Organizer wants to bring back triathlon

LACONIA — Triathlon competition could be returning to the area next summer after a four-year absence.

An organizer for a global sports management company told the City Council on Monday that it is interested in staging the endurance multisport event the weekend of Aug. 21 and 22, with the final leg of the competition ending in downtown Laconia.

The event could mean a $3 million to $5 million boost in the area’s economy, said Audra Tassone-Indeck, a regional director for the Ironman Group, which operates the Ironman 70.3 Triathlon Series.

As was the case with the Timberman triathlons, the 1.2-mile swim would be held at Ellacoya State Beach in Gilford, and the course for the 56-mile bike ride would run from Gilford to Loudon and back. But Tassone-Indeck said the 13.1 mile run would be routed through Laconia, with the finish line situated downtown. That, she said, would attract people to the city’s central business district, providing an economic boost to restaurants and other businesses.

Tassone-Indeck estimated that the event could attract 2,000 athletes on each day of competition — Saturday and Sunday.

She was optimistic that the local event would draw lots of athletes because the Ironman event scheduled for Aug. 29 in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, already has a full roster of competitors.

“The idea of bringing a popular event would be a shot in the arm economically,” Mayor Andrew Hosmer said.

But the mayor said many details still need to be worked out, and he asked that the proposal be placed on the agenda for the council’s next meeting scheduled for Jan 11. By th etime of that meeting, Hosmer said he hoped the council would have reached a consensus on the “broad concept” of the event.

Tassone-Indeck said the ability to hold the event would depend on the status of the coronavirus pandemic and the level of COVID restrictions that might still be in force at the time.

“If we have to postpone it, then that’s what we’ll do,” she said, adding that the organization would be heeding the advice of state public health officials.

“I’m optimistic that we will be in a better place” with respect to COVID in August, City Manager Scott Myers said Tuesday. But he noted that because the event would attract competitors and spectators from all over the country and possibly overseas as well, the status of the pandemic in other places would have a bearing on whether to hold the event.

Hosmer said the city should help establish a task force to work on logistics for the event. He said that panel would include representatives from the state Department of Safety, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Business and Economic Affairs.

Myers said while the event would be a “huge economic draw” for the city, he said those involved in the planning will be exploring the possibility of public-private partnerships that could help defray the costs of traffic control, police and EMS services “so the whole burden would not fall on the taxpayers.”

The Lakes Region hosted annual triathlons for 15 years, starting in 2001 when Keith Jordan, a local athlete who wanted to offer a triathlon in his home state, organized the first Timberman. Within a few years of its founding, owing to the beautiful setting of the Lakes Region and the friendliness of local volunteers and hosts, the Timberman had gained a national reputation as a "must-attend" triathlon. Jordan also founded a triathlon in Bristol, the Mooseman, as well as several other events in New Hampshire and around the country.

Jordan sold the Timberman and Mooseman events to the World Triathlon Corporation, which holds the name Ironman. The WTC discontinued the Mooseman in 2012, and the Timberman in 2017.

In 2017 and 2018 a scaled-back triathlon, called the City on the Lakes Tri Festival, was held in an effort to fill a void left after the Timberman event was moved to Old Orchard Beach.