ST. GEORGE, Utah — The end of the annual IRONMAN endurance race held in southern Utah was portrayed as a mutual agreement between all parties but event organizers said it was not the outcome they wanted.
St. George and Washington County announced last week that May’s upcoming IRONMAN 70.3 St. George North American Championship would be the last in the area. While the news came from a press release, IRONMAN officials said it was more of a “Dear John” letter with the event being left at the altar.
"The emotion that comes back to us is none of gratitude and sadness at the same time," said IRONMAN North America director Keats McGonigal. "There is a little bit of sadness that we're looking like, you know, next May will be our last time there, at least for the foreseeable future."
St. George has hosted IRONMAN events for more than a decade, including the 2021 World Championship, the biggest triathlon event outside the Olympics, and the first time it had been hosted outside Hawaii.
"I was at the first event in St. George in 2010. I love that area and it's been it's been a fun journey," said McGonigal.
For now, that journey is over.
Officials with St. George and the surrounding communities say that street maintenance and public safety resources that have to be used, not to mention street closures, are too much.
"Costs are going up, and it really affects [the] City of Saint George, our parks departments, our streets department, our police department, and it just got to where the county and the cities that the IRONMAN goes through all got together and said, you know, we've we've done our share, and we're ready to move on," explained St. George Mayor Michele Randall.
While the race's finish line was in St. George, the biking and running courses included the communities of Hurricane, Washington City and Ivins, as well as their resources. The local tourism bureau shared that the triathlon generated about $42 million annually to the local economy.
Officials claim that hosting the IRONMAN has paved the way for bigger events in the area such as the PGA and LPGA, and they say those will generate more dollars annually for the local economy than the endurance race did.
"There's so many events here all the time that I don't think we're gonna notice an economic impact that's gonna be detrimental at all," the mayor said.
Whether southern Utah misses the IRONMAN or not, McConigal believes his organization will miss St. George and he’s not giving up on a possible return.
"We're absolutely open to that conversation," he said, "and, you know, there is, in my mind, there's a chance that this is a see you later, not necessarily a goodbye type of situation."
