Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Ironman touted as boon to Pinellas

Clearwater and the county may end up financial winners when the $100,000 purse half-triathlon comes to the beach next November.

By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published November 10, 2005

	[AP photo]
	Heather Fuhr of Canada begins the bicycle leg of the Ironman triathlon last month in Hawaii. Fuhr is expected to be among the 2,000 athletes from around the world to descend on Clearwater for next year's world championship Half Ironman triathlon.

CLEARWATER - The influx of visitors to Pinellas County from next year's world championship Half Ironman triathlon could approach that of a Super Bowl, organizers said Wednesday.

The 70.3-mile-long swim, bike and running race is planned for Clearwater next November. It is expected to draw up to 2,000 specially trained athletes from around the world, along with their friends and family, journalists and a national television audience.

The race may require as many as 10,000 hotel room nights in Pinellas County, said said Lee Daniel, the deputy director of the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. By comparison, the county has promised 12,800 for the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa.

"This event is clearly up there at that same level," Daniel said.

The race also will include all the pomp that accompanies the full Hawaii Ironman televised each fall, organizers say.

The only difference is the length.

The race will start with a 1.2-mile swim from Sand Key Park, followed by a 56-mile bike ride and 13.1-mile run. The entire course has not yet been set, organizers said.

The half-triathlon concept is not new to the race's promoter, Tarpon Springs' World Triathlon Corp., but the idea of a world championship is, said World Triathlon president Ben Fertic.

Clearwater will be the first host of the Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3, having signed a deal last month to hold the race through 2011.

The partnership could not be a better fit, Fertic said Wednesday during a press event behind the Sheraton Sand Key.

"We searched for cities all over the world and looked for a positive destination vacation," said Fertic, who said Clearwater beat out Berlin to hold the race.

But "this is like our home court," Fertic said. "We get to share a new experience in our home field, and we're really excited about that."

A mix of swimming, cycling and running, Ironman is regarded as one of the world's toughest physical tests. The trademark has been owned since 1989 by local entrepreneur and ophthalmologist Dr. James P. Gills, founder of St. Luke's Cataract & Laser Institute in Tarpon Springs and builder of the Trinity community in southwest Pasco County.

Gills is an accomplished athlete and the only man to have completed six double Ironman triathlons and five Hawaii Ironman triathlons, according to race officials.

Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard, a friend of Gills' son, Pit, helped the city land the Ironman race. Hibbard said the race will bring "worldwide exposure" to Clearwater.

Professional racers who saw the city for the first time Wednesday said Clearwater will be an attractive destination for triathletes.

"Just getting out this morning, getting out for a run, I would like to come down and spend some time here," said Tim DeBoom, a triathlete who won the Hawaii world championship in 2001 and 2002. "It's a great place to come. I'm looking forward to spending a few weeks down here."

DeBoom, 35, said the timing of the Clearwater race, just a month after the Hawaii race, means many athletes will simply follow a trip to Hawaii with a trip to Clearwater, since the climates are similar, he said.

Heather Fuhr, who has won more than a dozen Ironman races, including the 1997 world championship, said she would probably skip the trip home to Canada after Hawaii.

"You'll see a lot of us coming out," Fuhr said.

Added DeBoom, "On that note, you're going to see lots of people riding and running in funny outfits."

An hour of the race, slated for Nov. 11, 2006, will be nationally televised on the Outdoor Life Network, Daniel said.

Clearwater's race, which comes with a $100,000 prize purse, will be the culmination of a 16-race Half Ironman series that starts next year. On Wednesday, organizers played a video promoting the series that became, in many ways, a promotion of Clearwater. The new Clearwater Memorial Causeway was pictured, as was Pier 60 and several area hotels.

Aaron Sharockman can be reached at 727 445-4160 or asharockman@sptimes.com

Date: Saturday, Nov. 11, 2006

Competitors: 1,800 to 2,000, from all over the world

The Course: Not yet set

The Race: 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, 13.1-mile run

[Last modified November 10, 2005, 01:20:16]