This is just being revealed in Australia at the moment - the short history is that IMG (owners of the ironman Franchise in Australia) have moved Ironman Australia from Forster to Port Macquarie. This has begged the question as to what Forster and the Great Lakes International Triathlon Association (GLITA), the nonprofit community group that originally conceived the race back in 1985 and remains today as the operational side of Ironman Australia, will do - they have made it know they intend to keep an ultra-distance race at Forster...OK, fair enough...
But this is where it now gets very intersting...it looks like it will involve an ITU sanctioned event over the 4-120-30 format...
Full article cut and pasted below:
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Great Lakes secure World Series triathlon event
Wednesday, 23 March 2005
GREAT Lakes is poised to become the hub of triathlon racing in the southern hemisphere after securing an in-principle agreement from the International Triathlon Union this week to run a prestigious World Series ultra-distance race from as early as October this year.
In a massive boost following the departure of the Ironman event to Port Macquarie after the race on April 3, Great Lakes Council and the Great Lakes International Triathlon Association (GLITA) revealed to the Advocate yesterday that they had secured an event, in which the licence would be held by either a local board of management or GLITA, that could potentially outstrip the benefits and international standing of the current Ironman race in Forster Tuncurry.
GLITA president John Chapman said that his organisation had been approached by the ITU - which runs the triathlon races at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and world championships - to run the first World Series ultra-distance event (4km swim, 120km bike, 30km run) in the southern hemisphere.
Additionally, Forster Tuncurry would host the grand final of the World Series on a rotational basis.
The approach to GLITA was made shortly after Great Lakes Council withdrew its bid to host the Ironman race after next month.
Mr Chapman emphasised that the new event, which will carry about $US100,000 in prizemoney (on par with the current Ironman), would have a strong community focus and bring even bigger tourism dollars into the region through extra overseas visitors.
"We envisage that there'll be up to 300 European and American competitors coming here for this new event, where we'll look to limit the field to 1200 competitors, which is less than the current 1550 for Ironman," Mr Chapman said. "This ITU ultra-distance World Series is only relatively new, and it has already taken off world-wide.
"There are something like 11 other host cities, mainly based in Europe as part of the World Series. It is a specialty event, and we've already got the infrastructure to run this event, which the ITU recognised, given we already have 20 years of runs on the board with the Ironman.
"I believe this new event will smash the Ironman to pieces.
"It's the perfect event for a town like this because we can be finished racing at 6pm, we can then get all our volunteers in and have a big community celebration. At the moment we're racing till 10.30pm and most of the volunteers are tired and want to go home by then.
"We'll use the same course as Ironman but get rid of Coomba Park Road. In terms of entry fees, it will work out at about half the cost of Ironman for the competitor, so it makes the new event super attractive for them."
In a further positive development yesterday, Mr Chapman said that GLITA was keen to keep hosting an Ironman event in Forster Tuncurry, early in the year, which wouldn't conflict with the likely October race for the ITU World Series.
Asked whether there would be any legal ramifications for keeping the 'Ironman' name attached to the event, he said: "There's no issue there.
"We have strong legal advice to say we can use the name 'Ironman'. Just take the Kellogg's surf-lifesaving Ironman event as an example.
"The reason GLITA has decided to seriously consider still running an Ironman race each year is because of the strong demand from the athletes for us to keep holding it."
******
So, itt looks like the ITU is picking a fight with WTC - this should be fun.
But this is where it now gets very intersting...it looks like it will involve an ITU sanctioned event over the 4-120-30 format...
Full article cut and pasted below:
***********
Great Lakes secure World Series triathlon event
Wednesday, 23 March 2005
GREAT Lakes is poised to become the hub of triathlon racing in the southern hemisphere after securing an in-principle agreement from the International Triathlon Union this week to run a prestigious World Series ultra-distance race from as early as October this year.
In a massive boost following the departure of the Ironman event to Port Macquarie after the race on April 3, Great Lakes Council and the Great Lakes International Triathlon Association (GLITA) revealed to the Advocate yesterday that they had secured an event, in which the licence would be held by either a local board of management or GLITA, that could potentially outstrip the benefits and international standing of the current Ironman race in Forster Tuncurry.
GLITA president John Chapman said that his organisation had been approached by the ITU - which runs the triathlon races at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and world championships - to run the first World Series ultra-distance event (4km swim, 120km bike, 30km run) in the southern hemisphere.
Additionally, Forster Tuncurry would host the grand final of the World Series on a rotational basis.
The approach to GLITA was made shortly after Great Lakes Council withdrew its bid to host the Ironman race after next month.
Mr Chapman emphasised that the new event, which will carry about $US100,000 in prizemoney (on par with the current Ironman), would have a strong community focus and bring even bigger tourism dollars into the region through extra overseas visitors.
"We envisage that there'll be up to 300 European and American competitors coming here for this new event, where we'll look to limit the field to 1200 competitors, which is less than the current 1550 for Ironman," Mr Chapman said. "This ITU ultra-distance World Series is only relatively new, and it has already taken off world-wide.
"There are something like 11 other host cities, mainly based in Europe as part of the World Series. It is a specialty event, and we've already got the infrastructure to run this event, which the ITU recognised, given we already have 20 years of runs on the board with the Ironman.
"I believe this new event will smash the Ironman to pieces.
"It's the perfect event for a town like this because we can be finished racing at 6pm, we can then get all our volunteers in and have a big community celebration. At the moment we're racing till 10.30pm and most of the volunteers are tired and want to go home by then.
"We'll use the same course as Ironman but get rid of Coomba Park Road. In terms of entry fees, it will work out at about half the cost of Ironman for the competitor, so it makes the new event super attractive for them."
In a further positive development yesterday, Mr Chapman said that GLITA was keen to keep hosting an Ironman event in Forster Tuncurry, early in the year, which wouldn't conflict with the likely October race for the ITU World Series.
Asked whether there would be any legal ramifications for keeping the 'Ironman' name attached to the event, he said: "There's no issue there.
"We have strong legal advice to say we can use the name 'Ironman'. Just take the Kellogg's surf-lifesaving Ironman event as an example.
"The reason GLITA has decided to seriously consider still running an Ironman race each year is because of the strong demand from the athletes for us to keep holding it."
******
So, itt looks like the ITU is picking a fight with WTC - this should be fun.