A Slowtwitch Article on the Rev3 Series and the man behind it...Charlie!

The Rev3 Triathlon series

Written by: Timothy Carlson
Date: Mon Dec 20 2010

Right about the time when the U.S. and world financial markets were imploding and much of the world was riding out an economic storm, the business of triathlon series not the obvious route to riches. In 2008 and 2009 some well established series such as the Lifetime Fitness / Race to the Toyota Cup were reining in their groundbreaking large professional prize purses, and established mega-tri entities like the World Triathlon Corporation and the ITU purses were not increasing their payouts.

But a 30-year-old government contractor and amateur triathlete and adventure racer from northern Virginia decided to go against the conservative tide. In September of 2008, Charlie Patten and his newly formed Revolution3 group announced an ambitious half Ironman event to be held June 7, 2009 on a challenging, hilly course located at the Quassy amusement park in Middlebury, Connecticut.

The plan was to offer professional prize money that bettered the WTC’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship $90,000 pro purse by $10,000. In addition, Rev3 was also offering $20,000 in cash and prizes to the age group field.

The plan was to offer professional prize money that bettered the WTC’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship $90,000 pro purse by $10,000. In addition, Rev3 was also offering $20,000 in cash and prizes to the age group field.

Adding to the odds against its success was the challenge of choosing to start the race from scratch with a new venue with the hopes of drawing a world class field. After its start as a standalone, televised, big money event in Minneapolis—located on a longstanding traditional course—Lifetime Fitness eventually expanded to a series including established races in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York which already had large, revenue-generating age group fields. By contrast, the ambitious Tri 101 series which promised big pro purses for its three-quarters of an Ironman-distance events went belly up after two new races held in small new locations and canceled its final two scheduled events in 2007.

As extensive promotion, a big purse and some luck would have it, the first Rev3 race in Middlebury Connecticut drew four world champion women who provided an exciting duel won by Mirinda Carfrae. While the men’s field only had one world champion, Paul Amey, established star Matt Reed prevailed in a tight, 3-man finish.

While exciting high profile elite races may prime the pump for a new event, the long term success requires large age group fields. On that account, the inaugural Rev3 at Quassy had an acceptable-for-a-debut total of 550 finishers both because of and despite the race’s rep as one of the toughest half Ironman layouts in the world.

With more investment capital than the ill-fated Tri 101, a better pro field, greater age group numbers and better control over venues with the support of the Quassy amusement park where the race was held, Rev3 advanced to an expanded second season in 2010. The series started with a $50,000 purse -- $7,000 each to the winners – for an Olympic distance race in Knoxville, Tennessee. The second year at Quassy featured an increased $150,000 prize purse -- $20,000 for the winners -- for Rev3’s premier half Ironman distance event. And the 2010 Rev3 season culminated with a $100,000 purse -- $16,000 for the winners – for a full Ironman distance event centered at the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. To up the interest, Rev3 took a page from the 2007 Lifetime Fitness Series by posting a $125,000 bonus for any triathlete who could win all three events. That was in addition to a $15,000 prize for the men’s and women’s overall series winners.

The total prize purses in the three-race Rev3 series added up to $420,000 – almost precisely the amount offered by the downsized prize money offered by the Lifetime Fitness six-race series.

Primed by increasing prize money and the lure of the $125,000 bonus, the second year Rev3 fields were high quality and yielded several great duels. After winning Round One in Knoxville, Matt Reed and Julie Dibens went all out trying to preserve their chances at the $125,000 series slam bonus, but by the end of the day in Quassy, two world-class thoroughbreds -- two-time Ironman World Champion and 2006 IM 70.3 world titlist Craig Alexander and Mirinda Carfrae – prevailed for the $20,000 wins.

