CONTRIBUTED CONTENT — The 2022 Intermountain Healthcare IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship presented by the Utah Sports Commission is coming to the rugged and scenic St. George, the “Land of Endurance,” Oct. 28-29. This iconic sporting event is reminiscent of the region’s pioneer history, bringing resilient men and women from across the globe to the region, legends in their own right, each with their own personal story of battle and triumph.
St. George’s first IRONMAN was in 2010; it was the event that sparked the world championship evolution. Since then, the city has hosted two more full-distance IRONMAN races and eight IRONMAN 70.3s, earning three world championships in just three years – indicative of the community’s determination, grit and extension beyond its capacity – characteristics of strength intrinsic to IRONMAN and its athletes’ battles of wills. Now, 12 years after the city’s first IRONMAN, the community of St. George rises again to the world stage.
Bringing an iconic sporting event to St. George
In 2007, Daren Brooks, a St. George native, had recently completed an IRONMAN race in Arizona when he thought, “Why not bring IRONMAN to St. George?” Brooks is the visionary who presented the idea to Kevin Lewis, then director of sports and adventure marketing with the Washington County Tourism Office. Brooks made a lot of the initial calls and knocked on many doors before other individuals took over the heavy lifting to bring the first IRONMAN race to St. George in 2010.
Brooks has done multiple IRONMAN races in St. George, Arizona and Texas, and says the St. George course is the most scenic, spectacular course on the whole circuit. Something else he believes to be special are the people who settled St. George, saying that history is fraught with amazing men and women. Those pioneers who came across the plains, many of them died. They lost family members, friends, and a lot of them lost their health.
He said:
It’s entertainment for us now, but the effort physically, emotionally and spiritually that IRONMAN takes is off the charts from a regulatory standpoint, and to have it finish downtown, a city with buildings made of rocks hand-chiseled by men and women who understood what it was like to give everything physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. … For me, there’s real depth in that, and I think that’s something that makes St. George different from anywhere else. It’s a very special place from a heritage and effort standpoint.
IRONMAN is all about building legends, creating iconic situations and giving the St. George community the opportunity to embrace people from different cultures and lands, people with vision, passion and ambition, Lewis added.
“Every athlete who comes through here has a story, and their story might be your story,” he said. “You can make a connection when you see others overcoming difficult things and working through them – that gives you the energy and courage to get through your own trials.
“This St. George community was built out of blood, sweat and tears. People came here years ago, and this was a rough and rocky place. They had to carve out an existence, they had to find a way to get through the difficult times. They pulled together and found a way to make a life here.”
What changed things, Lewis said, is when early residents realized there was more to St. George than carving out an existence, that there is something very unique about the area, and that one day, people would flock here. Once the community opened it up and shared it with others, the land of survival became a land of opportunity.
“That’s what changed us – when we realized there was something really unique and special here,” he said. “All we had to do was share.”
Roch Frey is the head of operations for IRONMAN World Championship events. In 2009, he was approached by Steve Meckfessel, who was in charge of new events for IRONMAN in the U.S. After hearing from this Brooks character in St. George, Meckfessel approached Frey and Paul Huddle (both co-race directors for North American events at the time) and asked them to check out St. George.
Meckfessel sat them down at the Bear Paw Cafe on Main Street in St. George and said, “This is an amazing community, we want to put a race on here. Can it be done?”
Frey and Huddle looked at each other and responded, “We haven’t really seen anything, but we think we can put a race on anywhere,” and that’s how the conversation started.
Meckfessel then introduced Frey and Huddle to Lewis and the tourism team.
Frey said the first thing he noticed about St. George was that it had a “hard course and amazing terrain,” which he liked. “Because of the hills, you get a little bit of altitude – you could have some inclement weather – so right off the bat, we thought this is going to be amazing.”
Frey recalled when he and Huddle first went to Sand Hollow and it was spring. He said the water was at a high level and the wind was howling, and they thought, “Wow, this is going to be a challenge.” Then, they drove the course.
