And HITs can stage one in Kamloops.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

I forgot that challenge Canada would also employ the same Ironman Florida drafting rules that were previously prevalent going to Richter that will now be abolished by Felix....

see? now this is what the "think tank" spirit is all about! brilliance! :D

if we arent careful, two "remaining nameless" political parties may start calling and looking for election strategy help.

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~sarcasm saves lives

Awesome! Can't wait to travel the world showing off the "CMC" (Challengeman Canada) tattoo on the back of my calf. The design could be an Ironman logo sort of half overlapping a Challenge logo.

What the Liberal Party and Green Party?

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___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

and kelowna officials today stated in their local paper that they were concerned whether they could get enough volunteers for an ironman. the official said that they were short for the apple triathlon that occurs the week before and only requires about 1/3 the volunteers an ironman would and that they doubt people would volunteer for both....

...and you could imagine they won't have a rush of people from penticton or the south okanagan rushing up to volunteer...

link to the article
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/...-distance-93012.html

Quotes from the article:

To host both events in Kelowna, [Apple organzier Richard] Montgomery estimates organizers would need 4,000 volunteers or more because most would be unwilling to work at both.
"The thing that makes me nervous is we'd have to increase the volunteer requirement by 3,000, and we can't even meet the 1,295 requirement we were looking for It's a 3,000 increase to 4,200. It's a big jump."

Merging the races into a single event would be impossible, Montgomery said. The Apple is organized by community volunteers, whereas Ironman is a for-profit, American corporation.
"There's no way of a merger. We have completely different points of view. We're looking after how we can benefit the community. They're looking at how they can make a dollar"

The Mayor of Kelowna needs to get back to Meckfessel and say that he/Kelowna can do this only in July. The date that overlaps with either Penticton, Apple, or the week before Apple would kill a long standing community event. That's just a bad plan on all fronts (and yes I am biased as I would like a Western IM to steer clear of Penticton's date).

The thing to remember about the gong show...was that when Roth split they created IronMan Germany one week away and close by in an attempt to screw Roth...that it didn't succeed was a complement to german and european athletes.

If they've learned their lesson, they'll put it in Whistler, if not it would be Kelowna one week apart :-) (which would probably screw Kelowna more than Penticton.)

Thing is, July is not much better. Off the top of my head:

July (or Aug) long weekend is a non-starter: Not many will give up a long weekend with family to hand out water bottles.

July 6-7 Grand Fondo in Penticton, Desert Half in Osoyoos
July 13-14 Peach Tri in Penticton, Across the Lake Swim AND Grand Fondo in Kelowna
July 20 Peachland Tri

Some of these, eg the Peach and the Desert, are already struggling. June is similar. And that does not include any other sports/groups (softball, soccer, Center of Gravity etc etc) that also come to town.

There is no room in the local community to support a second Ironman in the Okanagan without sacrificing existing local events. Granted these are all small events and some would say the benefits of an IMC would outweigh the impacts. I don't happen to agree.

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The Peach Classic Tri has a new sponsor and new management.The sponsor is a local triathlete who is very motivated to raise the profile of the event so hopefully numbers will return to where they used to be......The Desert Half is in trouble because of the Gran Fondo and the fact that tri geeks don't like hard courses,which is a pity as that course is a great one.

I'm glad you mentioned a few of the other events on during the summer as I think people tend to think Penticton has Ironman and that is it.July also has ,at the beginning of the month, the Canda Day Celebrations,then there is Peachfest and then on the August long weekend there is the most important race of the year Ultraman..Then September there is the Summerland sprint tri then the Dragon Boat Races then the Steve King 100k,then the Adventure Festival

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Turn up at the Kelowna Ironman wearing a challenge t-shirt, hand out a whole bunch of Challenge umbrella's and take over the finishing chute spectator area......There is now way WTC could photoshop every picture

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>X
If you run long enough....something is bound to happen

No problem there. WTC guys are smarter than we think. They would just post pictures of the IMC Penticton finish area from 1982-2011. Photoshop problem solved :-)

Reminds me of The Legend of Ron Burgundy and all the news stations in town have a rumble!