Beyond the excitement of their 2010 races, Rev3 entries increased by a reassuring margin that buoyed long term hopes for survival and profits. Knoxville debuted with 366 Olympic distance finishers and 179 who completed the half for a one day total of 545 – equal to the 2009 Quassy debut. Helped by positive reviews for the first year race, Quassy drew 383 finishers for its Olympic race and 681 for the half distance event for a total of 1,064 finishers from an estimated 1,300 starters – doubling the 2009 totals. Cedar Point drew 339 to the full and 594 to the half for a total of 993 finishers.

He may be an enthusiastic age group athlete, but Rev3 CEO Charlie Patten is a businessman first. So he required bottom line indicators like the attendance jumps to afford the patience needed to bet that Rev3 is on the road to the black.

“We have a parent company that backs us and they understand that start ups take time to show profits,” he said. “Right now, we are looking at a 4-5 year plan for a return on the initial investment.”

The relative success of year 2 has inspired Rev3 to add races in Portland, Oregon ($50,000 prize purse), Anderson, South Carolina ($50,000 prize purse) and a combination Olympic distance triathlon ($30,000 prize purse) in Costa Rica, making Revolution 3 technically an international series.

Patten won’t reveal all the details of this private company, but is willing to give a few hints. “For more reasons then one, I would rather not get too deep into who the investors are behind Rev3. I am in investor in Rev3 as well as one corporate entity. Also, I would rather not get into what the investment is to date. I will go as far to say that it is a heavy front loaded investment. Our expenditures were very large for year one, a little less for year two, and we will follow that pattern for year three. It is our plan to hit the end of the runway and to have the wheels on the airplane up by year 5! That said, there are some things we are working on that may or may not help us reach the end of the runway by the start of year five.”

The moment that sparked Patten to dream up Rev3 came when he was waiting in line to sign up for Ironman Lake Placid after finishing the 2008 race in 12 hours 15 minutes. “The thought came into my mind while I was waiting in line,” said Patten. “The supply of quality races must be very low if athletes are dishing over $500 one year in advance. And people were securing their accommodations for the following year while they were checking out of their hotel on Monday after the race. What sealed the deal for me was the fact that a lot of those athletes were complaining about having to commit so far in advance.”

While Patten was also a fan of the many things that WTC does well, he shared the frustration many feel about the effort it takes to get into Ironman races and saw an opening. “We learned a ton about race production from Ironman and we try our hardest to replicate the things they do well,” he says. “That said, we also felt that a certain customer focus was lacking. When we decided to put on major triathlons, we made it our mission to truly try our hardest to put the customers first and understand our clients’ needs.”

One of those needs was to avoid the WTC’s hard line on refunds. “For example, if you serve in the military and end up with a deployment that you weren’t expecting, you better believe that at Rev3 we are refunding your money,” he said. “Get pregnant? ‘Congratulations, here’s your money back and we hope to see you in the future!’ Death in the family? ‘We are sorry for your loss; here is your money back.’” Obviously, we use discretion, but the point is that we care about the athlete.”

In launching his series, Patten also tried to think out of the box with technology and race coverage. Instead of paying out big money for broadcast television of Rev3’s debut 2009 event, he initiated live streaming internet race coverage with live video more like the ITU live internet coverage than the WTC’s no live video but extensive print and stats Ironman coverage. For the first event at Quassy they not only had live coverage on a Jumbotron screen at the start finish line, they also offered spectators access to computers in the transition area equipped with that Trakkers, a GPS technology that tracks athletes and offered real-time information such as location, speed, heart rate, elevation and current pace of the athletes.

After the first two seasons, Patten’s thinking on the technology front is evolving. “We started off the series with a big bang and a large focus on new technologies,” he said. “We found quickly that, while people appreciated the effort, they were ok with doing things in a more traditional way.”

For the past two years, he says, “all of our races had live Internet coverage. That goes along with our approach of using technology as a differentiator in the marketplace. We will scale that back a bit in the coming year so we can focus on a TV production. We will have live coverage of some sort, but we have yet to figure out what that means. We will in fact have a highlight reel available by the evening at each one of our races next year. We have pulled together a great team for our video productions. We will be using Upstage Video for a large piece of the production and have teamed up with Greg McFadden to help with producing and directing the live show.”

