5150 New Orleans Gets New Race Date

New Orleans’ 5150 race will now be held on June 24, 2012.

Two years ago, Ironman approached Bill Burke about purchasing Premier Event Management, his company that produced triathlons and other races across the nation.

Twenty-one months later, Burke has his company back and is once again making his presence felt in the New Orleans triathlon community.

“(Ironman parent company) World Triathlon Corporation offered it back to me, and I jumped at the chance,” Burke said. “I was able to get my company back and still manage all of these events. It’s a good move for both of us.”

Among the first of his moves since getting his company back is to move the date of the Ochsner 5i50 New Orleans. The 5i50, an Olympic-distance triathlon, was to be held on April 22, the same day as the larger Ochsner Ironman 70.3 New Orleans. However, because of the 200th anniversary celebration of the Battle of New Orleans culminating that week, Burke said changes needed to be made.

The city will have a Navy week celebration finishing that weekend, and the Blue Angels are going to be doing an air show on Saturday and Sunday (the day of the race) between 1 and 4 p.m.

“Logistically, it made sense not to have both races,” Burke said. “But we have been working with the city on this to provide the best atmosphere possible.”

Now, the 70.3 will start and finish at UNO instead of finishing in City Park, where Burke had moved the race finish to in November.

With the air show happening along Lake Pontchartrain, Burke said it would have been difficult for the racers to finish in City Park, then get back to UNO during that time frame because of the amount of people heading to the lakefront for the air show.

Burke said he has worked with the city to have all of the bikes off the course by noon or a little after, allowing the air show to start at 1 p.m. This also means that anyone still on the course at the time will be running and could possibly finish the race while the Blue Angels are performing above.

Now the 5i50 event — a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run — will be held June 24, allowing competitors to participate in both races.

Read more: Nola.com