Is Ironman Lake Placid Going Extinct?
With the recent additions of Ironman Mont-Tremblant and Ironman U.S. Championship (aka IMNYC) to the northeast area, rumors have been circulating that the close-by Ironman Lake Placid may cease to exist after 2012.
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With the recent additions of Ironman Mont-Tremblant and Ironman U.S. Championship (aka IMNYC) to the northeast area, rumors have been circulating that the close-by Ironman Lake Placid may cease to exist after 2012. A guest commentary in Wednesday’s Lake Placid News came from the owners of Placid Planet Bicycles, a shop heavily affected by Ironman traffic.
“We were not privy to the details of the negotiations that resulted in the current contract between Lake Placid and World Triathlon [Corporation] which ends in 2012. Our attempts to understand what unfolded have been met with two responses—unreturned phone calls and the current explanation we read again in the past few days that we paraphrase as ‘don’t worry, this area is so special and the event so successful, it will never leave.’ Well guess what, that is not correct. By almost accounts, the Tremblant Ironman and the NYC Ironman are designed to replace the Lake Placid Ironman.”
The store owners point out that IMLP has a $50 million impact on the region, and that without the event, they and their 15 employees “will not go out to dinner, or get our teeth cleaned, or get the house painted either. We will not be able to support local events and charities, go to the gym or pay for insurance.” Placid Planet proposes “open, honest and creative discussions” to convince the WTC to keep the race in Lake Placid.
We’ll keep you updated as we hear more.