Ironman moves Wisconsin event back to September after athletes and community push back on June date

Seemingly due to negative feedback from athletes about moving Ironman Wisconsin from its traditional September day to June 19, 2022, Ironman has announced that the race will celebrate its 20th anniversary in Madison on Sept. 11, 2022, with Ironman 70.3 Wisconsin taking place the day before (Sept. 10).

In August Ironman announced that the race would be moved to June. The move was met by a flurry of negative comments by athletes on the Ironman Wisconsin Facebook page. Many athletes felt that the June date wouldn’t provide enough time to train for those who live in the region. Today’s announcement has also frustrated athletes because Ironman has been accepting registration for the new date.

“What about those of us who already planned for June with non-refundable air fare and hotel reservations??” Lisa Conklin commented on Facebook. “The June date was published, promoted, registrations made, confirmation sent. While I really don’t care what month the race is held, this announcement AFTER PEOPLE HAVE REGISTERED is infuriating as a customer.”

According to social media posts, Ironman is offering athletes registered in the June event a number of options to transfer into, including:
• Ironman Texas- April 23, 2022
• Ironman Tulsa- May 22, 2022
• Ironman Des Moines – June 12, 2022
• Ironman Lake Placid- July 24, 2022
• Ironman Canada- August 28, 2022
• Ironman Maryland- September 17, 2022
• Ironman Chattanooga – September 25, 2022

In addition to the new date, Ironman has also announced a contract extension for the events, but only lists it as a “multi-year” extension. We’ve reached out to Ironman to get more details on the contract and the number of years the contract will run for and will update this story if we hear anything from the company.

“Madison, Wisconsin is consistently voted as one of the top Ironman triathlon destinations of our global portfolio of events and we cannot be more pleased to be able to extend this partnership with the Madison Area Sports Commission to continue to bring Ironman events to this region for years to come,” said Elizabeth O’Brien, Managing Director for The Ironman Group in a press release from the company today. “While we previously announced that the event would be moving to a summer date, we collectively listened to athlete and community feedback and are glad to keep with tradition and the historical September date. We’re looking forward to hosting the 20^thcelebration with two amazing Ironman-branded events in one weekend next year.”

The Ironman Wisconsin event will offer qualifying slots for the 2023 Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, while the Ironman 70.3 race will serve as a qualifier for the 2023 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti, Finland.