Live internet coverage done well, says Patten, “is awesome, but it doesn't bring in the same numbers of eyes that a TV production would bring in. From a sponsor’s perspective, especially one that is not in the triathlon industry, TV is more valuable to them. We were getting anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000 of viewers for our Internet coverage. But TV may bring us in the millions and we are looking into a production or multiple TV productions for 2011.”
Patten is willing to take risks and favors thinking outside the box, so does he come break the mold of the current race director and CEO. When he started Revolution3, he was not yet 30—younger than many of the marquee pros and far younger than the average race directors and impresarios that rule the business of triathlon.

“Truth of the matter is, I am getting old. I went over the hill in 2009 when I had my 30th birthday.”

He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and spent his childhood moving around the country from army base to army base. He graduated from high school in 1998, spent his summer mowing greens at a golf course and shipped out for Army National Guard boot camp in September of that same year. “The day my father retired, he swore me into the Army National Guard,” recalled Patten. “Seeing as I am not that smart and lack an inner drive to produce a quality report on economics, I bypassed the whole college thing. I spent 7 years in the Army National Guard and have been in the world of government contracting ever since.”

He started in triathlons in 2007 and finished IM Lake Placid in 2008. “I signed up for Lake Placid again this coming July,” he said, “but the 40 extra pounds I put on since starting Rev3 is making that look more daunting! Guess it's time to start training again.”

Exciting things happening!

Well as you all know this winter has been filled with non stop SNOW!!!!!! This has made training TOUGH!
Lots of treadmill running and no biking outdoors in months. Thankfully i just got back from a training camp in las Cruces New Mexico where I got some much needed biking in!




I cannot believe we are in the second month of 2011 already!!! Where is the time going?
I have been wanting to update my blog for a while...but with Facebook and Twitter,camps and kids time just flies!!!!

Today I am feeling a little under the weather as everyone over the course of camp got sick...I stayed healthy until the last two days of camp and I have managed to bring it back to New Jersey. So I shall use this day off to take the time to relax for a bit and catch up on all the exciting things happening in Team Trakkers!

Firstly I am so happy and privileged to be part of this Team for the second year! As far as I am concerned this is the Team to be on...we are fortunate to be a part of the greatest new series to hit triathlon...The Rev 3 Triathlon series!


The REVOLUTION3 Triathlon is changing the way triathlons are run! They recognized the need for a first class race experience while keeping things fun for everyone! With the growth of triathlon the need to change the way athletes and their loved ones view and participate in triathlons of all distances is so important.
My family can vouch for this. I have been racing for eight years and them coming to races started to get old...the early starts and then waiting around with nothing to do, in undesirable locations was resulting in me taking alot more trips without them. But with the start of Rev 3 all this has changed. It has become a more interactive, enjoyable experience for them by providing fun activities for my children and my husband during the race. Revolution 3 is all about change! Change for the age grouper, change for the professional athlete, and change for the spectators.
With races like Quassy and Cedar Point and now Costa Rica...these are now memories that we can all share together!

So thus I am happy and excited to report that in ten days we shall all head out to Costa Rica for a fabulous family vacation and an opportunity for me to race against some of the best athletes in a stunning destination. What more can a mom who loves being a competitive athlete ask for!!!!


Now back to Trakkers. The team has some amazing sponsors for 2011.
Firstly we shall continue to ride our wonderful speedy Kestrel bikes. I am looking forward to trying the new 4000 out. I have heard so many good reviews on it.

Secondly we have 2 new sponsors....Avia and TYR!!! Exciting!
I have been admiring the Avia's cool skull looking merchandise and running shoes for a few years now and am glad I get to try them first hand! www.avia.com
Over the years I have had several TYR belongings but this is my first year to be sponsored by them. Along with a new fast looking Hurricane westsuits we have been given, are there amazing line of TYR travel luggage. This is the sweetest looking set that will accompany me on many racing trips this year! Who knew TYR had a luggage line. Check it out on the TYR website.




