After reading the article below, I wrote a letter to the Ironman folks. One local event organizer fought the 60-day ban, but there were many other events that were affected as well, including some raising money for charity.
Delaware County Commissioners want to blackout dates around Ironman Triathlon
Star Press - Muncie, Ind.
Author: KEITH ROYSDON
Date: Sep 22, 2010
MUNCIE -- Weeks before it was publicly announced that the Muncie Endurathon had been purchased by an international Ironman triathlon group, the Delaware County commissioners promised they would implement a 60-day blackout of competing events on roads near Prairie Creek Reservoir, site of the race.
But word of the blackout surfaced only this week, and the news has left the man behind another local triathlon group, Muncie Multi-Sport, wondering what the blackout means to his annual slate of five races.
Steve Tomboni asked the Delaware County commissioners this week why they promised a blackout on other "road events in and around the Prairie Creek Reservoir area" for 30 days before and 30 days after upcoming Ironman 70.3 Muncie events staged by World Triathlon Corporation.
Since the 2011 Ironman Muncie 70.3 race is set for July 9, a 30-day, before-and-after blackout would overlap with one of Tomboni's events -- one set for June 1-- by a single day.
"Why 60 days?" Tomboni asked in Monday's commissioners meeting.
"It's not 60 days," Commissioners President Todd Donati said. "It's 30 days prior and 30 days after."
The blackout also came up during Tuesday evening's meeting of the Muncie parks board, which heard a request from Ironman attorney Jan Abbs that the park board enact a similar 60-day blackout on use of the city park at Prairie Creek Reservoir for events similar to the Ironman race.
The parks board ultimately tabled the blackout request until its next monthly meeting after board member Mary Beth Lambert asked Tomboni if the 60-day blackout would cause problems for his Muncie Multi-Sport events. Tomboni said the blackout was "problematic" in scheduling multi-sport events.
"It seems a little overkill to ask for 60 days on the only lake in the county," Tomboni said.
The commissioners made the promise in a July 21 letter to Jon Moll, another DeFur Voran attorney representing Ironman Muncie 70.3. The announcement that Ironman had purchased Muncie Endurathon was made Sept. 9.
At Tuesday's parks board meeting, Mayor Sharon McShurley said the "end goal" was to enable successful events at Prairie Creek.
Donati argued on Monday that the blackout would actually benefit Tomboni's events since they wouldn't be in direct competition with the larger Ironman race for runners, volunteers and vendors.
"They're making a mountain out of a mole hill," Donati said about Tomboni's concerns. "He has five events, they have one. We all have to get along."
Tomboni is a former Muncie Endurathon race director who left the local race and this year founded his own group, Muncie Multi-Sport, and his own series of five races.
Tomboni's races are for the most part duathlons, which combine running and biking, as opposed to triathlons like the former Endurathon and the upcoming Ironman Muncie 70.3, which add swimming to the mix. The last scheduled Muncie Multi-Sport event this year is Oct. 2.
Response to the first year of Muncie Multi-Sport's events has been good, Tomboni said, with 400 participating in the most recent race and 2,700 T-shirts ordered for athletes and volunteers for the summer-long series.
Tomboni said he didn't know what was behind the commissioners' promise -- which was signed by Donati and fellow Commissioner Larry Bledsoe but not Commissioner Don Dunnuck -- but noted that the Muncie parks board, not the commissioners, controls the city park at Prairie Creek.
The commissioners' letter specifically conveys their promise to "not allow permits for road events," however.
In an interview after Tuesday's parks board meeting, Bledsoe told The Star Press he allowed his signature stamp to be used on the letter promising the blackout after being assured the blackout would not interfere with Tomboni's events.
I ignored Donati's flawed logic and stunning lack of math skills and wrote a letter to the Ironman folks.
-----Original Message-----
From: Carla Happel [mailto:cghappel@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 12:56 PM
To: Jessica Weidensall; Catie Case
Cc: cghappel@yahoo.com
Subject: Ironman 70.3 Muncie
I'm writing you because I couldn't find any other appropriate contacts on the ironmanusa.com website. Please feel free to forward to the appropriate individuals.
I find the following very concerning:
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20109220312
Does Ironman demand 60-days of inactivity at all of their other race sites? Why? How on earth is a local sprint tri a competitor? I am a triathlete, and have done a couple of IM 70.3s, and am registered for a full IM next year. In no way does the availability of other local events influence my decision to register for an IM race!
I am terribly disappointed in the Ironman organization over this, and appalled at the arrogance shown here by such a move. Why are you trying to put local organizers out of business by closing their venues for two months, in the middle of race season, no less????
I'm sad to say that if this proves to be typical Ironman behavior, I will look elsewhere for half and full-iron distance races in the future. Next year's IM Louisville will be my last Ironman event.
Please reconsider what you are doing to the local economies, particularly of Muncie.
Thank you.
Carla Happel
USAT #233308
I got two replies later that same day.
Reply #1:
RE: Ironman 70.3 Muncie
Thursday, September 23, 2010 6:55 PM
From: "Jessica Weidensall" <jessica@ironman.com>
Add sender to Contacts
To: "Carla Happel" <cghappel@yahoo.com>
Cc: "Catie Case" <catie@ironman.com>
Hi Carla,
Thank you for your interest in Ironman 70.3 Muncie and for your feedback. To address your question, Ironman has varying levels of restrictive clauses in regard to its host venues. Each race is handled differently based on the nature of the venue, history of the event, needs of the community, event location, historical events in the area, etc. These are in place for a number of reasons, which I have outlined below.
