More Than Our Story
John Salt
John Salt, Founder of MultiSport Canada, discusses his customer-first reasons for establishing his multi-sport event series in Canada. He also shares why he loves shaking everyone’s hand at the finish line and the impact multi-sport events can have on people’s lives.
Highlights
As a youth, I played hockey. I was your typical Canadian kid... It wasn't until my late 20s that I started to run... and start training... running marathons.
I was still living in Toronto at that point in time. A lot of people trained out of the North York YMCA there, and I met a great bunch of people... Those people were starting to dabble in triathlon and IRONMAN Canada, which was really the only Iron-distance event in North America at that point in time.
I ran for several years, raced 6 or 7 marathons, and went to Boston, which was a great experience. And then I got to a point where it was, I might want to try something different. Mike was an inspiration to me and Anne, and we had dabbled in some short-distance triathlons with the Subaru series back then, and we decided that [we] think [we're] going to do an IRONMAN. And so we did our first IRONMAN in 1998. IRONMAN Canada trained for that. Mike trained us. And then, from there, I did a total of eight IRONMAN-distance events.
In 2005, I qualified for Kona, but I actually turned it down because Anne had qualified; she was always on the podium, she did nine iron-distance events. She had done Kona in 2004, and that was just way too much stress for me. After seeing Kona, I said, "Yeah, no! After seeing last year, that's it for me".
It was 2001 when I had the idea; after being at a race and seeing that things had changed, there wasn't quite the focus on the customer experience. I felt like it was becoming cookie cutter... I thought maybe we need to have another series of events that are really focused on the customer experience and focus on what the customer wants, and that's how MultiSport Canada came to fruition.
There were probably back then about half a dozen good, solid independent races in Ontario.
Back then, it was the Subaru Series, that's where most of the athletes went... There were ten events there... and we put up ten events in our first year and, within, I think it was 6 or 7 years, we surpassed their numbers.
I attribute [MultiSport's success] to the fact that we were focused on the customer. I always made myself available to the customer, and that's important.
Over the years, we've had all sorts of ideas in terms of what we could do to have destination events... But you have to put things in perspective. Triathlon is very much a niche sport. And I would say to... Jason Vurma, my business partner: "We might be the largest triathlon series in Canada, but for all intents and purposes, we're still very much a mom-and-pop business."
Delivery is most important: "What does the customer see? What does the customer feel?"
I stepped back from going to the races in 2018. That was my farewell tour ride. I got to go to every race. I like to shake hands with our customers at the end of the race. So that was my chance to do that one last time.
I huddled with Jason, and I said, "You know these people have come all the way to Parry Sound to do this, this race."... We can't just say, well, sorry, you know, the race is canceled... [The next day] we put on the half(-distance), and we started the sprint in the middle of it... That day was even a little more special because they didn't think they were going to be racing on Saturday. But they did on Sunday, and they enjoyed it, and they had a great time.
Barrie Shepley, who's a well-known coach and mentor to a lot of people, also during the Olympics, he's always the commentator for the Olympic [triathlon] races. [He] was the one who came up with the Kids of Steel concept.
[Rob] said, "You probably don't remember us, but back in Lakeside in 2006... We have a son who is on the spectrum; he has Asperger's, and it's difficult for him to be in a situation where there are many people and so much going on. He came out of the water dead last, and my wife was trying to help him put on his shoes. The officials said, 'No, you can't assist any of the kids or the athletes.'... [You] saw that, went over, and said, I think we can do this; it's not a problem. This child's here to have fun. And his parents are here to have fun, watching him have fun. You know... that changed a lot of things for us and for our son. It gave him some confidence."
There's a sense of camaraderie in the sport of triathlon. It's great for kids to come to an event and feel that.
My role has changed in the last six years. Having stepped away from the series, Barrelman is really still my race because it was my baby from inception.
My favorite part is race day at the finish line. I've said this for years; it's one of the reasons I started it. If you want to know if one of your athlete customers had a great day, stand at the finish line... What's more important to me is shaking the hand of an athlete, and they come across and say, “You know what, John? This, this wasn't good today, or that wasn't good today.”... If you want fresh feedback to know why an experience wasn't good for that athlete, that customer, that's the best place to get it.
Prior to a race, people are in transition, and we're doing the pre-race briefing, and you can tell who's new. They’ve never done a race before. They've trained, they might have an old beater bike, they might have a $10,000 bike. But all you have to do is look at them, and it's like deer in the headlights. Like, “What the hell am I doing here?” And that's a great feeling, only because you know that there are people here who are going to try something new for the first time.
Now and again, I'll remember a face from prior to the race, and I get to shake their hand at the finish line, and I see that they're happy - no better feeling.
I'd had 25 years in the corporate world as a retail banker, and I'd done fairly well. I didn't necessarily enjoy it, and that's one of the reasons that I ended up starting MultiSport Canada... I was like, okay, it's rewarding to an extent, but is it really rewarding?
When I started thinking about what MultiSport Canada could look like and again, going back to the whole customer experience, what could be more rewarding right?
We know we put on quality events. We've always tried to make sure that the venues are going to be good race experiences.
What's next for me? I'm living a great life... I'm 71. I stay fit on the bike, and I'm getting back in the pool again. And I've started to run a little bit.
We've added an Olympic distance event to the Barrelman weekend. So the half is there, and the Olympic distance race will be there... I'm really excited about that because we now have an event that will go from Welland to Niagara Falls to Kingsbridge.
The focus of my life is to enjoy every little bit of it that I can.
MultiSport Canada
Visit MultiSport Canada online to register for races, volunteer, view results and more.
Daniel
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