We are back with First Endurance again. By far the most complete and amazing nutrition product line on the market! Just look at all the Elite teams that are using there products. A sign of how they are recognized as one of the leaders of nutrition is Endurance Sport! EFS/Ultragen/Multi V and Optygen HP got me through this last ten days of intense training out in Las Cruces.

My latest discovery is 1 scoop of Cappuccino Ultragen mixed with warm milk before bed...ahh sets me up for a great nights sleep!

Well more to update on my recent training trip to Las Cruces....but that's all I have time for for now!

Best Photos of 2010....

I like to make a photo slide at the end of the year to reflect on all the good times! What a busy full great year! Awesome...so much fun! Great memories from racing...family vacations and good friends! Love it!

It's been a great 2010!

I always like to thank the wonderful sponsors and friends in my life who make my training and racing possible.
Firstly to my husband and family who allow me to explore my passion to the fullest. Thank you for being proud and believing in me.


Secondly to Coach Paulo who has been coaching me now for the last 4 years and keeps me healthy and ready to race...

Thirdly a big thank you goes to Trakkers. Being a part of this team really made my 2010 special. I was proud to be on a team of great athletes...including Amanda and Michael Lovato, Dede Griesbauer, Richie Cunningham,Brian FlesIchman, Mary Beth Ellis and Carole Sharpless.




Not forgetting the wonderful athletes on the age group team that became new friends.

With Trakkers came the introduction to a new race series The Revolution 3. A race series that proved that it is here to stay. Rev 3 puts on first class races with a strong feeling of family and caring behind them. The venues were fun and the new friends I met along the way were amazing! From Knoxville to Connecticut to Cedar Point Ohio it was a great race series!!! I managed to secure a third place in the series which was icing on the cake!!



I was also introduced to new and wonderful sponsors.
Firstly my nutrition sponsor. First Endurance!!!!
This has been the best complete nutrition support system I have used in ten years. They offer a complete range of products that left me feeling confident that I was receiving the right combinations of vitamins/minerals and electrolytes for training. It was great having a recovery product that I felt confident about that would refuel my exhausted muscles and would get me ready to train hard the next day! I raced alot this year and always felt great about my nutrition. I strongly urge any of you who have nutrition training/racing questions to go on their site as they have endless answers to probably every nutrition question you may have.


Secondly big thanks to Kestrel for a sweet new ride and Saucony for their great support throughout the year. Triswim kept my skin smooth and chlorine free!

Brielle Cyclery has been with me for the last ten years and I thank them for their endless support and warmth. Clarence the best mechanic in the world always has time for me and it is MUCH appreciated!
A big thanks goes out to Freddie from Oakley who has been a supporter of mine and providing me with the coolest of shades for the last 5 years!!!!!!! I love my Oakley's!
Also to Suunto watches for their second year of support and whose watches are clearly outstanding!


So I look ahead to 2011 and another great year of racing! Lots of good things in store!

Time to get back to training!!!!

I have enjoyed three weeks of chilling time and I am happy to report I am back to a training schedule. Now different coaches have different philosophies on how much time to take off. Some athlete's just take a week and get back to training. I usually get 3 - 4 weeks to do other fun things with the family and to give the mind and body a break from the structured routine of training. When I first got into Ironman I would take a week and get right back to a schedule, but found it became a very long winter and sometimes I felt I really missed out on a well needed break. Also there are a lot of sacrifices that have to be made throughout the year to compete at your best level. In my break I like to spend as much time as possible doing fun things with friends and family and really finding the balance in my life again.

After Ironman Florida I was feeling particularly run down due to racing sick and instead of pushing onwards to go race a very difficult 70.3 in Phuket, Thailand. Coach Paulo thought it best to take a break. This was a good idea!!!

