LAKE PLACID — The Ironman Group, which organizes the Ironman Lake Placid triathlon, is requesting a three-year contract extension that would allow the race to return here through 2024.

The group’s request was made public on Monday during a special meeting hosted by the town of North Elba to discuss approving a contract renewal for the race through 2023.

The Ironman Task Force, a committee created last summer to assess the community impacts of Ironman, recently recommended an extension for the race through 2023, among other recommendations to address residents’ pressure points with the race and improve athlete safety. Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism Chief Operating Officer Mary Jane Lawrence said Monday that after receiving the task force’s recommendations, the Ironman Group asked for at least a contract extension through 2024.

Lawrence said that the group’s reasoning behind its request was that the next three years would give them more time to successfully implement the changes the task force was recommending, and, should the area decide to end its relationship with Ironman, an extra year would give the group some time to find a new location for the race and create a new course.

Although a 2022 contract was green-lit last year, this year’s race is being included in the three-year extension requested by Ironman and the task force’s recommended two-year extension through 2023. Lawrence said on Monday that the extension for 2022 was made by a “verbal contract.”

The official Ironman contract is between the Ironman Group and ROOST. Lawrence said the verbal contract for 2022 was enough to support this year’s race and that towns didn’t need to formally vote on it. The Essex County Board of Supervisors voted at its Feb. 7 meeting to approve the use of county roadways for this year’s race.

North Elba town Supervisor Derek Doty said Tuesday that he didn’t recall the town council taking a formal vote on Ironman’s 2022 extension. He didn’t think the council needed to vote on the extension, but he plans to make that a point of discussion at the council’s next meeting on March 1.

“I don’t know if we need to (take a vote), because if we gave a verbal OK to ROOST and ROOST holds the contract, I guess passing a resolution is just a formality in the case of the town,” he said. “We already know we OK’d it.”

–

Reapproaching recommendations

–

Lawrence said Tuesday that ROOST hasn’t heard from the full task force about its support of Ironman’s three-year request since she was informed of it last Thursday, though she said she told the task force about the proposed change via email on Sunday. She said that between meetings with municipalities on the race course and ROOST’s normal operations, ROOST hasn’t had a chance to circle back in a meeting with the task force to gauge members’ support.

“I don’t want to speak for the task force, but the fact that the task force recommended two years, probably three years would be acceptable to those that supported the two years,” she said.

She said that “in fairness to the process for Ironman, we (ROOST) would support a three year contract,” but that right now, ROOST is merely presenting Ironman’s request to municipalities on the race course to see if they support a three-year extension.

“We need everyone’s support in order to move forward and make it work,” she said.

Lawrence said ROOST hopes to wrap up the process of circling back with the task force and making its presentations to the towns and village of Lake Placid by the end of this month or beginning of March.

“It’s a tight timeline, but … in fairness to Ironman, who’s been our partner for many years, we don’t want to keep them out there hanging,” she said. “We want to be good partners.”

Doty said Tuesday that Ironman will be on the town council’s agenda on March 1 so the council can discuss the possibility of a three-year contract extension, though he said the town council first wants to hear from Ironman about how exactly the group will implement the recommendations made by the task force.

Original recommendations from the task force included the contract extension through 2023; improved contact between locals and the Ironman Group; the implementation of escorts that could guide residents on the race course out of their driveways when roads are blocked; increased awareness of road rules for cyclists; a system to help athletes and locals identify areas of congestion during race day; and a map that would highlight local communities and identify rest stops for athletes.

The Wilmington Town Council last week offered an additional recommendation to the list compiled by the task force, which would ask Ironman to highlight local athletes with a different colored bib than the rest of the athletes.