Entry Prices

There's one thing holding me back from entering triathlons left, right and centre, the amount it costs to enter. Well that and not having a car means local races only! The fee for my first sprint triathlon was £39, that might not seem a lot to some of you but for me that's 3 weeks food. This means that for me even entering 1 a month would be way too expensive and the bigger the race the more expensive it gets. While that seems obvious to me I nearly dropped my laptop the first time I saw the entry fee to some of the Iron distance races. Is it bad that I thought it'd take me longer to save up for than to train for?

But I think with entry fees the organisers are limiting themselves. Most people inviolved in triathlon seem to be a lot richer than me, middle aged with nice cars and even nicer bikes. But most people that participate in sport in this country are younger and often still in education. So why is there no student entry fees? Or cheaper entry fees for younger people? after all get them hooked now and when they're 30 and working full time they'll have the money to keep paying the high entry fees. I really think that offering reduced entry fees for certain populations could really increase participation in triathlon which, hopefully, would then reduce the fees for everyone. To find out if any of you agree I've added a poll to the sidebar of my blog, lets see how many of you think that entry is too expensive...