Beach to Battleship IM - Wilmington, NC

From another tri site:

The rumors are true. We will announce the event officially on or about Oct. 1st. This is the date that the first national ads will run in some of the national tri pubs, and also the date that the event website will be activated.

The inaugural "Beach2Battleship" will take place on Saturday, November 1, 2008 in Wilmington, NC. Registration for the event will begin on January 2nd. We will offer a "full" and a "half". The race will start at Wrightsville Beach (one of Wilmington's beach suburbs) and finish at the USS North Carolina (battleship memorial).

We're very realistic with our goals for this event. We're painfully aware of the current climate with iron distance racing. WTC and NA Sports do a great job with "Ironmans". We can't compete with them and aren't foolish enough to think that we'll have those kinds of numbers. We do feel, however, that we can compete with any other non-Ironman branded race anywhere, and that's our goal; to be the best of the rest.

We have a lot of things going for us;

1) We (Setup Events) have a tremendous amount of experience in the sport, and enjoy a solid reputation.

2) We have experience in producing an iron distance race. We produced the Duke Blue Devil for four years (2001-2005). We learned a lot.

3) We have a perfect venue to stage the race. Wilmington is a tourist destination. It sits on the Atlantic Ocean in southeastern North Carolina, and has some of the most beautiful beaches on the east coast. Being a top tourist destination, Wilmington has an airport, and lots of hotels and restaurants. So the infrastructure is in place for an event of this size.

4) We have the complete support of local government and civic groups. We presented the idea a coupe of months ago at one meeting that included; the Mayor of Wilmington, the Chairman of New Hanover County Commission, Mayor of Wrightsville Beach, Executive Director of the Chamber, Executive Director of the Visitors & Convention Bureau, head of the Parks & Recreation Dept. This group unanimously and enthusiastically supports the event. This level of support is priceless.

5) The weather in Wilmington in Oct. /Nov. is absolutely perfect for an iron distance race. The daytime highs are usually in the 70s - lows in the 50s/60s. It's our driest period of the year, so skis are usually brilliantly sunny. Even though we sit on the ocean, the swim will not be an ocean swim. The swim will take place in salt water, but in a network of channels that comprise part of the intracoastal waterway. Water temperature at that time of the year is usually still around 70 degrees.

All in all, we're very excited about this challenge. We've formed an event committee of about 25 folks and already well into our planning.

Thanks for your interest in the event. We pledge to deliver a memorable and "first-class" experience.

Bill S.

**I think I am in for this one. My first tri ever was in Wilmington & I race Set-Up races most of the season, they are really well put together. It's not an M-Dot but I guess that will save me a few bucks!! Anybody else in with me?!?!?