“The beauty of the course and the variety with the hills and flats and downhills, it was an amazing course, and then running through town … Red Hills Parkway up top, just the views – we knew it was a no-brainer,” he said.
Frey said it’s been easy to put the IRONMAN in St. George, especially with the support.
“It’s very rare where we get communities that embrace us that much because we shut things down,” he said. “We always go in hesitant to ask for so many police officers, but the police chief said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want more officers?’ That was a shocker for us. We’ve never heard that.”
Frey also had a couple of unusual, but fond memories about St. George. He remembers the sheep and cattle on the road toward Gunlock that first race year. One day, Frey and Huddle were driving through, checking the course during race week, and they thought, “Wow, we hope this doesn’t happen on race day. How are we going to deal with this?” They spoke to the local ranchers about their cattle and sheep. “Our bike crew was out there cleaning the road after all the livestock was on it.”
Jokingly, the bike crew was saying they didn’t sign up for the job, having to clean the road beforehand after the animals went through. “So, that was an interesting one,” Frey said.
Then one night, Frey and Huddle were pleasantly surprised by the local hospitality when one of the volunteer captains built an imu pit (an underground oven) to cook a pig. They cooked the pig all night, and that’s what they fed volunteers the next day.
“The night before we went out, the whole process of putting the pig in the ground, getting the hot rocks and letting it sit overnight – that’s an experience I’ve never had before with a volunteer group, so that was a good time,” Frey said.
Local legends involved in IRONMAN
IRONMAN has evolved in St. George because of the local legends who made it all possible. Colby Neilson has been involved in IRONMAN since 2009, when he was doing triathlons and competing at the IRONMAN level with his brother-in-law, Jeff Gardner. This was about the time IRONMAN held its first race in St. George, and Gardner came on board as race director and Neilson became the local volunteer director.
“Having trained and competed in IRONMAN events, it gives me a sense of what all these people who come to race have gone through and are going through to get to this point,” Neilson said. “With the world championship events, it’s even magnified as they had to qualify to get to this level of competition.”
Neilson is inspired by the athletes and their determination to train and compete at such a high level but said he’s even more inspired by all the volunteer captains who give up hundreds of hours in planning and preparation for these events.
“I am truly inspired by all the volunteers who come out and want to make this a great experience for all involved,” he added. “They are the backbone of these events and are the reason that people love coming here to do these races.”
“The growth of this world championship means that we as a community are special,” he said. “From the crew at Greater Zion down to each and every volunteer that helps out wherever, we are one of the most talked-about communities in all of IRONMAN. We have a special community that understands and wants to make all these events the best for everyone. I love being a part of this community and these events because of the people who come out and work their tails off to create this experience for these athletes while helping them fulfill their dreams.”
Marc Mortensen, who serves as assistant city manager for St. George, has been involved with IRONMAN since the first full-distance event in 2010. He worked closely with the tourism office and local triathletes years prior to the first event in hopes that one day, St. George would host an IRONMAN.
Mortensen’s role is the city of St. George liaison with IRONMAN. He coordinates with Greater Zion and IRONMAN on all aspects of the event as it pertains to the city. This includes road closures, IRONMAN Village, use of the Dixie Center, the bike course, run course, Transition 2 and the finish line. The city’s team includes police and fire departments, special events, parks, recreation and streets divisions. Mortensen has also participated as an athlete in the full-distance and 70.3 events in St. George.
Mortensen said IRONMAN changed his life in several ways. It’s taught him that anything is possible, everything from training and competing in a full-distance IRONMAN race to organizing one. He’s learned that thinking about an IRONMAN in its entirety can be daunting, but by narrowing the focus to each individual discipline, it becomes achievable – that same model can be used in all aspects of one’s life from education, to relationships, to careers.
“IRONMAN is all about community, and our community has embraced this event. It just wouldn’t be possible without the amazing people who show up in droves to volunteer year after year,” he said. “Athlete surveys show that one of the things that participants remember most about their experience here is the way the people made them feel. To me, that’s why we’ve been so successful.”
To learn more about the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship happening Oct. 28-29, visit GreaterZion.com.
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