Central Pennsylvania will play host to the newest Ironman Triathlon next summer when the long-distance race series debuts in Happy Valley next summer.
The inaugural Ironman 70.3 Pennsylvania Happy Valley Triathlon will debut on July 2, 2023, and take place annually through at least 2025. The 70.3-mile race will take athletes through several local landmarks in Centre and Clinton counties, including Bald Eagle State Park and Penn State’s University Park campus.
Drew Wolff, regional director for the Ironman Group, said the outdoor resources, scenery, weather and history of the triathlon in the area helped lead to bringing the event — the only one of its kind in Pennsylvania — to the region.
“It’s going to be an incredible event… When we try to identify a community that we want to host a race in, it’s very important that we find someone that has the passion and the commitment and that core value to us, which is that anything is possible,” Wolff said during a press conference on Thursday morning at Beaver Stadium. “And it’s here in State College; it’s here in Happy Valley. So we couldn’t be more excited to call this home now… We will have thousands of athletes from around the country and across the globe come and race here because of how special this place is.”
The race will begin with a 1.2-mile swim in Foster Joseph Sayers Reservoir in Bald Eagle State Park, continuing with a 56-mile bike ride through Centre and Clinton counties. It will wrap up with a 13.1-mile run throughout Penn State’s campus with a finish line on the 50-yard line at Beaver Stadium.
“If that doesn’t give you goosebumps… my goodness. It’s just incredible. You cannot have this experience anywhere else,” Wolff said.
The Happy Valley triathlon will also serve as a qualifying event for the 2023 VinFast Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti, Finland.
The Happy Valley Adventure Bureau has been working with Ironman since December 2020 to bring the event to the region, HVAB President and CEO Fritz Smith said. He called it “one of the first great triumphs,” for the Happy Valley Sports and Entertainment Alliance, an initiative developed in partnership with Penn State last fall to boost tourism through use of local sports and entertainment facilities.
Numerous organizations played a role in making the triathlon a reality, including county, municipal and state government offices, police and emergency service agencies and myriad Penn State departments. Through it all, there was “no pushback,” Smith said.
“This has been a long time coming and it really represents a great partnership with so many community folks here,” Smith said. “It takes a village to get something like this done and we appreciate everybody’s help.”
Priority registration will begin on Friday for invited clubs and general registration for the race will open on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at www.ironman.com/im703-pennsylvania-register. Those who register before Jan. 3, 2023, are eligible for early-entry benefits.
About 3,000 athletes are expected to participate. Some, Wolff said, will be looking to accomplish personal goals, while others are on a more competitive track and looking to qualify for the World Championship.
Participants have 8.5 hours total to complete the race and the average participant will complete it in about six hours, Wolff said. World class triathletes, of course, will finish much sooner. Penn State alumnus Jason West, for example, won his fourth 70.3 title last week at Augusta, Georgia, with a time of 3:35:18.
Penn State’s triathlon club dates back to the 1990s and has produced three collegiate national champions along with many of the sport’s top competitors, Wolff said.
“Happy Valley produces champions, and if you’re a triathlete, I invite you to come here and see what makes this place special, make it part of your triathlon story,” Wolff said. “It’s really exceptional.”
There’s also a relay division for those who want to team up.
The triathlon is expected to have a “huge financial impact” and significant exposure for Centre County tourism, Smith said, as participants bring their families and friends for what local officials hope will be multi-day stays. It will add to what a new study released this week estimated as a $417 million annual economic impact generated by sports events in the county.
“We’ll take a look at the economic impact of similar events they’ve run in other places but we anticipate it will be substantial,” Smith said, adding that HVAB will be working with the lodging industry to develop hotel packages tied to the triathlon and the Central PA 4th Fest two days later.
Ironman and local officials anticipate the triathlon will remain in Happy Valley long past the initial three years.
“We want to find communities that we grow deep roots in and if you look across our series of races, we’ve been fortunate to be in some communities for over two decades,” Wolff said. “That’s really our goal. We spend a lot of time finding a partner and then we want to grow with that partner.”
Community members who aren’t swimming, biking and running can still get involved, as Centre County Commissioner Mark Higgins said Ironman and HVAB will be looking for hundreds of volunteers to pitch in before, during and after the race.
“This is a tremendous opportunity to show the entire world what’s available for active adults here in Centre County,” Higgins said. “Any sport you can think of, we’ve got it.”
The Ironman Group is the largest operator of mass participation sports in the world, annually hosting millions of participants in more than 50 countries across the globe since 1978. It introduced the Ironman 70.3 race series in 2005, offering a shorter course than its traditional 140.6-mile competition.
For more information about the 2023 Ironman 70.3 Pennsylvania Happy Valley Triathlon, visit www.ironman.com/im703-pennsylvania. General information about Ironman races is available at www.ironman.com.
