Is this true? I was at Lake PLacid this weekend and there was a bunch of people talking about it.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isnt New Orleans in Louisiana?
Yes, you are right. It is in Louisiana.
As someone who grew up in the big sleazy, I can’t imagine an Ironman or even a half ironman in NOLA.
The roads are BAAAAAD. A lot of the city is under sea level, so the water tables do a number on pavement (buckles like hell).
Clean water to swim in? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Lake Ponchartrain? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… ooooh man that is good… heh, you’re not gettin anywhere near the mississippi, so…
Now, the one thing that is in New Orleans is Bill Burke. He is a long time director and used to head up the Dannon Duathlon series. He runs a lot of the domestic ITU stuff now - (hawaii, NYtri), dunno if he would even be interested in tackling an ironman.
It would be great to have a race where I have family, but I find it hard to believe that New Olreans is the next stop on the Ironman train.
The rumors are true. New Orleans in 2007.
Are you for real?
The WTC has contacted Bill about putting on the race in 2007.
Not sure if this is true, but did they actually notice that IM in small places tend to run a lot better than IM in big races.
The info that I got suggests that IMNA wasn’t responsible for the course changes in AZ, and this was imposed to them by the city.
That situation would be even more likely to happen in a big city like New Orleans…
Why not an IM somewhere ‘central’? There are plenty of nice places to choose from…NO isn’t one of them…
Assuming you have correct information do you want to clarify. They have contacted him meaning they are discussing or they have agreed and are moving forward? Time frame for an official announcment from WTC? When in 07?
hmmmm… I wonder if the race is gonna take place on the north shore - 'cause the city is just a bad, bad, bad (did I say bad?) bad idea…
I wonder if this is gonna spell the doom of Ironman Florida…
oh, and if you think the rednecks in Florida didn’t like the triathletes causing traffic… hahahahah! oh man, “community support” - yeah, that ain’t happening in this part of the woods.
They’ve obviously missed the boat again… no Ironman five steps from my front door in Austin.
IM around Austin or San Antonio would be neat…some areas in NM, colorado as well.
In El Paso, it would be great…plenty of roads…the only problem would be…where the heck would we swim???
Bill Burke’s a great race director. The run course for the Mardi Gras Marathon really is quite interesting and in reasonably good condition for a run course, provided they’ve actually swept up the last of the beads.
But where the heck would you put a bike course, and how do you justify any necessary road closures for an Iron-length day? The natives seemed cranky enough about the marathon traffic disruptions, and that’s a shorter amount of time with more athletes involved. The cost for traffic control for an urban IM has to be staggering.
And as others have said: Lake Ponchatrain? Well I guess the water quality would be better than for the NYC triathlon, but you’d better hope it doesn’t rain the week before the race.
They could actually hold the race across the lake from New Orleans. In which case, you can get into lots of country roads pretty quick.
if someone knew what they were doing, they could actually put on an ok race - and the locals on the northshore would be a little (and I mean little) more accommodating
I don’t think the cities of Mandeville or Covington would go for it. Plus, where would they have the bike course? I think they would have the race on the south shore along the lake front (West End). Maybe where they had the old Coors Light Series in the 80’s.
copy that - I remember the Hill Country triathlon - good stuff.
We could always dig a hole to swim in El Paso - or go here -
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/balmorhe/index.htm
I’m told this park rocks
The need to have an IM in Boulder:)
.
New Orleans seems like a bad choice. How about NC
They actually hold several tris in mandeville - almost zero in new orleans proper (although the abitaman which is run by Bill is this weekend in new orleans).
There are mucho roads to bike on the north shore - and a few big parks on the lake.
My guess (if this isn’t all smoke) is that it would happen at Fountainbleu park. You swim in the lake (after you get your shots) and then ride north - many, many, many roads north. The run would probably go along part of the lakefront in mandeville.
Thats my $.02 and it’s worth about $.01
Maybe so. You can actually find a hill or two if you go far enough North, and I hear the fecal matter index has been quite low this month 
seems promising…