Why Do Our Races Sell Out?
Why Do Our Events Sell Out? Or rather, who chooses how many people are allowed to sign up for an event?
Where has summer gone?? It's already late-August and the days are feeling short.
At Somersault, we've had so much fun hosting events all summer, and we hope that you had a chance to participate in some of them.
We just wrapped up our Thousand Islands event, where we hired a live band, had butter tarts & hot dogs for lunch, and we got to run through the scenic Brockville Railway Tunnel, seen below.
In this newsletter, we're going to dive into another behind-the-scenes topic: why do our races have capacities, and why they sell out.
Why Do Our Events Sell Out?
Or rather, who chooses how many people are allowed to sign up for an event?
The answer varies from race-to-race but we hope that this newsletter sheds some light on the topic and helps explain why we do things the way we do.
The Easy Answer: "Because I Said So"
For some races, our permit explicitly limits the number of registered participants that are allowed at the event.
In cases like these, it's often the municipality, or landowners who tell us what their capacity is. If Somersault ever disagrees with their magic number, it's our job to prove that we can run a smooth event, and have the space/ability to allow more people in next year.
Two great examples of this are The Meech Lake Triathlon, and Camp Tri.
At Meech Lake, we're limited to 300 participants, and there's no wiggle room.
At Camp Tri, the original capacity set for us was 250 athletes. After the first year, things went so well that we were granted permission to increase that to 300. That was lifted to 350, and now 400.
For Camp Tri, athletes behaved so well, and our staff were on their best behaviour - and it led to measurable outcomes. Now more people are able to enjoy the event, which I consider to be our most scenic.
The Middle Answer: "To Offer Consistency"
In this bucket, we have races like The Thousand Islands, and The Flower Fun Run.
The summary is "the permit doesn't limit us, but if we grew the event any bigger than it already is, we would have a drop in quality".
The Thousand Islands race is fresh in my mind, because it was just last week. Things went smoothly, but if we added even 5% more athletes, we'd have overcrowding on the bike and run course.
For our Flower Fun Run, it'd be a similar issue. And while we'd love to have everyone be able to attend this event, we have to limit it's size so that the athlete experience is the best it can be.
The Hard Answer: "We Don't Know What We Don't Know"
Growing too quickly is often called "a good problem to have", but when it comes to events, it can still be a problem.
If we host an event that doesn't have a size limit in place, we have an internal policy to cap is at 20% growth per year.
Every event is unique and while there is lots of transferable information from event-to-event, it's impossible to predict how every detail will go when you grow too quickly.
By only growing each race at a maximum of 20% per year, we can make sure that we learn from each edition, improve on the new challenges that we faced, and plan for next year accordingly.
This policy came from our Fall Colours Run, which had doubled in size within 3 years. There was one year where the event grew too quickly, and we didn't correctly predict how different races might converge on course, or how to most effectively get thousands or cars in or out of the parking lot. Now that we've slowed things down, we have a much better understanding of how things will go, and we're ready to see everyone at the start line.
The Other Answer: "We've Maxed Out The Venue".
If you've done our Winterlude Tri, Early Bird, or Canadian events in recent years, you might understand this all too well - there just isn't room for more people.
And similar to our "Middle Answer", increase the event size would lessen the quality of the race, and/or require major logistical changes to the day.
So What's Next? We Add More Races!
If most of our events sell out, we'd rather create additional races, rather than jam more people into our existing events.
In the past 4 years, Somersault has added:
The Winterlude Tri
Flower Fun Run
SuperKids Tri
The Meech Lake Triathlon
The KTown Tri
Camp Tri
We've also made big changes to some of our other event, all in the name of fun, safety, and managing capacity:
Early Bird: Relocating the staging area.
Embrace Winter: A course reroute.
Fall Colours: Making it a 2-day event, and changing the start times of each race.
Thousand Islands: Relocating the staging area, and a new run course.
Ottawa Triathlon Club Fall Registration is NOW OPEN
The Ottawa Triathlon Club is getting ready for its fall season and registration is now open.
Join them for one of their four spin classes with a high energy vibe to get you going and to keep you coming back. Join a group of new and experienced triathletes whose mission is to ensure you get to the finish line with confidence.
Their coaches and members have competed around the Ottawa area and around the world and are happy to share their knowledge and experience.
Whether you are a first timer or seasoned veteran you will learn and have fun at the same time.
Need more information, CLICK HERE
Have questions, email us at ottawa.triathlon@gmail.com or see Todd at the OTC tent on Friday September 5th, at Bib Pickup for The Canadian.
The Ottawa Triathlon Club, helping triathletes since 2024.
Welcoming, Fun and Inclusive.
Last Call For Triathlon
We hope that the info above was fun and interesting to read. There's a lot that goes into planning these races, and we enjoy explaining some of the less-obvious things.
With that, we wanted to send one last reminder about our remaining 2026 races. We have 2 really fun triathlons coming up in the next 3 weeks, and they couldn't be more different.
The Canadian is party. It's 1400 participants, with an epic finish inside the Terry Fox Stadium. For many, it feels like a way to close out the season, and do a race with the entire community.
This is Canada's oldest triathlon, and is always on Labour Day Weekend. After this weekend, people go back to school, back to work, wrap up vacation, and settle back into a different routine.
Camp Tri is the very next week, and a very different vibe. It's limited to 400 people, is hosted at a beautiful and calm campground, and it's a hidden gem in our series.
You bike and run over 9 different islands, connected by a freshly paved road. The scenery is a must-see and while this is a newer race in our series, it's quickly become a fan favourite.
Many athletes, staff, and volunteers also camp on site the evening before the race. It's a fun way to make a weekend out of the event, and a beautiful place to spend time.
In Case You Missed It:
Here are some reminders about recent updates.
We have a new 2026 Somersault Championship Series. You're automatically in the running, as long as you do 1 race in 2026.
The Movement Co is hosting a FREE workshop about ankle pain. You can sign up here for the Aug 26th session.
4 records were broken at the 2026 Meech Lake Tri.
Let's Keep in Touch:
Stay connected with us! Follow us on social media to keep up with all the latest news, race updates, and fun content.
Join us on Facebook and Instagram for insider updates, exciting announcements, and a behind-the-scenes look at our events. Or, visit our website to see what else we have in store for you!
That’s all for now!
The Somersault Team