By Lara Updike
After six months of negotiation with Ironman North America, the Utah County Commission confirmed Thursday, Dec. 5, it will host a Half-Ironman competition next year, rather than a full Ironman as agreed to in the county''s original five-year contract.
'We didn''t want to get embroiled in a big legal conflict that wouldn''t do anybody any good,' said Dave Gardner, Utah County commissioner. 'We could have demanded that they hold a full race here, but as we negotiated over the last six months, we figured that this is a win-win situation for everyone involved.'
At Utah County''s first Ironman race, held in Provo last June, a competitor drowned in Utah Lake when a freak windstorm caused large waves. After negative press coverage of the California man''s death, the county commission announced the event would be held in Coeur d''Alene, Idaho, next year.
At a press conference Thursday, the commission said the decision had been finalized. Instead of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, and 26.2-mile run, competitors in Utah''s Ironman race will swim 1.2 miles, ride 56 miles, and run 13.1 miles.
Gardner said the race will attract more athletes than a full Ironman would-local amateurs because it requires less training, and out-of-state professionals because they compete in several Half Ironmans each year as training for the bigger race.
The county pays a $76,000 host fee for each Ironman race it hosts, whether half or full. The price is worth the revenue brought in by the competitors who pay $165 to compete, and typically stay several days in local hotels before and after the race.
The Half Iron-man will attract more athletes than the Full Ironman - 1,800 athletes competed last year - but they probably won''t stay in the area as long as the more serious full Ironman competitors typically do.
The Half Ironman race is important to serious triathlon athletes, Gardner said, because there is $25,000 of prize money and because twenty of the top competitors in Provo''s next race will qualify to compete in the biggest Ironman race in Hawaii.
'Obviously we need to a full Ironman even in the West, but we didn''t want to give up Provo, so this gives us the best of both worlds,' said Shane Facteau, Ironman North America spokesman.
Gardner said Coeur d''Alene was chosen to host the full Ironman because its venue is more compact, not spread out several miles like the Provo venue is (from Utah Lake up to BYU''s campus).
It''s good for the athtlets, for Utah county and for the Ironman North America.
The Utah County Commission expected to host the event four more times, but