Not inventors or creators, not manufacturers or leaders, determine the success of a product or service. This is true in the sporting world, in business, even in politics and government. Decisions made by presidents of companies, and of countries, cannot withstand the intervening hand of the end-user.

Or any appendage of the end-user, according to the old race promoter's saw that athletes "vote with their feet." It's the constituent that always has the final say. Perhaps an example of this truism will be evidenced in our sport of triathlon, in the form of the new Triathlon One O One series.

Only three months ago triathlon's World Governing Body, the ITU, announced its decision to shorten the distance of its long course Worlds by about a third. The vote in Lausanne, Switzerland, among the blue-blazored set whose members have a knack of not actually engaging in the sport they govern, was 29-10 in favor. Europe's most distringuished triathlete over all distances and formats, Holland's Rob Barel, voiced his opposition. The displeasure of an athlete of Barel's stature should have been a warning to the ITU, an organization claiming to have the athletes' best interests at heart. As might've been expected, the overwhelming majority of elites racing in the "final" championship held over the famed "old Nice distance," signed a petition in favor of keeping this championship distance as it has been.

It should not be said that the ITU is bad at listening to its customers. What's truer is that the diameter of the ITU's self-scribed circle inside of which its customers exist keeps lessening. Its mantra seems to be, "Let’s decrease the size of the pie." Indeed, it just drew the circle smaller in Lausanne, and most of the World's best long coursers are no longer inside it.

Amid this landscape an organization has sprung up that takes adantage of two converging markets: those athletes just described above -- pro and age-group alike -- and another group of long coursers who think the Ironman distance represents wear and tear they're no longer willing to endure -- pro and age-group alike. Triathlon One O One seems to be the right idea at the right time, because the sport is growing, paralleled by the growing distance disparity between available challenges. One one hand we have the World Long Course, which just shrank to a race smaller than a half-Ironnman. On the other we have the double-Ironman -- at least that's what it is for those who do aspire to test their mettle against the best in their competitive set. The route to the Ironman World Championships runs chiefly through another Ironman. So the person seeking that challenge must train for and race 4.8mi/224mi/52.4mi in the span of a year, split over two equal-distance efforts.

In the case of Ironman, I have no beef with its format, its rules, its execution. But there is no denying its tortuous distance. The issue is not whether it's supremely long and hard. It's supposed to be. The issue is whether an Ironman's requirements preclude many from successfully engaging in a long course lifestyle over the medium- and long-haul and, if so, ought there to be something for the ardent long courser in between the challenges available to him?

There was such an alternative, and I think the ITU had it and didn’t realize it. Yes, the 140-mile Ironman is compelling because it is the ultimate one-day endurance activitiy. But others would counter that the 100-mile, 6-hour triathlon is an elegant marriage of speed and endurance. The Ironman has always been the ultimate test of survival and stamina, but Nice was a thing everybody could race. The ITU had this in its grasp. But it was so busily engaged in the small world inhabited by a few hundred World Cup athletes and its Junior feeder program, it failed to brand an important property, and refused to champion a distance over which it could've exercised a worldwide hegemony.

Into the breach steps Triathlon One O One, which will provide a compelling alternative to long coursers abandoned by their sport, and ultradistance racers whose sport they'll one day abandon (once the rigors of annual Ironman racing take their toll on the body, business and family).

What of the new World Long Course Championship? Will the ITU's double-Olympic be recognized as an important title? I suspect not. In the case in many sports, the champion crowned by a world governing body wears a wreath of no great symbolism. Athletes vote with their feet, not through their country's ITU delegate. A sport's adherents and spectators choose their champions. The betting man's smart play says Triathlon One O One's championship will be a more desirable title than that of the double-Olympic.

The sport is ready for another brand, and Triathlon One O One could be it. It's speeding through the heart of this sport's community, and has hit all green lights so far. That's part good fortune, and part good planning. Now it has to execute. The races must be first-rate. The courses should be equal to the challenge. They'll need creative and daring offerings that'll distinguish the brand from all other events. Sponors and each venue's local residents must be treated well, so they'll continue to eagerly anticipate subsequent events. Bills must be paid. And the organizers must be patient, and give their infant series three or four seasons to mature.