While the profile of triathlon has risen considerably in recent years, many people within the sport often wonder how professional athletes make their money and what it’s like to make a living through swimming, biking, and running.
Luckily for them, British long course star Ruth Astle has once again released a full breakdown of her earnings as a pro in 2023, with the 2022 IRONMAN World Championship fifth-place finisher offering full transparency on the costs and benefits involved.
In an excellent YouTube video explaining how she makes it all work, Astle gives a valuable and often underappreciated insight into how athletes who are trying to reach the pinnacle of the sport finance their dreams.
After a good year in 2022, where she made a total of £87,171.50 with a significant portion coming from prize money, an injury-hit 2023 saw Astle’s earnings take a dent, but despite this, she says she still felt it was important to share.
“In the interest of being transparent, I think it’s interesting for people trying to get into the sport who are thinking about whether it might work or what they need to do to make it work.
“I think it’s always good to share the reality of what it’s like to be a pro triathlete, especially when you’ve had a sh*t year of being injured and not really done any racing.”
While Astle works part-time for Lloyds Banking Group and does some coaching work for former pro-Will Clarke, the figures in the video come from just her triathlon-related income.
“A few things to take into consideration, which are probably different for me than they are for other people. I don’t currently pay for coaching because I coach for Will, so he currently takes a cut of my coaching, which is how that arrangement works, which is different from a lot of other pro athletes who pay monthly and probably a proportion of prize money.
“I’m not including my coaching income as part of this because for me that’s like another job that I’m working, just in the same way that I do not include my Lloyds Bank income because for me that’s a separate job and this is purely looking at my triathlon income.
“I’ve also been lucky this year that I’ve had quite a lot of financial support from one of the guys I coach. That was most of Kona that got paid for, so that helped a lot because if he hadn’t helped pay for it, I wouldn’t have gone for as long as I did.”
“Did I make any money?”
Having struggled to make it to the start line for much of the year, Astle found her costs stacking up, with physiotherapy treatment a substantial cost during the season at £1,920 and swimming another big expense (£3,200).
“I spent more than I did last year in 2023, which is probably not too much of a surprise given the month I spent in Kona. I spent less on bike services but much more on swimming, both from a coaching perspective and pool costs.
“My other big cost for the year has been content. This year, because I’ve been getting some actual cash sponsorship, I have been paying Jack [Schofield] a monthly retainer for the content, and then there was also some specific content I paid him for some brands I was doing stuff for.”
In total, Astle spent well over £30,000 on training and racing-related costs in 2023, with her expenses and lack of prize money potentially leaving her in a perilous position if it hadn’t been for the help of some valuable sponsors.
“Did I make any money? I haven’t made much money from the actual sport, as I only won prize money in Kona and a little bit at Zell am See, so prize money by the time it got taxed and converted was £4,204.90.
“The thing that had kept me marginally in the black is that I’m really lucky I have got some good sponsor contracts that have carried on. People still believe in me, which is nice and needed, so my total from sponsorship contracts this year has been £33,798”.
“This is why I have other jobs. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to afford to eat or do anything!”.
“There were some hard conversations to have.”
On the topic of sponsorships, Astle admits that a lack of race results made contract negotiations for sponsorship renewals a tough prospect, but fortunately for her, a number of her sponsors have continued their support into next year.
“The bigger reality of a year like this is a lot of my contracts were up for renewal this year, and after a year like this, it makes it quite hard to pitch yourself at the same or more value.
“The reality has been that there were some quite hard conversations to have with people to try and negotiate stuff for next year based on what I basically see as zero results. So, all the people renewing are doing it based on what they see as my potential and a longer-term relationship.”
“So far, I haven’t had any negative conversations, which is reassuring, but I need to actually have a good year next year otherwise, I will be in a different situation at the end of the year.”
