New York To Host Ironman U.S. Championship For The First Time In '12

World Triathlon Corp. officials have revealed that the company will stage its Ironman U.S. Championship in N.Y. next year, the "first time the company’s marquee endurance event will be held in the biggest U.S. market," according to Buteau & Fineman of BLOOMBERG NEWS. The 140.6-mile race will take place Aug. 11, 2012, with athletes "racing through parts of New York City and suburbs of New York and New Jersey." Registration for the race, consisting of about 2,500 competitors, "will open June 15 on a first-come, first-serve basis." The event will begin with a 2.4 mile swim down the Hudson River. Competitors then "will cycle 112 miles, beginning on the Palisades Parkway on the west side of the Hudson and ending in Fort Lee, New Jersey, after looping through New Jersey’s Bergen and New York’s Rockland counties." The race concludes with a marathon from Fort Lee to Manhattan's Riverside Park. WTC officials said that competitors "have 17 hours to finish an Ironman, making it difficult to close large sections of the city." Buteau & Fineman note as a result, "most of the race’s bike portion will take place outside of Manhattan." The Ironman joins the 11-year-old NYC Triathlon, which is scheduled for Aug. 7 and "consists of a .9-mile swim, 25-mile bike ride and 6.2-mile run." WTC hosts 23 "other long-course races" around the world (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 6/7).