Whistler will host the World Triathlon Corp.’s (WTC) Ironman Canada competition for the next five years starting 2013, Tourism Whistler spokeswoman Patricia Westerholm told Business in Vancouver October 11.
The event is expected to attract about 2,000 athletes and several thousand visitors, although Westerholm said it was tough to gauge exactly how significant the economic boost would be to the Whistler economy.
“We have to take into account that the first year it will in August and the dates are already busy for us,” she said.
“We had to do it in August the first year in order to secure the five-year agreement. For the four remaining years, the competition will be in July, which is more of a lean period for us.”
Despite many people viewing Whistler as primarily a winter destination, Westerholm said the resort gets about one million visitors in the winter and slightly more than one million visitors in the summer, when many visit nearby golf courses, mountain bike parks and alpine hiking trails.
The Ironman race will start with a two-loop 2.4-mile swim in the clean, shallow waters of Alta Lake at Rainbow Park, which has an average water temperature of about 21 C in late August, according to the WTC. Athletes then have a lakeside transition before starting a 112-mile bike course. Finally, the competitors complete a run past Lost Lake and Green Lake before ending at the Whistler Olympic Plaza.
