The longest continually running IRONMAN in North America will stick around, as IRONMAN and the local authorities agreed to a three-year contract extension in Lake Placid.

The multiple local groups — the Village of Lake Placid, Town of North Elba, and Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) — all noted the extensive work that IRONMAN has done over the last few years to improve relations in town in the announcement of the agreement.

ROOST Chief Operating Officer Mary Jane Lawrence said, “Our local event committee, in partnership with The IRONMAN Group, has assessed and evaluated the event’s success and also identified opportunities for improvement. Working together, we have implemented specific actions that assist with the race’s impact on local communities and also enhanced the athlete experience. Many of those changes were very successful and are now embedded into the contract language.”

As first reported last week by the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, some of those changes include, but are not limited to: mandatory donations by the IRONMAN Foundation of $40,000 to spent on volunteers and another $10,000 for local grants; $35,000 in spending by IRONMAN on the “dine around” voucher program to area restaurants during race week; fewer parking lots to be used by IRONMAN during race week; and a reduction in the number of hotel nights to be provided for IRONMAN staff.

The renewal of the race has been a contentious point amongst local community members, citing behavior of athletes in the months preceding and during the event as a major issue. An IRONMAN Task Force was created in 2022 to address these concerns, with both a spectator, participant, and bike rider code of conduct created. The Task Force also required a specific point of contact at IRONMAN for community-related issues. This role is currently being filled.

Photo: Kelly Burns Gallagher