Tempe** in the race**
City muscles in on triathlons
Jahna Berry
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 3, 2005 12:00 AM
In the world of triathlons, Tempe is a rising star.
Just a few years after hosting its first race in 2001, Tempe has become a regional mecca, hosting 23 triathlon-related events this year.
In April, Tempe was one of five cities in the continental U.S. to host an Ironman race. In May, the sport’s glitterati, including the top-ranked triathlete in the world, Hunter Kemper, were in Tempe to try to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. And on June 11 Tempe will host a Fat Tire Triathlon geared toward mountain bikers.
The races mean more than just more people swimming in Town Lake and biking and running down the city streets. Triathletes are big spenders.
Most of the 1,800 Ironman athletes came from out of town, and based on figures from a similar Ironman race, the event may have pumped at least $4 million into the region. On race day, many downtown shops doubled their usual business. For more than five hours, the coffee line at the Starbucks on Mill Avenue snaked out the door.
That’s big news to a city trying to boost its reputation as an amateur-sports hub. City officials, tourism developers and downtown merchants all hope that similar events will keep coming, easing the emotional pain and loss of tourist dollars that they expect when the Arizona Cardinals and Tostitos Fiesta Bowl pack up and leave for Glendale next year.
The surge in triathlon interest in Arizona mirrors a national trend. Since the triathlon made its Olympic debut in 2000, the number of people in the sport has continued to climb, said B.J. Evans, spokeswoman for USA Triathlon.
The organization estimates that 150,000 to 200,000 people in the United States try a multisport event every year.
“This is superspecial,” said Dameon Hahn, a 27-year-old Tempe resident, who said he competes in more than 10 triathlons a year. He watched from the Mill Avenue Bridge recently as Kemper and a pack of cyclists streaked by a few feet away.
Tempe hopes such a sight will become even more common.
On Thursday evening, about 300 athletes competed in a “splash and dash” event, running about 1.2 miles, swimming about a half-mile and then running an additional 2.4 miles. Tempe is no San Diego, hallowed ground among triathletes because it’s where the first official triathlon was held in 1974. It also has a long way to go before it surpasses Boulder, Colo., where many triathletes train, and is still a few rungs below Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, home to an Ironman race and other events.
A major factor in Tempe’s development as a triathlon hot spot is the lake.
Although any city can slap together a 10-kilometer race, a triathlon requires that hundreds of athletes can swim all at once. Tempe Town Lake fits the bill. It also is close to Sky Harbor International Airport and located in a large metropolitan area.
That means athletes and spectators can hop on the freeway or board a flight minutes after an event. In contrast, an out-of-the-way resort town’s race may require hours of travel time.
Race organizers are also looking for exposure.
The Valley’s huge media market made Tempe an enticing location for April’s Ironman Arizona race, said Shane Facteau, Ironman USA spokesman. The event dominated local newspapers and received heavy television coverage, exposing the sport to millions of people.
“Typically our events are in resort towns that are not in big markets,” said Facteau, noting that another Ironman race is in Lake Placid, N.Y. There are only roughly 30,000 people in that entire county, he said.
Tempe also played a strong role in its own rise in the triathlon world. The city has marketed itself heavily to lure the amateur sports events, and some of that work is paying off.
The city’s convention and visitors bureau is one of the few in the Valley that dedicates a staffer primarily to luring sporting events, said Kati Dray, sports marketing manager.
Dray rubs elbows with event owners at conventions and researches events. Still, it can take up to a year of planning before an event comes to fruition.
But all that work pays off.
A Gonzaga University study of the 2003 Ironman triathlon in Coeur d’Alene conservatively estimated that the race had a $4.23 million impact on the region. Tempe expects that April’s Ironman, which had about 200 more athletes on race day, delivered a similar, if not greater, economic impact.
Jonathan Grinder, a veteran Tucson-based racing director, remembers 1999, when only about 400 Arizonans belonged to USA Triathlon, the sport’s national governing body. Now, that number of Arizona members has tripled.
Tempe’s numerous triathlons have fanned statewide interest in the sport, he said.
In addition to traditional triathlons, where competitors swim, bike and run, Tempe also hosts popular offshoots of the sport. Its 23 events this year include duathlons (run-bike-run) races as well as aquathlons (swim-run) races.
In the Fat Tire race series, instead of biking through city streets, athletes mountain-bike through Papago Park.
“Definitely there has been a real explosion in the number of clubs and coaches,” said Grinder, who organized the May 22 Tempe International Classic Triathlon, which attracted the Olympic hopefuls.
Even Arizona’s summers can’t stop the interest. Tempe races are scheduled virtually every month through the summer. Although the temperature smoldered above 100 degrees for the Tempe International Classic, about 600 youth, amateur and elite athletes showed up to compete.
Valley weekend warriors are excited about Tempe triathlons, but it’s not clear if the buzz has wafted up to the sport’s superstars.
After Kemper won the Tempe International Classic Triathlon, he was asked if elite athletes are talking about Tempe. Kemper, who flew to Phoenix days after competing in Japan, paused.
“Maybe it’s a little early,” he said.