, whats the numbers again about 8000/9000 members. There are plenty of sports with far more playing numbers than that. The papers will always gravitate to the bigger sports

2. If Aileen was from the South she would get more newsprint, its notable that the Belfast Telegraph was the only paper that coverage could be found on it. Shes Irish absolutely but I have always noticed there is still a bias towards the South when it comes to print. The boxers are a fine case in point, you wont hear much about Carl Frampton down here

3. As an organization we don't really promote ourselves very well, I have an interest in reading/watching but the only bit of promotion I ever get is the odd newsletter from TI. TI can sit pretty and watch the one day licenses and membership money roll in, its up to the race organisers to try and promote local interest to make their money. A quick glance at todays Galway Independent I was delighted to see a big article on the upcoming Loughrea Triathlon on the back pages - you can bet your ass that was written by someone in Predator and sent on to the paper

4. As a matter of interest how much better is it in Germany, is Kienle and Frodeno keeping Bayern from the back pages. Is it promoted better in Germany?

peter kern

Shedite27 wrote: »

It's Ailenn Reid's PR people who should be more active in this. Releasing aticles, free to use pictures etc. Papers are lazy, if she sent that off to papers etc it would get printed.



In a way that was the reply i got form a journalist from a nat Irish paper. besides the comment , that most Irish sport editors think if it doesnt happen in a stadium or a golf course its not sport.

sconhome

catweazle wrote: »

A quick glance at todays Galway Independent I was delighted to see a big article on the upcoming Loughrea Triathlon on the back pages - you can bet your ass that was written by someone in Predator and sent on to the paper

As ex PRO you can bet your last dollar that even in a regional paper like that with local interest it took several attempts to get it to print. Despite bombarding peppering all the local papers with news and with contacts in each it still is a struggle to get stuff promoted in the media.

Clubs need circulation to appease sponsors, papers need advertisers to pay for copy. When the papers wake up and realise the link it will be happy days for all involved. The clubs will get promotion, the sponsors will get exposure and the papers will get advertisers.

Simples!

tunney

peter kern wrote: »

Shedite27 wrote: »

It's Ailenn Reid's PR people who should be more active in this. Releasing aticles, free to use pictures etc. Papers are lazy, if she sent that off to papers etc it would get printed.



In a way that was the reply i got form a journalist from a nat Irish paper. besides the comment , that most Irish sport editors think if it doesnt happen in a stadium or a golf course its not sport.

Eh Race walking? Despite being a total **** it gets great coverage

shansey

peter kern wrote: »

Shedite27 wrote: »

It's Ailenn Reid's PR people who should be more active in this. Releasing aticles, free to use pictures etc. Papers are lazy, if she sent that off to papers etc it would get printed.



In a way that was the reply i got form a journalist from a nat Irish paper. besides the comment , that most Irish sport editors think if it doesnt happen in a stadium or a golf course its not sport.

This is why tri constantly compared to adventure races..

"oh you did Triathy?..are you doing tough mudder too?"

Last I chaecked getting electrocuted and jumping over bales of hay wasn't in the Olympics..

peter kern

tunney wrote: »

peter kern wrote: »

Eh Race walking? Despite being a total **** it gets great coverage

he is consistently world class in what he does, totally deserved, me thinks.

sconhome

shansey wrote: »

This is why tri constantly compared to adventure races..

"oh you did Triathy?..are you doing tough mudder too?"

Last I chaecked getting electrocuted and jumping over bales of hay wasn't in the Olympics..

<In before Eduro>...and they're not adventure races either!!

sconhome

peter kern wrote: »

tunney wrote: »

he is consistently world class in what he does, totally deserved, me thinks.

If talking about Rob Heffernan, yes his performances are world class, but you have to recognise it is the hard work of the PR team behind him (or any athlete) that make the difference too.

Some athletes are marketable and understand this themselves others are great at performing but hate the limelight.

AFAIK Aileen manages her own marketing and PR (I don't think there is an agency involved) so no surprise at the lack of coverage, nobody can be in two places at the one time and it is nigh on impossible to tweet live coverage when in the middle of an event (I should know!!)

In this case not only would I expect TI should be doing a big shove on her performance but also what about the Women In Sport initative. Where are they?

Interesting piece that says alot - http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/if-women-s-sport-struggles-for-coverage-it-s-not-because-of-sexism-it-s-because-you-can-t-make-people-care-1.1893110

Peterx

http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/irish-triathlete-aileen-reid-climbs-to-sixth-in-world-rankings-as-olympics-bid-continues-31276323.html

tunney

AKW wrote: »

peter kern wrote: »

If talking about Rob Heffernan, yes his performances are world class, but you have to recognise it is the hard work of the PR team behind him (or any athlete) that make the difference too.

Some athletes are marketable and understand this themselves others are great at performing but hate the limelight.

AFAIK Aileen manages her own marketing and PR (I don't think there is an agency involved) so no surprise at the lack of coverage, nobody can be in two places at the one time and it is nigh on impossible to tweet live coverage when in the middle of an event (I should know!!)

In this case not only would I expect TI should be doing a big shove on her performance but also what about the Women In Sport initative. Where are they?

Interesting piece that says alot - http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/if-women-s-sport-struggles-for-coverage-it-s-not-because-of-sexism-it-s-because-you-can-t-make-people-care-1.1893110

Why would TI promote her? Devil's advocate? Their remit is medals not publicity.

Peterx

tunney wrote: »

AKW wrote: »

Why would TI promote her? Devil's advocate? Their remit is medals not publicity.

