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March 11, 2005
Iron battle in the outback...
If you follow the sport, you may have heard about the big battle brewing in the outback. Forster has been the home of Ironman Australia for nearly 20 years. Well their contract is up this year and the folks that own the rights to Ironman in Australia, IMG, have been shopping for a new location. It appears that Forster was not on the list.
The headline from ABC News Australia says alot -
Council outraged over Govt's triathlon support
The NSW Government's decision to financially back Port Macquarie's bid to host the Australian Ironman Triathlon from next year has left Great Lakes Council reeling in shock.
The Major Events Board is providing $100,000 a year to Port Macquarie for three years, with performance agreements after that.
The news follows Great Lakes Council's decision last week to withdraw its bid.
Mayor John Chadban says it is a scandalous situation.
He says despite years of lobbying Great Lakes Council, which hosted the event for 20 years, has never been able to get any support from the Government and it is the reason it pulled out.
"We were never able to attract money because of the commercialisation of the event we were told anyhow," he said.
"We're absolutely shocked of the likelihood of that event being funded at another location.
"One wonders whether this is a political ruse and we're caught in the middle of it and that's of concern to our community."
The good news is that Forster has decided to stage the event on their own in 2006 as an independent iron-distance race. You may recall the same thing happened in Germany a few years back when Ironman Germany pulled out of Roth. The race continued on as an independent and still sells out. Foreign athletes are not as obsessed with the Ironman brand name as American athletes are.
Go Forster!!!
Posted by Fred at March 11, 2005 09:18 PM | More in: Random Thoughts, Triathlon
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Comments
How do I find out more about the race is there a web site of course Ironman Portmaquarie won't tell you anything. Your right I am not obsessed with the ironman name just want to do the distance and get the shirt.
Posted by: Tania at May 11, 2005 10:10 PM
Just wondering how I go about finding more infomation on the forster ironman.
Posted by: Tania at May 15, 2005 04:26 PM