Endurance event: IRONMAN 70.3 set for Sunday in La Quinta
Kenji Ito
LA QUINTA, Calif. (KESQ) – Big changes are coming to this year’s Ironman 70.3 race in its sixth year. Instead of spreading across La Quinta and Indian Wells, this year will be all in La Quinta, which has made the race easier for all the competitors.
“The city of La Quinta has been so proactive and accommodating, and the communication has been great, but when you start a new event, you start off on the right foot,” IRONMAN 70.3 La Quinta race director Ryan Jarrell said. “It does make things a lot easier.”
With the change to compete only in La Quinta. The race fixed one of the biggest issues in years past: traffic.
“Now that we’re staying within the city of La Quinta, we’re able to stay down here in the south end of La Quinta as well as the south end in the county, and that’s allowed traffic to flow normally,” Riverside County Sheriff Department Sgt. Mark Chlarson said. “Anywhere north of Avenue 52 is going to be wide open without any difficulty, with no traffic complaints.”
While it might be a half triathlon, the challenges in a full 140.6-mile Ironman still remain present in this race.
“I’ve never been, you know, the best biker, the best swimmer, the best runner, but I’m good at doing all three, so you just got to tone it down and just do the pace that you can do,” participant from Fresno, Farron Reed. “Because you’ve got to finish all three of them.”
Ranging from professional to amateur competitors, it’s all about making race day a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
“Don’t know if I’ll ever actually feel ready, but I don’t think anyone really will,” participant from Paso Robles, Courtney Lucas said. “I told my coach this week, and she had said to me, You’ve done the work, you’ve done all the preparation. Whatever you do this week is a bonus. All you need to do is just have fun.”
TRAFFIC ALERT:
The race begins at Lake Cahuilla at 7:00am and ends at SilverRock Park.
The following streets will be open for southbound/northbound travel: Washington St. Jefferson St. (north of Avenue 52), Adams St., Dune Palms Rd., Madison (north of Avenue 52), and Monroe (north of Avenue 52)
The following streets will be open for westbound/eastbound travel: Avenue 48, Avenue 50, Highway 111, Avenue 52, Miles Ave., and Fred Waring Dr.
For more information contact IRONMAN at 760-239-9586
Stay with News Channel 3 for our annual coverage of the IRONMAN 70.3 La Quinta triathlon.