Me being me I quickly found other things to fill my time. Out came the mountain bike....which I love!!!!! The woods are so calm and the rides are always fun and challenging. Mountain biking for me is LIFE at it's best. I love to ride fast and hear my heart beat, finding new trails and exploring old ones. I like to work on the climbs or try some jumps I am afraid of. I like when the trails diverge and I have to pick one that I don't know where it might take me. I face my fears on difficult sections. I go back to them again and again trying to conquer them.
So as you can tell I got some good rides in!
I too got a little swimming, easy and in our indoor pool which means short swims followed by long hot tubs and steams. The pool I train in has no luxuries!
Lastly I really discovered Yoga. A friend of mine suggested I try it and that I may love it. I have and I spent three weeks going to yoga everyday....!!!! Pure bliss. There is nothing like walking into a Hot Vinyasa Flow class when it is cold and rainy outside!!!! I really needed to get some flexibility back too and all the stretching felt great!



I too got to enjoy time with my family going into NYC and spending time at the beach,hiking,sleeping in and just having no where to rush too!



The time off always goes so quickly but I am always thrilled to get back to my training schedule.
I am planning my year and setting new goials. Lots of exciting things in the works!!!!
I will be updating soon.
First I will need to give out some big thanks to my sponsors and then secondly I need to put together my traditional good bye to 2010 photo collage....then plans for 2011!!!!!

Ironman Florida Race Report...

I arrived in Florida with a bit of a cold. This was the first thing that had gone wrong in my Ironman build but I figured when it arrived I had 10 days for it to clear. I was looking forward to leaving the cold of New Jersey and heading down to some warmer weather to dry out my sinuses and get me healthy. I had no doubt in my mind that race day I would be 100% ready!

Well as some of you know the days leading up to Ironman were cold and rainy and I spent most of my time resting.
Not a bad thing. The day before race day I was finally feeling better and I was really hungry. I felt like I was eating so much food and by nighttime my tummy was feeling a little upset. I shrugged it off and got a decent nights sleep.

Morning came quickly and I got up at 4.30 to eat. My stomach was still feeling full and I was not very hungry and ate a very small bowl of oatmeal and a few scoops of apple sauce.
Scottie, James and I headed down to the start at 5.30. We did not want to spend too much time waiting in the 30 degree weather so instead it ended up being a bit of a rushed morning. Before I knew it we had 20 minutes to start and I was still out of wetsuit looking for a bathroom. With 10 minutes to go I finally begged someone to let me go to the front of the line, got my wetsuit on, dropped off my morning bag and got onto the beach with minutes to spare.
I got a 2 minute warmup swim and then lined up for the day.

The swim was pretty uneventful. I stayed with a small group pulling the first loop coming in around 29 minutes. The run on the beach was quite tiring and I decided to sit in for the second half. The pace seemed so slow so I eventually just swam off on my own and zig zagged around the age groupers.
I ran in around 1.01, a minute slower than the last time I swam this course. It was ok though as the water was a little rougher.

Running into T1 the volunteers were awesome. So many clothes dropped out of my bag and it was so hard to put them all on with my wet body. First was a long sleeved shirt. I just could not get than on...so I opted for just a bike jersey and arm warmers...knee warmers and thick Saucony compression socks. I too had toe caps on my shoes so I figured I would be reasonably warm. Once on the bike the camera guys were filming me and that kept my focus on catching up to Tamara in front of me and not on the cold. By mile 7 I had passed her and had my sights on a girl in front of her. We were riding into a head wind and I was feeling strong and pushing comfortably hard. A few guys came by in a tight group. I was amazed how blatant the drafting was. I stayed 100m back until I was dropped. Another pro girl then came by in a pack and I once again thought I should go with them. It was significantly easier in the pack but instead I went to the back and stayed too far off the back that I lost the draft and biked on my own. My stomach was starting at this point around mile 35/40 to really feel very bloated and crampy. When I got to the turnaround I saw a bunch of the guys that had been riding in packs that had received drafting penalties and I was happy I did not go with them because I had failed to put my race belt on and I was worried if they pulled me over I would get DQ'd.

