Search
shop

London Classics: when marketing works, thank you

Your Editor had lost his swimming mojo well over a year ago, but the introduction of the London Classics came along at just the right time...
Chief Correspondent
Last updated -

Congratulations to London Marathon Events

When the journey is far more important than the destination…
…for me at least.

Who is the bright spark in the London Marathon Events office, who came up with the idea of the London Classics? I sincerely hope you have since gained promotion and/or a significant bonus.

Announced only in July this year (HERE), the London Classics concept was a remarkably simple – yet effective – addition to the schedule at last Saturday’s Swim Serpentine event in Hyde Park.

London Marathon Events organise events beyond just their eponymous title, including two other mass participation, endurance focussed, London-based events – Prudential RideLondon and Swim Serpentine.

Both the London Marathon and RideLondon are massively over-subscribed every year, with 30,000+ entrants making it to the start – and likely similar (or more) frustrated that they can’t secure a place.

In only its second year, Swim Serpentine, had neither similar numbers or a massive ‘sell out’ problem. How do you take the demand from the first two events and leverage that to assist and make the third event more popular? Queue the addition of ‘London Classics’:

A simple concept and a MASSIVE medal at the end for those that do. I’m reliably informed from those that have weighed it (and Twitter suggests many have…), that it is not far short of half a kilogram.

I’ll be honest, when the press release first arrived I was briefly cynical. About 30 minutes later I realised, “that’s pretty clever, actually.” An hour later I had paid my money and signed up.

Did I ‘need’ a medal? No. Did I believe that this was, per the event marketing, “one of the world’s great sporting challenges”? No! Did it get me off of my backside, back into the pool and make me fitter and feel better again? Absolutely it did. And for that, thank you.

I’ll be honest, initially I felt pretty ‘guilty’. Clearly, this (among other things), is brilliant marketing, and – knowingly – I was giving in to it. I even chatted about it to a friend of mine who works in the sports marketing industry who said: “Don’t feel guilty – that’s what great marketing does.” She was right.

I wasn’t the only one. There were many hundreds of M-Dot rucksacks, Outlaw hoodies and Challenge Family t-shirts wandering around Hyde Park last week as many a triathlete – a natural market for this event – were similarly drawn to Hyde Park. And probably also thinking, “that’s damn heavy!”, when they got their post-swim medal around their neck after their two-miles in The Serpentine.

In truth, I didn’t actually enjoy the event itself! I didn’t swim well, I struggled with the numbers of swimmers in the water and ended up being kicked and hit far too many times to make the experience a pleasurable one.

Despite that – genuinely – I’d like to say a huge thank you to London Marathon Events. I’d not been in the pool for well over a year. I’d lost motivation for swimming and couldn’t really see that it was going to come back any time soon. London Classics came along at the right time to act as an appropriate carrot/stick, and it worked. I was in the pool almost every day from the announcement until event day. I went from truly struggling to complete 1km in a session, to structured sessions to a series of 1500m TT efforts which saw big improvements every time. More importantly, I thoroughly enjoyed the process and committed to it, and for me that was by far the biggest memory of this event.

Will I be back? Well, having completed the swim and got the medal, probably not. Along with 568 others, I’m now listed on a ‘Hall of Fame‘ apparently, so box ticked on that one. All that said, I would recommend it.

Will I be back to the pool? Of course, I was back in the pool the very next day…

 

Et ego Londinium vici

(I too have conquered London...)

John Levison
Written by
John Levison
TRI247's Chief Correspondent, John has been involved in triathlon for well over 30 years, 15 of those writing on these pages, whilst he can also be found commentating for events across the UK.
Discover more
TRI247 podcast p/b Challenge Family episode 2
Go behind the scenes at Challenge Roth with the latest episode of the TRI247 podcast
Cadomotus Chronos triathlon cycling shoes
The triathlon cycling shoe that promises a 10-watt saving: Cadomotus Chronos Aero triathlon cycling shoes review
Challenge Family Roth
Five things you need to know about the Challenge Roth bike course
Challenge St. Pölten 2024 - image credit Jose Luis Hourcade / Challenge Family
Expert swim coach on the three most common swim mistakes age group triathletes make (and how to fix them!)
TRI-FIT VANGUARD tri suit review
The entry-level tri suit with a serious amount of performance for the price point – TRI-FIT VANGUARD review
latest News
ironman hamburg 2025 podium laura philipp kat matthews solveig lovseth beer
Challenge Roth 2025: Laura Philipp backed to make triathlon history by crashing through magical time barrier
Challenge Roth press conference 2025
Challenge Roth 2025: Date, start times, how to watch live and who’s racing
Georgia Taylor Brown wins supertri Toulouse 2024
British Olympic legend Georgia Taylor-Brown to make triathlon return
Gwen Jorgensen reflective World Triathlon Cup Vina del Mer 2023
‘Unbreakable’ Gwen Jorgensen ‘bruised’ after bike crash but vows to bounce back
IRONMAN CEO Scott DeRue Women For Tri 2024
IRONMAN announce new age-group qualification system for Kona and 70.3 Worlds
triathlon on your terms
Never miss out with our triathlon alerts & digest. Get a dose of adventure & inspiration with Boundless.
The 247 Group

The home of endurance sports

Share to...