My little town puts on a triathlon every year, I usually participate as a relay team with two of my kids, one is a swimmer, the other a runner, I just do the bike part. It’s not cheap, I think last year’s entry fee for a relay team was around $275, but they did provide swag bags, a T shirt, towel, etc. they keep score of course and hand out trophies based on age groups, oh, and free food and beer afterwards.
That’s the only pay to ride I do, but I do jump in on some of the other bike only events, I did SAG one of them once as well, that was interesting, I was amazed at how unprepared some of the riders were! I fixed a couple flats because the riders didn’t have a spare tube, (I was given a box of tubes for that very reason!) one had no idea how to change a flat! Then late in the ride I got a phone call from the organizer to go find a lost rider! Somehow she had missed a (well marked!) turn and ended up 10 miles off the course!
After several phone calls I eventually found her, put her bike in the truck and took her back to her hotel. She had no idea where she was! How does that happen in the age of Smart Phones, GPS and Google Maps??