LakePlacidNews.com
LAKE PLACID — Thirteen people from the business community gathered last week to form an Ironman support group and brainstorm ways to counteract anti-Ironman sentiment they say has been growing in recent years. “I was really surprised how much anit-Ironman sentiment is out there,” said Julie Voss, owner of Placid Planet Bicycles. “It was shocking to me.” Voss and others say that negative comments about the Ironman triathlon, held every summer in Lake Placid since 1998, have been surfacing on the Internet and in local media forums, like newspaper letters to the editor and radio station WNBZ’s Talk of the Town. Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau President James McKenna said that his office also receives many comments and complaints regarding Ironman. “There’s a rising tide we see starting to happen,” he said. Last year, Ironman North America was sold to World Triathlon Corporation. 2009 is the last year the race is under contract to be in Lake Placid. McKenna said he and other local officials are working on what he hopes will be a three-year contract with the new company that would guarantee the race stays here through 2012, but nothing has been finalized yet. McKenna said many people don’t like the inconvenience of road closures and crowds on race day. And even though there is an economic trickle-down effect, McKenna said people fail to see how Ironman impacts them personally. According to a 2005 SUNY Plattsburgh Technical Assistance Center study, the total economic impact of Ironman on the area is about $6 million. That number does not include indirect “ripple effects” generated by the event. There are also 55,000 overnight visitor stays, including pre-race visits, that are directly connected to the race. “We really need this business,” said Mirror Lake Inn owner Lisa Weibrecht. “We need people to go out and be great ambassadors.” Since most of the group agreed that much of the negative sentiment is directed at cyclists who ride in narrow, curvy, shoulder-less sections of road in the Wilmington Notch and state Route 73, some suggested a campaign to educate both cyclists and drivers. A recent letter to the editor in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, which detailed an argument between a cyclist and a driver in the Wilmington Notch, generated nearly 75 Web comments — a testament to the controversial nature of the topic. Some attendees suggested working with the state Department of Transportation to get permanent signs along the bike route, encouraging both drivers and cyclists to be safe and share the road. That, however, could take months and this year’s event is just one month away. In an attempt to immediately address the issue, Placid Planet has put up a sign in its store asking bikers to be considerate of drivers and Voss said she is mentioning the issue to people who are here training for the event. Tim Chien, a cyclist and massage therapist from Balanced Bodywork, suggested naming this Ironman support group, creating a Facebook page and using other social networking tools to help attract members. Searching out and responding to anti-Ironman sentiment in blogs is also one of the group’s goals. “Clearly, the vast majority of businesses favor the event,” Voss wrote in an e-mail. “I think most residents do too; we just need to overcome the loud ones who don’t.”
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