Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Ironman is golden, officials say

To date, the only criticism of the Clearwater triathlon focuses on the bike route.

By DEMORRIS A. LEE
Published November 15, 2006

	A driver shares the Courtney Campbell Parkway with Ironman competitor Greg Krause on Saturday during the the inaugural event. View photos from the competition
[Times photo: Thomas Whisenand]

CLEARWATER - For Steve Mandel, Saturday's inaugural 70.3-mile Ironman championship was a mind-blowing achievement.

Mandel, of Tampa, finished fifth in his age group, allowing him to stand on the podium at the closing ceremony.

"That's like a dream when you are in Kona," said Mandel, 41, who's competed in the 144-mile Ironman World Championship event in Kona, Hawaii. "To be on the podium at this inaugural event, it was really, really neat. It's another moment you will remember forever."

After more than 1,300 world-class athletes and their families left Clearwater's world-class beaches, event sponsors, city officials and some athletes are evaluating the event. The first Ford Ironman 70.3 World Championship featured a 1.2-mile swim in the Gulf of Mexico, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run.

"We are particularly satisfied," said Steve Meckfessel, the Ironman 70.3 event director. "With an inaugural event, particularly one in a densely populated urban environment like Clearwater, we are ecstatic with the end result. We are always striving for the most safe racing environment as possible. The one area we need to re-evaluate is the bike course."

Officials at World Triathlon Corp., the Tarpon Springs company that owns Ironman, are meeting today to assess the event. Clearwater officials will meet after Thanksgiving and Sheila Cole, the Clearwater Beach Chamber of Commerce's executive director, sent a 10-question e-mail survey to businesses Tuesday. "Most of the hotels and motels responded very favorably to almost everything," she said.

The 70.3 World Championship was expected to bring $10-million to county hotels, restaurants and shops, though a final tally isn't yet available.

And it will be hard to measure the value of the national exposure for the area when the event is aired on NBC Sports in March.

If there were any complaints, they were about the bike route. Residents complained about being stuck in traffic for long periods.

Clearwater Mayor Frank Hibbard said the event was an enormous success, citing the number of people in the city and compliments he received.

"That being said, we had some complaints about traffic, but I think police, traffic operations did a great job under the circumstances," Hibbard said.

Some athletes thought the course was too narrow.

"I loved the course (but) my only criticism would have been the lanes on the bike course were really narrow," said Mandel, who finished in 4:10.

There were 11 incidents on the bike route; two involved motorists and cyclists. No one was seriously injured.

"We will make some modifications, selection of specific roads, maybe the start mechanism for the race to reduce the density of the athletes at any given point on the bike route," Meckfessel said.

Kevin Dunbar, Clearwater's Parks and Recreation director, said more than 3,000 volunteers were involved with Saturday's event.

Mandel remembers coming over the Memorial Causeway on Saturday, running to the finish line.

"It felt like an Ironman event," he said. "The way the finish was set up, I felt chills. It was very motivating. After being out there for four hours, to come over the last bridge and have that many people cheering, it was just very exciting."

[Last modified November 14, 2006, 23:20:11]