The organizers of the St. Croix International Triathlon plan on topping the successful 2000 race, the 12th installment of the event, by making the 13th year a qualifier for the granddad of all triathlons – the Hawaii Ironman.
Becoming an affiliate of the vaunted Ironman, which will be run this weekend on the Big Island of Hawaii, means a larger, more exciting field of contestants who, with their families, translate into more tourists for St. Croix, said Tom Guthrie, the race director.
Guthrie said last year’s event saw some 300 entrants, including one of the best fields of professional athletes to gather for a race anywhere in the world. That field included Luc Van Lierde, winner of last year’s Hawaii Ironman and the St. Croix contest.
With the new Ironman status, Guthrie said the number of pros and, overall, the number of age-group racers will more than double in the next year or two.
"It will be the largest tourist-generating event on St. Croix and maybe the whole Virgin Islands. We’d like to have 800 people in the race," Guthrie said, adding that St. Croix has just about that many hotel rooms.
In addition to bringing in more racers, the Ironman affiliation means making an already long, grueling race even longer and tougher. Those planning to swim, bike and run may or may not be happy to learn that they now have to pedal and stride quite a bit farther.
For most of the life of the St. Croix race the distance has included a 1.25-mile (2 kilometer) swim, 34-mile (55 kilometer) ride and a 7.4-mile (12 kilometer) run. To be an Ironman qualifier, the ride will increase to a total of 56 miles and the run to 13 miles. The swim distance will remain the same.
An actual Ironman race, which often draw up to 2,000 entrants, consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 122-mile bike and a marathon-distance, 26.4-mile run.
To accommodate the longer distances on St. Croix, Guthrie has changed the run and rerouted the ride. The new run will be without the killer hills on the grounds of the Buccaneer Hotel and a short, steep ascent in Christiansted.
The ride will follow the original 34-mile route. Sorry, racers, the nasty hill called "The Beast" remains, but with an additional 22-mile leg that goes out East End Road around to South Shore Road and back into Christiansted.
"If you want to be in triathlons you want to be affiliated with Ironman. To be affiliated with Ironman we had to increase the distance," Guthrie said. "We’ve taken the hills out of the run. I don’t want people to be on I.V.'s for 10 hours."
The St. Croix race organizers have received the blessing of the V.I. government, which means continued monetary support from the Department of Tourism and help from the V.I. Police Department and Public Works.
One main concern about lengthening the race was the need to shut down more roads. But with the bike route remaining on the east end of the island, things won’t be any different from years past for those living on the west end, Guthrie said.
"I think we’ve proven we don’t disrupt traffic," he said. "And the alterations on the course prove we can continue that."
For the last several years, Tourism has kicked in $150,000 to help host the race. Guthrie declined to say what the contribution would be for next year, but did say it was "significant."
"The government of the Virgin Islands has always been the best sponsor in the entire sport of triathlon," he said.
The St. Croix race has been and will continue to be a qualifier for the Lake Placid Ironman and the Canadian Ironman. The local race will offer 30 spots for the Hawaii race, which will likely go to the top two finishers in each age group.
For the pros, the draw of St. Croix is the $50,000 purse, one of the largest in the sport. It is equally distributed between men and women through 10 places, with the first-place finishers walking away with $7,000.
Guthrie will be at the big race in Hawaii this weekend, passing out advertisements for the new-and-improved race on St. Croix.
