Penticton cut its ties to the Ironman Canada triathlon because of rising costs and dropping benefits.
But Kamloops expects if it wins the bid to take over where Penticton left off, the perks here will be worth $15 million. Vernon, Whistler, Kelowna and Calgary are also bidding for the wellknown annual event.
Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar said a quick conversation with his Penticton counterpart on Monday - the day before Kamloops council gave the go-ahead to proceed with the Ironman bid - didn't deter him.
"They've done their own thing and more power to them. We were faced with a worldwide, well recognized organization that would like to see if people would like to host a major well-known event," Milobar said.
"We're known as Canada's Tournament Capital. Penticton's known for Ironman as a sportspecific type city. Given how Kamloops is positioned in the sporting world, it's a natural thing to go after. You get that broader advertising and marketing reach as well as the on-the ground services that would get consumed."
Penticton Mayor Dan Ashton said his city dumped the Ironman in favour of the Challenge brand of iron man-distance triathlon because the cost to taxpayers reached a high this year, calling for $120,000 in cash and in-kind, plus $60,000 for marketing. Last year's figures were $105,000 and $45,000, respectively.
On top of that, up to 4,000 volunteers are needed to make the triathlon run smoothly.
While Ironman has become synonymous with triathlons, it's actually a corporate brand name, much like Kleenex instead of tissues, or Xerox instead of photocopy.
Penticton has the oldest irondistance course in North America. It held an event for 30 years that built up a solid community volunteer base and a reputation among athletes. Ironman came along after the event was established and has brought with it brand recognition, pushing it to 3,000 participants this year.
On the other hand, spinoffs for the community have been declining, Ashton said. Where athletes used to show up two weeks ahead of time to prepare and acclimatize, they now come a couple of days before and leave soon after crossing the finish line.
He has seen attendance at the race's awards banquet fall from being a full house to about 1,200 at last month's final Ironman wrapup.
Next year, the third Sunday in August will see the debut of Challenge Penticton. Challenge is a European-based triathlon series, but the plus for the City of Penticton is it puts up less money while getting a percentage of the registration and all the merchandising revenue.
