IRONMAN SUSPENDS REGISTRATION FOR AQUADRAAT SPORTS IRONMAN U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP
PDF Press release http://nycic.namnori.com/files/2012/08/IRONMAN-TO-SUSPEND-REGISTRATION-FOR-IM-US-CHAMPS-FINAL.pdf
Full text below:
For immediate release
IRONMAN SUSPENDS REGISTRATION FOR AQUADRAAT SPORTS IRONMAN U.S. CHAMPIONSHIP
TAMPA, Fla. (August 13, 2012) -- For 34 years, IRONMAN® has been committed to delivering a superb experience for athletes. Creating once-in-a-lifetime experiences for athletes, spectators, partners and volunteers is our priority. We listen carefully to our consumers and have heard from many of them about the inaugural Aquadraat Sports IRONMAN® U.S. Championship. This is the feedback we have received:
Most of our athletes loved the race. It was iconic and challenging – a tough test – just like New York.
We were also told to improve the logistics for our athletes and supporters. Producing an event in a large urban market is complex and challenging. The combination of the ferries, transition in Palisades State Park, an inability to have amplified sound in Riverside Park after 10 p.m. and the difficulty for our spectators to watch much of the race all combined to create an athlete and spectator experience that we need to improve.
Addressing the logistical complexity requires us to reconfigure a number of elements in our race. Given the changes we believe are necessary for the 2013 event, we need to do more work to assess whether it is viable at a price point that our athletes find reasonable. Part of our commitment to the IRONMAN experience is the relationship between registration price and the value to athletes. The pricing for the 2013 race is a reflection of the operational and logistical challenges of doing business in metropolitan New York and New Jersey. Simply put, to make this event a delight for our athletes, volunteers and spectators, the race is not viable at a lower price point.
It has always been our policy at IRONMAN races in North America to open registration for the following year’s race the day after the event so that athletes and volunteers can gain guaranteed entry before general registration opens. We followed that policy yesterday for the 2013 Aquadraat Sports IRONMAN U.S. Championship. In retrospect, it was a mistake. We should have taken the time to listen to our athletes, partners and municipalities before we opened registration.
By suspending registration, we are taking the time to do that now. We need to work with all of our partners over the next several weeks to ensure that this event can be conducted in the way that our athletes expect and deserve.
In the interim, we will immediately refund the registration fees of each athlete who has registered and will hold their spots for the 2013 race pending the re-opening of registration. We continue to be amazed by our athletes and all those involved in the success of our events, and we congratulate all of the athletes, volunteers and spectators that made the 2012 Aquadraat Sports IRONMAN
U.S. Championship a memorable day in IRONMAN’s history.
For more information on IRONMAN, visit www.ironman.com. Athlete inquiries should be directed to NYC@ironman.com. Media-related inquiries should be directed to Media@ironman.com.
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About IRONMAN ®
The iconic IRONMAN Series of events is the largest participation sports platform in the world. Since the inception of the IRONMAN® brand in 1978, athletes have proven that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE® by crossing finish lines at the world’s most challenging endurance races. Recognized for excellence through distinguished events, world-class athletes and quality products, World Triathlon Corporation (d/b/a IRONMAN), owner and operator of the IRONMAN® Series, has grown from owner of a single race to a global sensation with nearly 190 events across five unique brands: IRONMAN®, IRONMAN 70.3®, 5150TM Triathlon Series, Iron Girl® and IronKids®. For more information, visit www.ironman.com.
Comments
http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/WTC_Suspends_Registration_for_NYC_Ironman_2988.html
Dan Empfield also commented on a ST thread about this subject that the possibility exists that IMNYC could be a one and done race...
"can someone find out how many registered?"
i believe this race would have filled for 2013. i believe it still might, if they: 1) find a way to make the race logistically easier for all involved; 2) make the ride more interesting; 3) make the run less *interesting*; 4) maybe even move this thing into september.
but i question whether all that can be done in time for a 2013 event. in which case, this race is one-and-done. which would be too bad.
it's clear that there is plenty of appetite for a race in the northeast, but, down more toward the NYC metro area. there have been times when the NYC triathlon and lake placid are on the same day, and both fill almost instantaneously. if you move this thing just outside of NYC, to long island, to western CT, to northern NJ, you'd still fill and you'd make it a lot easier on everyone.
look, there's a formula for how to do races like this successfully. you pick a town that is scenic, that is a resort town, that has an off-season, that has roads in and out that are manageable, and that needs you. a resort town has all the beds, restaurants, services, but does not have a permanent population. what i'm talking about is couer d'alene, lake placid, penticton, cozumel, kona. these follow the archetypal location for successful races.
when you try to shoehorn a triathlon into a downtown, you're asking for a lot of trouble. not that it can't be done and be done successfully, but, when you try to put an ironman in a populated place, that's really tough. that's why i like the model described above.
but to answer your question, no, i do not know how many registrants. do not kid yourself into thinking nobody registered. however, it was probably in the several hundred, and this is the kind of race that you can't not fill. you must fill it, or it would be bad for the brand and bad for the pocketbook. so ironman was right to pull back and retool.
Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
Sounds bad....
Do you think it's 50/50 for getting cancelled?
Even if they changed the finish line to NJ it wouldn't get much better....yikes...
Feel sorry for all the ENers who are now stuck in a weird spot....
It is a shame if W.T.C. can not make it work....and if Not in New York City then there has gotta be a place, and I hope they find it and it works out for all of us.
And if they decide that Ocean County NJ is the place, then I could not ask for anything more.....just saying.
A couple things I did to make life easier:
-booked a hotel walking distance to the 39th St ferry terminal - easy for bike/gear check and no travel anxiety race morning. Taxi back from the finish was $12.
-used TriBike Transport to get my bike and gear back over to NYC - well worth $50, I'd easily pay double that to let someone else deal with it.
-got my wife the spectator ferry pass - Sure, she didn't get to see me a ton on the course but we knew the limitations before we showed up.
-lists - lots of lists and planning the week before the race to be sure I knew how everything was supposed to work, where I needed to be, how I was getting there, and understanding the overall logistics of the weekend.
The swim was blazingly fast, but the better swimmers still had even faster swim times so it really didn’t matter. I actually enjoyed the Palisades parkway bike course, the rolling terrain was fun and the road was smooth (with the exception of one little section) and if you thought the day was going way too easy for an Ironman, the run had a bite to it that brought you back to reality.
One of the biggest complaints and problems was the fact that they couldn’t have a normal Ironman finish with amplified sound during the last two hours of the race. Also, athlete safety became an issue on multiple parts of the run course once the sun went down. These two issues alone regardless of setting the price point for the race needed to be addressed and would take time; consequently, I can understand why they have put registrations on hold.
While it was a one and done race for me anyway, I wouldn’t discourage someone from doing the race. It was a unique race with its own particular challenges, but the best part is you could stay in your own box race week and your family/friends etc. can go to shows, and partake in all things non-Ironman that the city had to offer. However, this is a bit of a double edged sword – Lake Placid / Penticton / Kona – when you’re there for Ironman – everything is Ironman – it takes over the town and everyone is talking about it…..which I love and think is part of the great Ironman experience. In the greater NYC area, barely anyone outside the triathlon community knew that the race was going on.
Its amazing they ever got this thing off the ground. So many hurdles to overcome.
I also like "You look great!"
When I'm on the course spectating or doing motorcycle support I try to make people laugh -- telling the womenz they look damn sexy, telling the older guys that their AG is incorrect on their calf, no way they are that old, stuff like that.
Sometimes you gotta make your own fun
The two times I've spectated at an IM, I stood 1/4 mile from the finish, and said (to anyone with an open jersey) "Remember to zip up for the photo!" I figured that was actually useful. Also, anyone my age, I would tell them how good they looked.
is 10% more typical through injury, sickness, or I can think of one person who signed up for IMLP one year just so they could sign up the next year (weird)...
Did the extra people who DNS decide that it was to much of a pain in the neck to race...
Meanwhile, HITS continues to strike at WTC while the iron is hot. Check their new pricing structure on trijuice at: http://www.trijuice.com/2012/08/hits_triathlon_series_announces_new_pricing_structure_for_all_distances.htm
I also saw a tweet from REV 3 asking if people would be interested in paying $1200 for a "season pass"...i.e. you can race as much as you want at their races for a given season....can't seem to find any news on their website about that...Not sure if that's a good deal or not...
even with the complaints. At this point, if I'm going to do a full, its gonna be a WTC event.
In this case I'd speculate that it's more a function of primarily local Wall Street types getting in over their heads with the initial excitement of an IM in their backyard and then realizing that it's crazy to swim/bike/run for 15 hours straight, or they just weren't able to fit enough training into their hectic lives to feel like they could finish and bailed early. It would be very interestein to see some stats on where the DNS individuals live. My bet is there would be a heavy concentration in the local area
I say get your rmoney back and sign-up for the IM Lake Placid Foundation or register for IM Wisconsin in September. These are both EN Focus Races for 2013. Hate to have you all miss those party's. :-)
Just sayin'!