The remit - Is that actually the case? I would have thought a national governing body is charged with promoting the sport.

Success by Aileen Reid or anyone else can be leveraged to promote the sport here. It's a win win, she potentially gets more support (money) and the sport gets more recognition.

sconhome

tunney wrote: »

AKW wrote: »

Why would TI promote her? Devil's advocate? Their remit is medals not publicity.

Firstly, sorry I made a hash of the

thing and names were being pulled and dragged all over the place.

Was thinking about this last night and its very much "careful what you wish for"

Triathlon is not mainstream. That is part of the attraction if we are honest with ourselves. (and I realise the irony being shamelessly self-promotional by nature)

Personality type, admitting it or not, generally likes the "you're mad" comments and a certain amount of ego stroking that goes with it. The more mainstream it goes the less appealing it becomes, yet at the same time people want sponsorship, spectators ("look at me!") and coverage.

Then when a dose of celebrity-itis strikes there is uproar about the 'dumbing' down of the sport. Look at the reaction to Gordon Ramsey, Bressie, Keith Duffy and co over the past number of years.

griffin100

I think tri is very mainstream now, it along with cycling is the new golf for a man (it's usually men) of a certain age.

When I started tri seven long years ago it was a bit like you say AKW, people were impressed by my ability to swim 750m, but now it's very much a widespread sport. I am doing a course at the moment where there are 25 people, most over 40 years old, 6-7 of the participants have done or do tri (no fear of them not telling the rest of the class about their tri achievements - I just nod along when someone talks about their two SD's completed and gives the rest of us advice, or feign wonder and awe at the classes onetime IM finisher - I haven't mentioned my mediocre tri career to anyone). Maybe that's why I'm drawn more to OW swimming this year and may not do any tris for the first time since I started......or maybe I'm just bored after all these years.

speedyj

Something going mainstream isn't what bugs me. It's the mis-representation of events that gets to me, I can't help it

For example, the upcoming 70.3 in Dublin will produces a couple of thousand new "Ironman" finishers. I read something recently where a fitness professional had gotten the bug when she completed her first "Ironman"; she had really enjoyed doing the bike part of the 70.3 with her 2 friends doing the bike and run..

As for the mini-marathon, why not just call it what it is, a 10k? It's a fantastic event that brings out 40k+ participants but I don't get the need to deliberately fudge it with the "mini" tag. Particularly when there are people completing an actual marathon down in Cork on the same day.

peter kern

All good points and there is as usual 2 sides to the medal
chicken ( newspaper ) or egg (athlete/PR and athletes organisation whos main objective it is to promote the sport )


I totally agree with what you say, but i still expect an quality paper to report about irish world class performace in their sport section since they are so rare.

I dont really think tri has an equality issue ( every sport has this problem- and i like your women in sport comment- but tri is one of the best in this department in fact when we talk aobut ironmnan the first person many people think aobut those days is chirssie wellington) tris bigger issue is that everybody is a winner mentality that does not really respect high performace and its it potrayed as as a charity sport in ireland. ( you can blame ironman for that ) at the same time that is certainly a difference to germany in germany its seen much more as a sport.

somebody from an Irish paper suggested Aillen is from northern Ireland and therefore less interest for an Irish paper in the result ...

AKW wrote: »

peter kern wrote: »

If talking about Rob Heffernan, yes his performances are world class, but you have to recognise it is the hard work of the PR team behind him (or any athlete) that make the difference too.

Some athletes are marketable and understand this themselves others are great at performing but hate the limelight.

AFAIK Aileen manages her own marketing and PR (I don't think there is an agency involved) so no surprise at the lack of coverage, nobody can be in two places at the one time and it is nigh on impossible to tweet live coverage when in the middle of an event (I should know!!)

In this case not only would I expect TI should be doing a big shove on her performance but also what about the Women In Sport initative. Where are they?

Interesting piece that says alot - http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/if-women-s-sport-struggles-for-coverage-it-s-not-because-of-sexism-it-s-because-you-can-t-make-people-care-1.1893110

peter kern

"careful what you wish for"

I think tri has passed that point some 10 years ago in irleand maybe 5 years ago . the next step is now to make categories that people of same abilites can race each other.( and in a way ti took the first step towrads this ( now i hope nobody boast iam a cat 1 athlete to their friends but its a right step in the right direction to appreciate quality)
and very imprtantly this misconception that longer is more achievement needs to go . It needs to be qulity that is appreciated in a sport regardless the distance.
I guess you can not expect that people from outside take a charity sport serious if the triathletes themselves dont understand what performace is and still think an 15 hour ironman is more impressive and than a 2.30 oly distance.

AKW wrote: »

tunney wrote: »

Firstly, sorry I made a hash of the

thing and names were being pulled and dragged all over the place.

Was thinking about this last night and its very much "careful what you wish for"

Triathlon is not mainstream. That is part of the attraction if we are honest with ourselves. (and I realise the irony being shamelessly self-promotional by nature)

Personality type, admitting it or not, generally likes the "you're mad" comments and a certain amount of ego stroking that goes with it. The more mainstream it goes the less appealing it becomes, yet at the same time people want sponsorship, spectators ("look at me!") and coverage.

Then when a dose of celebrity-itis strikes there is uproar about the 'dumbing' down of the sport. Look at the reaction to Gordon Ramsey, Bressie, Keith Duffy and co over the past number of years.

sconhome

Now my head hurts with who said what. It's like Chinese whispers now