Ironman 70.3 boosts tourism, economic growth

SANDUSKY — As Sandusky's Ironman 70.3 returns for a second year, so do the economic benefits hosting an event of its scale provides. Last year, the city was home to the Ironman 70.3 triathlon for the first time, bringing thousands of visitors downtown to participate in the race and to watch and support the participants. "We had close to 4,000 visitors in town, although some of those people in that number are going to be local participants from the area," said Larry Fletcher, president of the Shores & Islands Ohio, the area's tourism bureau. "But you've got about 4,000 folks coming into the area over that timeframe. Some of our participants will come in several days early to run or ride the course and just kind of get acclimated a little bit and visit the area. We had more than 3,500 overnight guests." These visitors have a big impact on the local economy while in attendance — adding to an already significant tourism industry. This year, the race will be hosted on Saturday, July 23 and athletes have eight and a half hours to finish. "The numbers are pretty much astonishing," city ex officio mayor Dick Brady said. "This event accounts for an overall impact to the community and not just Sandusky. Brady said last year's race generated a total economic impact of about $5.4 million. The financial impact from guests dramatically impacts local businesses, especially hotels and motels, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues. Brady noted that they expect most hotels downtown Sandusky and in Perkins Township to be at full capacity this year. "Each of these people have to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner," Brady said. "The food and beverage portion of that was over a half a million dollars, $526,000. You get 1,600 attendees, but they're not here just for a day, they come a day early, they're here for the event, and most of them stay for the day after the event, because they're pretty much worn out from the event … and that all accounted for the half million dollars of real economic impact." In terms of the outlook for the event this year, organizers expect the number of participants and visitors to rise. "Based on what a lot of these events do, and other markets for a popular event with a course that's as popular as this course was with the participants, you're going to get a lot of those people to come back and do it again and a lot of others that want to experience it for the first time," Fletcher said. "So I expect we're gonna see a greater impact this year than we did last year. I sure hope so." As well as helping plan the event, Fletcher participated in the triathlon last year and is planning to participate again this year. "Both from the standpoint of being a participant and someone involved in promoting the event, I couldn't have been happier with the way that the city, the residents, the Ironman team, and how everybody came together to make an event that was extremely popular for the participants," Fletcher said.