Hawaiʻi County Mayor Mitch Roth traveled to Utah during the weekend to attend the 2021 IRONMAN World Championship, which was postponed from last October and moved from the Big Island because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The coveted event, the first IRONMAN conducted outside Hawaiʻi County since its inception, was taken on by the City of St. George, Utah. Roth made the trip to attend in a show of gratitude for the partnership between St. George and the county that allowed the race to take place.
“We are extremely grateful to IRONMAN and the City of St. George for their willingness to work with us to find a creative solution that ensured our athletes could compete at the highest level while maintaining a safe Hawaiʻi Island for all,” Roth said in a press release.
The 2021 championship was initially set to take place last year in its hometown of Kailua-Kona because of drastic increases in COVID case counts on the Big Island because of the Delta variant. The county was able to negotiate an agreement with the Utah community to take on the event so it could be ran. The championship was then scheduled for February of this year, but was again delayed because of a spike in COVID cases from the Omicron variant.
IRONMAN returns Oct. 6 and 8 to Kailua-Kona for the 2022 world championship, which will include two events this year — one for the professional level and another based on age. In addition, representatives of St. George will travel to the island in a show of support for their newly formed partnership with the county.
For more information about the 2022 IRONMAN World Championship, click here.
“IRONMAN is a part of our local ‘ohana here,” Roth said in the press release, adding that the City of St. George understood the county’s priorities and worked closely with the mayor’s administration to address shared concerns. “Because of the teamwork exhibited and the arduous work of the community, we can now look forward to welcoming back the IRONMAN World Championship to our shores in October for not one but two events!”