I was thinking of the TV race coverage, and athlete finish photo's..........I've got a friend who "photo bombed" a European golf tournament final round when it was raining lightly, by handing out a huge bunch of his company umbrella's....every time someone was teeing off or putting on TV, there was an umbrella.......He got kicked out, but the umbrella's were everywhere

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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>X
If you run long enough....something is bound to happen

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While I love stirring the pot and would be the sort of person who would totally see the funny side of a Challenge "invasion" of an Ironman in Kelowna,I suspect the folks at Challenge would not be as impressed..If you guys go to the various Challenge Family race pages on Facebook you will see how positive and fun they all are and from my limited time spent around Felix I would say this is not his style.I'll give you an example.

I host the Ironman(now Challenge) race morning swim course breakfast cruise on the Casabella Princess and this year,full of excitement about the new race,asked Felix if I could borrow his Challenge flags and banners to decorate the big paddlewheeler.It would have made quite the site out there crusing around the Ironman course on race morning "in the face" of the Ironman Canada athletes and sponsors but Felix immediately told me that he didn't want that.He told me that he had made a promise not to "be argressive in their marketing" during Ironman and that he didn't want to " be like that". Man I hate it when decent people put a damper on my evil plans!!!!!


Just a thought though,how many people do you guys think will be wearing their Ironman race outfits during Challenge Penticton next year?Without realising it there will be a lot of M-dots in the Challenge photos and videos and more than a few jogging down the finish chute after they finish their first Challenge Family event...


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All good man and you know we are joking. Good on Felix for steering clear, and I'm also doing what I can with my powers of persuasion to suggest to folks at WTC that not having a race the same weekend as Penticton makes a lot of sense without derailing Kelowna's hopes. We certainly have some sympathetic ears on that front. Hey WTC listened enough to consider the merits of Muskoka as a finalist.

Personally, I think they can use this business situation as an opportunity. As we all agree, there will be no event that ever replaces Ironman Canada that we have known for 30 years.

Instead, I am suggesting that they use this to expand the IMC brand.

• Ironman Canada Whistler/Kelowna (make your pick)
• Ironman Canada Muskoka

As I said, if Australia can hold 4 Ironman events, the Canadian market can hold 3 (East, West, Tremblant) +Challenge Penticton. Each of the new events will grow the Ironman Canada "brand" but neither will replace the old IMC in Pencticton. They never should. I think you guys seem to generally agree on the above. This would be a typical logical Canadian compromise that makes all parties happy.

I agree that WTC should expand to Whistler and Muskoka for the full Ironman distance. Then they could rotate the term "Ironman Canadian Championship" between the three events and offer more Kona Slots as an enticement.

I agree having an event in Whistler and Muskoka would be a good "Canadian" compromise however I think that most people following this thread would agree that Kelowna would be an unmitigated disaster.

That's an every better idea!

x1000 Outstanding suggestion!!!

Interesting. My folks moved out there a few years ago, and I've been out about a half dozen times since. Simply love it. I get the sentiment about the strip mall section, but it's really only one part of town.

I can't comment on the logistics of the race, but with an awesome lake, and amazing areas to ride, I would have thought it would have been a really good venue for long course. And a whole lot more to do in Kelowna than Huntsville IMO.

My comments about Kelowna have only to do with the viability of holding IMC and not the city as a place to live. It is a popular retirement destination for people from the Lower Mainland due to the dry climate and affordable real estate. And yes, there is lots of good riding and swimming all over the Okanagan including Kelowna & Vernon. I just don't see how it would offer up any excitement in the lead up to IMC and for the race itself. The mayor wants to put bodies in hotels & restaurants but the residents may not be as receptive. The city is much, much bigger than Penticton and the hotels are much more spread out, not at all like a resort community.

My wife is crossing her fingers for Whistler. I'm just hoping the weekends are staggered.

You guys have all made me want to go join the rest of the Kona crew that has signed up for Challenge Penticton (go figure) just so I can finish at IMC 2013.

Nice going, I was happily "retired" from full distance races too. :P

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The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits. -- A fake Albert Einstein "quote"