'We could race tomorrow'

COEUR d'ALENE - The bike course is finally finalized, the run course is changed, and the swim is most likely to be a cold one.

With Ironman Coeur d'Alene a little more than three months away, organizers recently received the OK from the Hayden Lake City Council for cyclists to ride through its city as part of the 112-mile course.

Hayden, Dalton Gardens and Coeur d'Alene had already approved the course that will send more than 2,000 bike riders through their cities on June 26. Hayden Lake's council agreed March 1.

"We appreciate them doing that," said Ironman race director Mac Cavasar. "That was the last key we needed for the bike course."

The run course will change, though.

Gone is the section that took athletes through City Park and along the Dike Road. Instead, runners will continue on the Centennial Trail up and over Bennett Bay Hill another mile from the former turnaround. Back in the city, the turnaround for the start of the second lap will be at the intersection of Northwest Boulevard and Lakeside Avenue. The special needs area will be in the Coeur d'Alene Library parking lot.

Cavasar said the switch will make it easier logistically for organizers, better for spectators and will keep traffic out of the Fort Grounds neighborhood. It was difficult to provide support for runners on the Dike Road section, which tended to be a congested section of the 26.2-mile course, he said.

With plenty of snowpack in the mountains this winter, the temperature of Lake Coeur d'Alene is expected to rise slowly into summer due to runoff. That means swimmers are likely looking at a 2.4-mile swim in water that will be about 60 degrees.

Ironman and Coeur d'Alene officials have started discussions about keeping the endurance race in the area from 2013 through 2017.

"Our goal is to have Ironman here for another five years," Cavasar said.

With the bike course set, things are in place for Ironman Coeur d'Alene.

"We could race tomorrow if we wanted to," he said.