Hagg Lake south of Forest Grove is a contender as a venue for the first Ironman Triathlon World Championship qualifier in Oregon
Move over, weekend warriors. Forest Grove could be teeming with hard bodies come September 2009 — for at least a week, anyway.
A group of civic boosters is heading up an attempt to bring the Ironman triathlon to Hagg Lake, nestled in the foothills of the Oregon Coast Range just five miles southwest of town.
The race would be the last official qualifier for anyone aspiring to compete in next year’s Ironman World Championship, held in Kona, Hawaii.
An endurance event that’s not for the faint of heart, the Ironman is what USA Triathlon calls an “ultra distance” event — a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride and, last but not least, a 26.2-mile run (also known as a marathon).
The Ironman is the most internationally renowned race of its kind, drawing people from all over the world to each race — especially to the world championship in Kona, which is next scheduled for Oct. 11, 2009.
Ironman Oregon
If Forest Grove is fortunate enough to nail down “Ironman Oregon,” it would join just six other cities in the United States as official Kona qualifiers, said Gary Wallesen of Beaverton, who designed the course that was submitted with the city’s application.
Other Ironman races are held each year in Tempe, Ariz.; Coeur d’Alene, Idaho; Panama City Beach, Fla.; Louisville, Ky.; Lake Placid, N.Y.; and Madison, Wis.
The World Triathlon Corp., based in Florida, would even give the local event its own web site, likely www.ironmanoregon.com. “It's a pretty big deal,” Wallesen said.
About 1,800 competitors would gather on the shore of Hagg Lake to vie for 70 to 100 slots at the Hawaii championship.
“We’ve been deeply involved and invested in this,” said Wallesen, a triathlete and marketing director for AthletesLounge in Hillsboro, a company that stages triathlons in the region. “I think (Forest Grove) submitted a pretty strong package.”
Besides its status as a qualifier for the Hawaii Ironman, a Forest Grove-based race would also be “an individual event that people are going to aspire to once in their lifetime,” Wallesen predicted.
Best of three
Forest Grove is being considered along with Bend and Eugene as venues for the Oregon qualifier. Ironman officials plan to visit Forest Grove in six weeks to observe the site, the route and the town.
After that, they’ll make their final decision.
“I went through and did the logistics, and I think Forest Grove is the best (of the three),” Elena Uhing, a Forest Grove city councilor, said with a chuckle.
The chosen community will be laughing all the way to the bank. “Ironman itself will commit $100,000 for the host community to use however we see fit,” Uhing noted.
Town leaders predict the Ironman would represent an economic coup for the city, the Portland metro area and, ultimately, the entire state.
“Tourism in Oregon supplies about $8.3 billion to (the state) economy,” said Uhing. “It really is a huge asset to Oregon to have another event come here. We’re looking at about $10 million from this event in direct economic impact. It’s a nice amount of money.”
'Fabulous' finish line
Uhing got involved in the application process several months ago, after overhearing a conversation at a Washington County Visitor’s Association office-warming party. A WCVA employee was discussing the possibility of the Ironman coming to Hagg Lake, and wondered out loud about where to place the finish line.
Uhing suggested the new athletic complex at Pacific University in Forest Grove’s Lincoln Park, figuring it would make a “fabulous finish line.”
Soon, Uhing sat down with City Manager Michael Sykes, Mayor Richard Kidd and Economic Development Coordinator Jeff King. After working out some details and gathering some information, they decided the Ironman was something the whole town needed to be involved in.
The Washington County Visitors Association, the Oregon Sports Authority (a state-funded organization that draws large-scale athletic events to the state) and Travel Oregon (a state travel and tourism organization) also joined the effort, working together to secure hotel rooms and resources needed for the triathlon.
“You had to be able to commit to a certain amount of rooms. Travel Oregon said they’d be willing to back us on that,” said Uhing. “We had to show (Ironman officials) that we would be able to accommodate that many people.”
Aside from finding housing for nearly 2,000 athletes — as well as 30,000 to 50,000 spectators — Forest Grove has to prove it has the sponsorships needed to host these people for a week.
According to Uhing, the WCVA, the Oregon Sports Authority and Tuality Healthcare have provided enough money to put Forest Grove in the running.
