Open Letter to the Tri-Cities Iron Man Athletes and Volunteers

I'll admit it. I was skeptical about the Iron Man event that happened over the weekend in the Tri-Cities.

I'll be the first to preface that I'm not one of those that would participate but after seeing the Iron Man event in action, I'm hooked.

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I had a live broadcast on Friday night from Iron Man Village and I was blown away by the organization brought together by Visit Tri-Cities.

It gave me a huge appreciation for pulling off such an event.

Over 1000 volunteers and close to 3000 athletes descended upon Richland for the weekend and it was a spectacular sight.

I saw some great videos and one made me chuckle as it showed volunteers helping rip people out of their wetsuits.

Our boss Paul participated and he did the course in six hours, it was great to see him in the videos.

So one drawback was the postings I saw on the Facebook page concerning closures. It's amazing how many people complained about the road closures and felt intruded upon.

Luckily, people jumped into the comments reminding those complaining that maps and information went out months ago but as always you can't make everyone happy.

I love that this event is here. I learned a lot, I was a naysayer and I'm excited for the next few years.

It takes a village to bring great events to the Tri-Cities so shout out to the volunteers, organizers, athletes and Visit Tri-Cities for bringing something totally new and cool to the Columbia Basin.