The next section of road was super bumpy and back into a headwind. My stomach was feeling so upset by this time that I was holding back throwing up. A mile of bumps and I started vommiting uncontrollably. I pulled off the road and lent over with my stomach in pain.
I continued on pushing into the wind trying to keep my watts up. Every time I thought I was starting to feel better, it kept coming back. I could not consume any fluids. The cramps were strong and I started looking for a short cut back. I knew we had an out and back and I was thinking I would just ride straight back. Instead I headed out on the loop once again throwing up halfway through. I was so dissapointed as I was so ready for this race and I could not believe I was feeling so bad. I tried to just drink a few sips of water and basically just cruised home pushing 140 watts to the finish. I was riding so much slower with a big tailwind than with the wind in my face and I just wanted to cry! My friend Danielle and many others rode by and asked me what was wrong...

Once in T2 I sat down on a chair bent over while the girls yelled can we help, can we help? They were basically putting my shoes on and pushing me out the door. So I figured let me stop at the bathroom where I can have a private moment to contemplate what I really should do.
I stood in there hating the thought of a DNF. But my body was so completely drained. But in the end I decided to head out and push for a bit and see what happened. My stomach was so sore but I ran hard and surprisingly my legs felt so much better than what they did when I first got out on the run at the Rev3 full distance 6 weeks ago.
I stopped again at mile 3 to use the porto...as I had gone from throwing up to a complete upset tummy. I tried to drink lots at the water stops and even stopped at the paramedics at around mile 6. I gave them my symptoms and they suggested I should stop. I told them that I would run the out and back and then see them at mile 9. They insisted I stop at every aid station and hydrate well and to check in with them. So off I went and I was surprised at mile 7 to see that I was running pretty well.
But the reality was that I was really dehydrated and depleted and I could feel my heart rate rising. So I just ran comfortably and stopped and drank at every station and stopped every few miles at the bathroom. My lower stomach was still so crampy and it was really a struggle the whole way. At the turn around I was prepared to just go back out and try my best to just keep trying to pass people and get to the finish.

The crowds cheers kept me going and seeing my buddy James out front was so inspiring. Scottie D too was having a great race and I was so happy for them.
So I jogged into the finish and was proud of myself for my perseverance. I came across in 10.09 a few minutes faster than my Rev 3 full distance.

So while I was terribly disappointed I understood that what I accomplished was good!

Back in medical I continued to throw up after a nice cup of soup and I stayed there for a few hours recovering with some well needed IV fluid.

After a lazy day spent trying to recover Sunday I had fun celebrating with so many friends at the awards and Spinnakers the next night. I am truly happy and fortunate to beable to do what I love!

Thank you to coach Paulo who always gets me ready to race. I hope one day I will beable to put together the race that we both know I am capable of!
Thanks to to Trakkers for all their support this year and Kestrel, Saucony and First Endurance, the best Nutriton ever!

Me, James Cunnama (Ironman FL Champ), Scott D, Arland M

Ironman Florida Taper time!

It does not feel like too long ago that I was tapering for Rev 3 Full....and now six weeks later I am tapering again.
I am loving my decision to race another Ironman.
IM Coeur d 'Alene was disappointing as a back issue lead me to DNF at mile 16.
So Rev 3 Full was a well needed back on track race for me.
Now I am definitely looking for the race where it all comes together, where all the hard work I have done this year pays off!
To have the perfect race you need to be healthy, have got good uninterrupted training in and your head has to be in the right place.
This year I have raced quite alot and have loved being on the start line. When you are forced to take time off sometimes you come back with more passion and desire than ever.
I knew this year was going to be tough but my intentions were to race myself into shape. I enjoy the energy and excitement of racing and this year sure has had alot of that. Racing on the Trakkers team and doing the Rev 3 series was truly a nice addition to my racing calender.

These six weeks have gone very well and I am happy to say I feel more ready for this race than any other this year.
So with great anticipation I shall wait patiently for race day. I look forward to whatever the day brings me. I shall have fun,work hard, and enjoy each moment...and at the end of the day I will come out knowing I gave it everything I had.