Ironman brings nearly $4.5 million to local businesses

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) –

The largest half Ironman event in North America is back in Augusta as the highest grossing event for the month of September in the Garden City.

In just one weekend nearly 8,000 people are soaking up their time in Augusta for the annual triathlon.

“This is my first Ironman event,” said Ironman racer, Matthew Murphy.

It’s a time people like him have been training for for months.

“A lot of swimming, a lot of biking, a lot of running, um a lot of conditioning,” he said.

With so many people flooding the streets of downtown, they’re bringing big bucks to local businesses like Manny’s Sports Off Broad.

“We’re definitely up-definitely up. It’s a big difference. With something like this, we can be up about 20-30% more than the weekend before,” said Owner of Manny’s, Emmanuel Hatzis.

According to Destination Augusta, this year’s Ironman is expected to bring in $4.5 million dollars for the city.

“All of us who work downtown, have businesses downtown–we love seeing something like this come to our city. It just highlights who we are-what we do. We’re more than just Masters. We’ve got a lot to offer,” said Hatzis.

For those coming in, they’re just excited to get to do what they’ve been training for for so long.

“It’s something that I’ve always aspired to do. I’m really looking forward to getting started. I’ll be nervous 30 minutes before the race and it’ll be terrible until I finally hit the water. Once I hit the water I’ll be fine,” said Murphy.

Participants will swim 1.2-miles down the Savannah River, bike 56-miles, and finish off with a 13.1-mile run throughout Downtown Augusta, adding up to 70.3 miles of total racing.

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