End of the line: IRONMAN discontinues annual Lubbock 70.3-distance triathlon

Lubbock's 70.3-mile triathlon, the swimming-cycling-running event that rose from humble beginnings in 1990 to a destination for many of the sport's top triathletes looking to qualify for the IRONMAN World Championships, is being discontinued.

The IRONMAN Group, which owns and operates triathlon events all over the world including the one in Lubbock, made the announcement late Friday.

It read, in part, "For over 30 years, Lubbock, Texas has been a favorite destination amongst the triathlon industry, attracting top professionals who viewed the West Texas course and summer climate as ideal preparation for the annual IRONMAN World Championship in Hawai`i. Mike and Marti Greer built an event that we all have come to know and love.

"Despite our deep appreciation for the history of this event, in evaluating the event portfolio, the difficult decision has been made to discontinue and close this chapter of IRONMAN 70.3 Lubbock triathlon as we look to continue to refresh the portfolio with new destinations around the world that excite and attract athletes."

Longtime race director Marti Greer said she was stunned by the development. She said she had no advance warning when she was notified by phone on Wednesday before the announcement on Friday.

"It was very tough, very hard," she said. "I know myself and the city, obviously we still wanted it to be here, but we weren't in on that discussion. We were just told."

Asked what explanation was given, she said, "We were told, yes, it did make money, but it didn't make enough money and IRONMAN thought that they needed to move in a different direction."

Race founder Mike Greer was a former president and interim CEO of USA Triathlon and a well-known figure in the triathlon community. He died in July 2021 at age 82 from injuries he suffered in a motorcycle accident on his way to IRONMAN 70.3 Lubbock 24 days before.

Marti Greer, his wife, said she still plans to hold the annual Buffman and Squeaky Triathlon Festival, traditionally staged in May at Ransom Canyon Lake with kids', Olympic and sprint distance races. In an Olympic-distance triathlon, the swim is 0.93 miles (1.5 kilometers), the cycling is 24.8 miles (40 kilometers) and the run is 6.2 miles (10 kilometers).

She said she's contractually prohibited, however, from producing another 70.3-miler, the event that made Lubbock County a triathlon destination.

"We're not going to stop putting on triathlons here," she said. "The 70.3 one won't be here, but we're not going to stop serving the community."

Mike Greer, a former college football player and sprinter who grew up in Littlefield, conceived the idea of a triathlon in Lubbock County after he became fascinated by endurance sports in the mid-1980s. He founded the Buffalo Springs Lake Triathlon as an Olympic-distance event with 91 entrants for the first in 1990.

The popularity took off after it became a 70.3-mile endurance test, informally called a half-Ironman, in 1994. The event gradually attracted more professionals, both nationally and internationally. Many of the sport's top performers saw Lubbock's late-June heat and the punishing course around Buffalo Springs Lake as perfect preparation for the annual World Championships on the 140.6-mile course in Kona, Hawaii.

Greer stopped inviting pros to Lubbock after 2015, however, citing the cost and his belief that some didn't put as much effort as they should into promotion.

Then a dispute with Buffalo Springs Lake officials in 2019 led Greer to rename IRONMAN 70.3 Buffalo Springs to IRONMAN 70.3 Lubbock and move it into town for 2019. Since then, the course started at Dunbar Historical Lake and finished on the Texas Tech campus.

The Greers sold their interests in the event to IRONMAN and, after the Covid pandemic caused the 2020 race's cancelation, IRONMAN produced it for the past two years. Marti Greer became a liaison between the City of Lubbock and IRONMAN.

"We really thought we were doing the right thing," she said, "and that it was going to move it to another level and be able to stay here in Lubbock, Texas was our thought process."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: End of the line: IRONMAN discontinues annual Lubbock 70.3-distance triathlon