“Tuality is our official sponsor, and I will be looking for more sponsors,” she said. “I’m hoping for one more big one, but I still would like to see some small ones, because I think it gives the community a lot of visibility.”
Two main sponsors each provide $25,000 in money or services, or a combination of both. If Uhing secures at least one more large sponsor (possibly Verizon or Comcast), she hopes they would be able to split the $25,000 with a smaller sponsor (possibly SakéOne or Merix Corp).
Not only is Tuality an official sponsor for the event, but the company will be the event’s official medical sponsor.
“We will be providing all the first aid stations, and putting a plan together to address the health care needs of those participating, and possibly those viewing the event,” said Lisa Duncan, director of psychiatric services at Tuality Healthcare.
“The head of our Intensive Care Unit has been involved in one of the big Hawaii Ironman events,” Duncan added. “She’s excited. So far the staff is very excited about getting involved. It is a bigger obligation than we have done in the past … because it’s really a national, possibly international, event.”
Trickle-down benefits
Unlike many other athletic events — road and bicycle races, for instance — that typically set up and tear down in a single day, the Ironman would extend over a longer period for maximum exposure.
“We’re looking at a three-day event, as well as a five-year commitment for Forest Grove,” Uhing said.
Mike Olson, owner of Olson’s Bicycles in Forest Grove, is all for the Ironman qualifier coming to the city.
As one of two bike stores in town, the prospect of increased sales isn’t the big draw. Instead, he hopes that triathletes would visit his shop on Elm Street for last-minute tune-ups and accessory purchases.
“Certainly I’d have more traffic through here,” said Olson. “The experience would probably be similar to what we saw in the national age group championships (held at Hagg Lake in 2007).”
Last summer, several thousand athletes jammed Hagg Lake for the USA Triathlon Age Group Championships. Racers from seven states shipped their bicycles to town beforehand — and many came to Olson’s store to have their brakes checked and gears analyzed.
“One guy, from Baltimore, never did get his bike delivered,” Olson recalled. “He came in and bought one from me.”
Strong package
Wallesen said he was “pretty confident” about the cycling course he mapped out, which extends north of the Sunset Highway nearly to Skyline Boulevard.
The run portion takes athletes on a marathon-length course around the city of Forest Grove through farmland with gorgeous vistas, Wallesen said. “I like the course because it’s somewhat challenging without killer hills,” he noted.
Parts of the route overlap as they wind through western Washington County’s vast countryside and lead toward the finish line at Pacific’s one-year-old athletic complex.
“It goes through vineyards and farm country, and it has to have a lot of different terrain to it, because the athletes don’t like to do a straight, boring run,” said Uhing. “One (route) is going toward the coast, and the other is going toward Gaston, so they’re distinctly different.”
If Forest Grove is chosen as the location, the athletes will have more than just rolling hills and distant mountains to look at.
“You can set up musical bands (along the route) and wine tastings — you can do all kinds of neat things at the ‘way’ stations, and those will allow us more opportunities to really highlight and showcase our community out here,” Uhing said.
An “athletes village” would also be set up in anticipation of participants’ arrival.
Vendors would set up about 100 exhibition booths in the village, according to Uhing. “They can eat, mingle, hang out, buy equipment, have a glass of wine after they’ve done their workout, and really connect with some of their friends and other athletes,” she said.
Hagg Lake is already host to one of the Ironman 70.3 series races, which is a half triathlon — a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run. In August, the HulaMan Half Triathlon will be held there.
“We were trying to promote western Washington County as being an athletic place where people can come and do outdoor events,” said Uhing. “It just seemed to me the next logical step to bring people to Forest Grove for this kind of event.”
Wallesen, who has completed two half-Ironman events, agreed.
“This distance tends to encourage people from the international community to show up,” Wallesen said. “That’s the difference between this and what a half-Ironman can bring to the table.”
For her part, Uhing is spreading the word and generating enthusiasm for the Ironman in town.
“I’ve already started talking to people and asking them if they’d think of participating (in the race),” she said. “They think it’s just the most fabulous thing, but they don’t think they’re up to it yet.”
http://www.forestgrovenewstimes.com/sports/story.php?story_id=121435242102867700
