Official: Ironman Florida 2006 is a Go!

[Sent to admin@ironmanusa.com. If you're interested, please copy/paste/customize and then send this out to them as well. And let me know if you hear anything... I'll post it here. -- Joe]

Hi Race Organizers!

I'm registered for Ironman Florida 2005. I'm trying to plan next year's schedule and have heard rumors that there may not be a 2006 Ironman race in Florida. For those in the Southeast this is a pivotal piece of information. With registration for Ironman Wisconsin opening in a few weeks there are quite a few people in the Atlanta tri community that aren't sure what to do.

Most would prefer to race in Florida. Many will not make the trek to Wisconsin. I'd hate to see them miss out on an official Ironman race, being forced to move to other unofficial Iron distance races in the area.

Questions:
1) Will there be an official Ironman race in Florida in 2006? I'm not concerned about whether it's in Panama City Beach... just whether there will be one in Florida... the state's pretty darn flat.

2) When will official notification of 2006 plans happen? Is there any way to make it happen before registration for Ironman Wisconsin opens up?

3) Is there any other information you can provide to people in the Southeast or abroad who are struggling with the IM Fla/IM Wis issue right now?

Thanks,

Joe Reger

Update 2:35PM: Dave Stewart says that Anna got an email from them saying it was on for 2006. Excellent! Thanks Dave!

Update 5:20PM: And the official word from the race organizers:

1. Yes, 2006 is on.

2. No

3. IM Florida is on for 2006 so thier should be no debate now on which race you would like to register for.


Melody

I think it's so very cool that the blog beat the race organizers at the distribution of information. Now, imagine if the race organizers had a blog. They kind of have a blog format on ironmanusa.com, but they don't update it bloggily.

Ok, so Dave and Anna are in. Vanessa and Keith are coming in, although they're dealing with their subconsciouses right now. How about D.C. Dom? Or ATL Julie? Big Paul? Dana? Kurt? Joel?

Fun race. Fun training. Looking forward to it in 06. And 05. Oh, crap... 05.