On paper the idea was awesome; a sort of international successor to the Sailfish Night. And sure enough, the Global Triathlon Awards that took place last weekend in Nice, France was at times a fine gala for sure, but at the same time slightly disappointing.
It was definitely very special to see many of the world’s best athletes, leading organizers, brands ánd media together, all neatly dressed in tuxedo or gala dress. The evening, in a luxury hotel in Nice, was an excellent opportunity to meet new people, see old acquaintances again and possibly put yourself on the map. In short; to network.
What was grandly announced – although, how much did we actually see beforehand to promote the Global Triathlon Awards? – turned out to be less spectacular for many of the visitors.
Some points for improvement for the possible second edition of the Global Triathlon Awards:
- Make sure to do the presentations in English. Now about half of the presentations were done in French; a language not spoken by the majority of visitors. Translations were often missing and when translations were done, they were done very briefly.
- Keep the audience quiet during the presentations. Because of the format – where dinner was served during the presentations – there was actually far too little attention paid to the people who were on stage and spotlighted. It so happened that athletes like Cassandre Beaugrand, Vincent Luis and Gustav Iden, among others, gave speeches, while there was actually hardly any attention from the audience.
- Give award winners a little more time and opportunity to present themselves. For example, a number of products were named product of the year, but in the audience it was sometimes unclear what exactly those products were.
- Bring a little more logic to the nominations beforehand. There was a lot of criticism of the list of nominees anyway. Chelsea Sodaro, last year’s World Champion on Kona but active in triathlon for years, well past the age of 30 and winner of multiple races being named Rookie of the Year, for example, is somewhat remarkable.
- Provide a cool after party. After the Awards, most of the guests left the gala – or retreated to quieter spots to chat for a while – but that made for a sad sight in the party room. Gustav Iden briefly tried his hand as DJ and Taylor Spivey and Ashleigh Gentle did a little dance on stage, but that didn’t last more than a few minutes before the party died a quiet death.