1. To ensure a successful event. We have made an investment in the event and the community and are ensuring our ability to acquire permits, recruit volunteers and secure local sponsors and media. In this case, there is an event organizer who would like to plan a Half-Ironman distance event (same distance) less than 30 days before Ironman 70.3 Muncie. In Muncie, anyone can put on anything at any time outside of 30 days before and 30 days after the event. Muncie has a great history with triathlon (largely based on the reputation of the event we acquired) and we take our efforts to protect that history and event very seriously.
2. To protect the interests of the community and the residents. One of our goals is to protect the residents who live and work along our event courses. Back-to-back events scheduled each weekend would inconvenience residents.
3. To ensure quality of the events. Often times residents do not demarcate between events and look at Ironman as representing all triathlons in a region. If, as often is the case, an event company comes in and puts on a poor event with negative repercussions in the community whether through traffic problems, issues with payment to suppliers, or worst case a serious injury, it impacts all events in that market. Also note that an Ironman event in a region generates millions of dollars in economic impact to a community, not to mention thousands of dollars for various non-profits in an area. Our goal is to ensure that there is a long-term benefit for the community.
In the end I hope you will reconsider competing in Ironman events in the future, as we appreciate your participation. Restrictive clauses and contracts are in place to protect all parties in the event communities and in the end to enhance the overall athlete experience.
I hope that helps clarify some items for you.
Best,
Jessica
Reply #2:
From: "Tom Ziebart" <tom@ironman.com>
Add sender to Contacts
To: "cghappel@yahoo.com" <cghappel@yahoo.com>, "brian@pacelinepromotions.com", "Jessica Weidensall" <jessica@ironman.com>, "Ryan Tolle"
Cc: "Shane Facteau" <shane@ironman.com>
Carla –
Thank you for your e-mail. My name is Tom Ziebart and I work for Ironman. My title is Operations Manager and I over see a number of Ironman races. We are very excited about the new Ironman 70.3 Muncie. The Muncie race has been around forever (I did the race back in 1984 when I lived in Michigan) and is one of the most respected long course triathlons in the United States. We hope to continue to improve the race and look forward to working with the local organizations that have supported this event for over 25 years. Please see below as I have answered your questions and concerns.
-----Original Message-----
From: Carla Happel [mailto:cghappel@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2010 12:56 PM
To: Jessica Weidensall; Catie Case
Cc: cghappel@yahoo.com
Subject: Ironman 70.3 Muncie
I'm writing you because I couldn't find any other appropriate contacts on the ironmanusa.com website. Please feel free to forward to the appropriate individuals.
I find the following very concerning:
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20109220312
Does Ironman demand 60-days of inactivity at all of their other race sites?
In some cases when we purchase an event we do work with the local government to secure a date and site that cannot be used for 30 days before or after our events. This does not happen at every site, but it does take place for good reasons.
Why?
We do this for a number of reasons.
#1 - Use of the site and roads for a triathlon puts a burden on the park and roads around the park. Parks are used by everyone during the summer and if an event is held each weekend at that park, then the community is not able to use the park. Same with the roads around the park. If an event takes place each weekend and the roads are closed the people living on these roads are not able to travel on them during the weekend. We want to make sure that the community is not overburdened by events each weekend.
#2 - Events also put a burden on the Police, Fire Rescue, Lifeguards and EMS. Having an event each weekend would mean that each of these groups would be working each weekend.
#3 - Other Events - this might seem to hurt other events, but we have seen the opposite happen at other sites. Events that take place 6-8 weeks before our events have seen tremendous increases in their participation because of Ironman. A good example of this is the Tupper Lake Triathlon in New York. It takes place in June about 6 weeks before Ironman Lake Placid. Before IMLP took place, the Tupper Lake Triathlon had about 200 participants. Now the race has over 1,000 as athletes use the event to get ready for IMLP. The opposite is true when an event takes place less than 30 days before our events. Those events tend to get less participants as athletes choose to do the IM race and not the local event just before the IM race.
How on earth is a local sprint tri a competitor?
We do not consider any event a competitor. We know how difficult it is to produce an event and we try to work with all of the local groups to make sure everyone has safe and successful events.
I am a triathlete, and have done a couple of IM 70.3s, and am registered for a full IM next year. In no way does the availability of other local events influence my decision to register for an IM race!
Glad to hear that you have done some of our races. I hope that you have had a good experience at these events.
I am terribly disappointed in the Ironman organization over this, and appalled at the arrogance shown here by such a move. Why are you trying to put local organizers out of business by closing their venues for two months, in the middle of race season, no less????
I hope that my answers to your first questions have changed your feeling toward the IM organization. We are not trying to put local organizers out of business. We are working with local organizations to make sure that this site is not overused. We are also working with them to support many local charities and non-profit groups.
I'm sad to say that if this proves to be typical Ironman behavior, I will look elsewhere for half and full-iron distance races in the future. Next year's IM Louisville will be my last Ironman event.
Good Luck with your training for IM Louisville. It is a wonderful race and I'm sure that you will enjoy the event. Please feel free to contact me with any other questions or concerns.
Please reconsider what you are doing to the local economies, particularly of Muncie.
Carla Happel
USAT #233308
Thomas A. Ziebart
Ironman
tom@ironman.com
407-765-9608 -cell
352-324-3715 - fax
1006 Hamlin Ave
Howey in the Hills, Florida 34737
In all fairness to Ironman, I've heard that this situation was resolved somehow, but have no idea what that resolution might be. I have not been able to find any news articles about it.
Next: Ironman's Sad Loss of Integrity (Part #3)
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