Trisports.com acquired by Quintana Roo founder

Triathlon giant Trisports.com has been taken on by Quintana Roo founder Dan Empfield and fellow industry veteran Mark Montgomery.

Posting in a blog on Slowtwitch.com, another of Empfield’s businesses, he wrote a piece titled “Why we bought TriSports.com”.

Within, Empfield says that he had long admired Seton and Debbie Claggett’s business, yet noted that it had been struck heavily by the advance of Amazon, the downturn in North American Triathlon and decisions by lenders.

“I now know that every business of every size is in imminent peril if bad luck strikes on several fronts concurrently,” starts Empfield. “Still, I didn’t feel that this business deserved to breathe its last. It was still healthy. It just couldn’t outrun the debt it acquired to fuel growth.”

The company that has acquired the business is New Dog, LLC, a company co-owned by Montgomery and Empfield. This business sells fit bikes and fitting tools to independent bike dealers. It is for this reason that Montgomery says that he continues to have no aspiration to own a physical retail store and as such will look to simply guide the business back to health before again passing the torch.

He writes: “Monty and I are simply the temporary custodians of Trisports.com! This venerable brand will pass through our hands, and to a strong and experienced online seller who’ll do the brand justice. Seton has already been consulting with this company to ensure a smooth translation of the brand. When this company’s pedigree in both online selling and in triathlon becomes known, it should be clear this is a proper new home for Trisports.”

Around $200,000 worth of inventory is now to go up for sale on the Slowtwitch classifieds forum.

Catch the full blog post here.