Please find below and attached information on the Ironman event taking place in Leeds on Sunday 27th July. The link to the Ironman website is below. This will give the most up to date information at all times.
www.ironman.com/races/im-leeds
Event
IRONMAN Leeds is a long-distance triathlon consisting of a 3.8km swim which will be located in Roundhay Park, a 180km bike made up of three loops to the North of Roundhay Park and finally a 42.2km marathon run. The athletes have 17hrs to complete all three disciplines to achieve the right to call themselves an IRONMAN finisher. The event website can be found HERE.
Athletes
The event will imminently be sold out with only 40 places left of the 2,400 capacity, the oldest athlete in the field will be 78 and the youngest 18. The majority of athletes are British with 330 specifically Yorkshire based, however we do have large numbers of athletes that will be travelling to Leeds from around the world to take part in the event this summer. Based on experience from previous events we expect an local economic impact of £4million event weekend.
Closures
Road closures are a requirement on these races to keep both our athletes, spectators and other road users safe. We close roads fully where it isn’t safe to have one-way flows or if it isn’t necessary, however when required and feasible we have either a road open 1 way to facilitate access or controlled crossing points. The closures are meticulously planned by RSS Traffic Management an experienced and expert team that ensure they are as effective and cause as minimal disruption as possible. The majority of communities in the area will have pre planned access routes in and out of their properties, where this isn’t the case we advise on a case by case basis of the options. When it comes to carers, hospital appointments and other high importance trips we have a number of moto’s on course who can provide pre planned escorts through the road closures where alternative routes are unavailable. We have an extensive race control team who will be managing these closures with the help of West Yorkshire police. Blue light services will have priority over the event at all times and numerous discussions have and will continue to take place between IRONMAN and their representative to ensure efficient movement is kept as a priority.
Attached is the current version of the closure map, this will be updated in the coming weeks and smaller more localised maps created to display clear road closures for individual communities. As I mentioned this course has been eagerly anticipated by many so if you could refrain from sharing externally until the official launch next week that would be appreciated.
Communications
We take informing local residents, businesses and carers extremely seriously and have a strong tried and tested structure in place that we follow in order to provide the right amount of information to the right people. We will always share information to be distributed by the council and existing databases but in the first instance we follow the below structure and timelines.
We also have email addresses, phone lines and information on our website to help facilitate questions and queries directed towards the closures on race day.
Summary
We always find that the first year of IRONMAN events are the most important with passing on information, however by working together, providing strong and clear communications about the event and how to get involved communities come together to support these amazing athletes and create a yearly spectacle for the areas that the route passes through. There are some fantastic opportunities for local clubs and sports teams to raise money for their group by volunteering on the event, we make substantial donations for groups and also facilitate individuals that simply want to be a part of the weekend. More information on volunteering can be found HERE.
