After hosting a portion of the bicycle race for the Little Elm Ironman triathlon March 15, Celina City Council has decided not to participate in the event going forward.
“Ironman was sold as being a partnership to the community,” Mayor Ryan Tubbs said. “What we approved from City Council inside of that partnership agreement with Little Elm and with Ironman wasn’t what our residents saw on the day of [the race].”
Council cited traffic and public safety concerns in their decision to withdraw from the agreement to co-host the race with Little Elm at a May 12 meeting.
What happened
Celina Police Lt. Josh Armstrong, who helped coordinate public safety for the event, gave a presentation on the impact of the race at an April 14 meeting.
Six towns and cities coordinated with Ironman and the Denton County Sheriff’s Office to host the bicycle route:
- Little Elm
- Celina
- Prosper
- Aubrey
- Pilot Point
- Oak Point
The triathlon, which consists of running, biking and swimming, was reduced to just running and biking on the day of the event.
“When the swim portion of the race was canceled, that condensed the cyclists into a much tighter group of riders,” Armstrong said.
The cyclists’ start times also weren’t staggered, further concentrating the racers and creating traffic jams.
One particular left-hand turn at Dallas North Tollway and FM 428 created significant delays for motorists because of the near-constant stream of cyclists, making it more difficult to access the Methodist Celina Medical Center.
“This was a really bad first impression,” Mayor Pro Tem Brandon Grumbles said at the April 14 meeting. “I think it was probably my last impression with [Ironman].”
Going forward
The race would have caused issues even if the swim portion had proceeded as planned, Armstrong said.
Event organizers tried to consider alternative routes, but Celina lacks infrastructure like bridges and overpasses that would have allowed vehicle traffic to bypass bicyclists without interfering with the competition, according to Armstrong’s presentation.
“Knowing what it takes in those competitive races, the racers and the participants of the race take priority over our existing residents,” Tubbs said after the May 12 decision to withdraw from future triathlons. “That just wasn’t something ... the City Council was comfortable with.”
